January 27, 2011 posts

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 . The following is the cumulative archive of blog posts / topics for 2010 as the new year starts anew: http://albertpeia.com/December312010postsarchive.htm or PDF formatted version
http://albertpeia.com/December312010postsarchive.pdf ]

Car bomb kills dozens (Washington Post) [ Ah, yes! Signs of american style democratization in the middle east popping out all over. The other turmoil is testament to the fact that other mideast nations have complacently sat back as zionist israel / american ‘adventurism / war / war crimes / war profiteering have taken their toll on the region, their people, and their aspirations which like all such action outside a vacuum, have reactions. ] At least 48 were killed and 121 wounded when a booby-trapped car exploded outside a funeral tent in a Shiite neighborhood of northern Baghdad, escalating an upsurge of violence across the country.

New research points to earlier human migration out of Africa (Washington Post) [ This is hardly breakthrough news inasmuch as the same has been reported with authority in as far back as 2005 4^th edition Michael Alan Park text; viz., ‘…fossils (of) the first fully modern Homo Sapiens are found in Africa and Southwest Asia beginning around 160,000 years ago.’ Truth be told, I find such fine lines in this truly sad tale of the history of man to be relatively unimportant. Interestingly, coincidentally, the Drudgereport this day includes this headline: DNA: Humans 97% same as orangutans … 98% same as chimps ... ] For decades, the consensus scientific opinion has held that anatomically modern humans first migrated out of Africa some 60,000 years ago, heading north into the eastern Mediterranean region and then on to Europe and Asia.

Anthropologists adopt a more favorable view of Neanderthals (Washington Post) [ Well, I’m a bit surprised and somewhat disappointed that with a little more effort, rather than rely upon inference, they could have taken a trip to the new york / new jersey / connecticut metropolitan area (etc.) and observed directly these lower italian modern-day archaic humans! Then there are the other modern day archaics / ape-like creatures that warrant greater scrutiny. ]

"What this means is that Neanderthals are not totally extinct. In some of us, they live on," Paabo … With regard to that extinction thing, I’d say they’re still working on it (ultimately, decades, extinction, the distinction, without a difference). Actually, prior to studying the compelling subject of Biological Anthropology (Michael Park text), I too had some misconceptions about the group known as Neandertals (recent spelling drops the ‘h’) and actually mis-referenced same by the stereotypical image of members of said clade even as the debate continues as to whether they are within the species homo sapiens or a separate species. I believe these to be distinctions without important differences, so humble the origins and evolution of man truly are. Parenthetically, I wonder what that anthropological scientist Heidi Klum thinks on the subject.

Neanderthals, Humans Interbred, DNA Proves

Signs of Neanderthals Mating With Humans - ‎Neanderthals mated with some modern humans after all and left their imprint in the human genome. Genome hints humans, Neanderthals rolled in prehistoric hay You're a Neanderthal: Genes say yes — a little bit (AP) Neanderthals and people interbred, fossil analysis finds For more info on man’s humble beginnings, see here http://www.albertpeia.com/anthroindex1.htm

Previously I wrote:

FOUND: MISSING LINK BETWEEN APES AND MAN.... These stories, and the many like it, are old news and I subscribe to the more studied view that there is no “missing link” per se and in my view they are distinctions without significant differences. I previously wrote:

To Learn More About From Whence Man Came, This Link's For You

[To the Professor at the beginning of the course]

10-5-09 Postscript: Professor *****,
I felt compelled to thank you again for the add; not to curry your favor but indeed to express profound thanks inasmuch as this is probably the last formal course at a formal educational institution I'll ever take; and among the most important. While I had bought at discount a library-discarded 1993 Anthropology by Embers text, though meaning to read same never quite got to it. I am astounded by the substantial amount of time involved in the evolutionary process, not that I ever stopped to think about it, and one must come away with the sense of 'and all that...for this?'. This course should be required curriculum along with psychology, sociology, etc., but probably won't be owing to what is, as it should be, a very humbling educational experience for any member of the human race.
Regards,
Al Peia

[Interestingly, my intuitive (but unstudied) thoughts prior to closer examination of the compelling subject of Biological Anthropology remain what I believe to be the correct scenario. Specifically, very simply stated, for the most part, the more “enlightened” (but not by much; by mutation, accident, luck, intervention, etc.) left the unvarying confines of their Sub-Saharan origins, experienced diverse new environs, challenges, etc., experienced what has been described (by neuroscientists, psychologists, etc.) as neurogenesis in varying degrees and forms thereby over time, which trait was selected for and is consistent with the purported multi-regional evolutionary model which does not overtly contradict ultimately, initial African origins. Races, sub-species, missing links, etc., are subsumed in this very humbling and sorrowful tale of the “dawn of man”.]

U.S. must cut deficit, IMF warns (Washington Post) [ Duuuuuh! Ya’ think? CBO: This year's budget deficit to hit $1.5T Washington Post (Why the CBO may not believe all its own deficit projections Christian Science Monitor CBO: Social Security to run permanent deficits (AP) No stemming red ink: Federal deficit to hit $1.5T (AP) Deficit Outlook Darkens Wall Street Journal - WASHINGTON—The federal budget deficit will reach a record of nearly $1.5 trillion in 2011 due to the weak economy, higher spending and fresh tax cuts, congressional budget analysts said, ... Social Security now seen to run permanent deficits The Associated Press ) The nonpartisan budget agency predicts the deficit will drop to $1.1 trillion next year. ] The IMF warning comes as federal officials grapple with a congressional projection this week that the annual deficit will reach a historic $1.5 trillion this year. This is the latest report to raise concerns about how massive government debts in developed countries could undermine the global economic recovery.

Report points to U.S. regulators and big banks for economic crisis (Washington Post) [ Come on! Wake up! … ‘failed to restrict their risky activities’ , ‘pivotal failure to stem the flow of toxic mortgages’, etc.,… Of course not! Why? Because this was intentional and an integral part (the bubble) of the largest fraud in the history of this world (still ongoing with those toxic assets / paper / securities now marked to anything as per legislated FASB rule change, cashed out by the perps, and as yet, despite promises by wobama et als, still unprosecuted). Though among the greediest but hardly the brightest bulbs on the planet, the wall street frauds certainly were savy enough to understand all aspects and mechanics of this fraud in real time. Quite simply, they did it for the money, big money. This was a huge orchestrated securities fraud that made huge profits / gains for the perpetrators at great expense / damage to this among other nations. ]

Krauthammer: The old Obama in new clothing (Washington Post) [ The truly sad thing is that journalists / commentators as Mr. Krauthammer even waste their time pointing out the obvious; viz., that wobama is an egregiously flawed man, failed president, and a global embarrassment. Previous: Obama, unbending Gerson: The president's tone has changed, but he has not. (Washington Post) [ Come on! How can anyone discuss ‘wobama the b’ (for b*** s***) as a serious ideologue when the reality is that he’s just utter and total b*** s*** … by what he does, not what he says … he stands for nothing! Previous: Grading the SOTU / Robinson (Washington Post) [ I say this sincerely and without even a tinge of sarcasm that anyone who even watched / listened to wobama’s ‘speech’ should be embarrassed / ashamed of themselves (not that I listened to dumbya bush’s either). The grade is ‘f’ as in failure as is his failed presidency, as in ‘f’ himself. Wobama is but a pathetic b*** s*** artist and a total embarrassment! Previous: Gerson: Obama, more deficit hawk than GOP? (Washington Post) [ Come on! Where do they get this stuff? Wobama not only continued war criminal dumbya bush’s perpetual war, fraudulent wall street protectorate, etc., free-spending ways, but added to the deficit in his own profligate ways; and, as I’ve said before, democrats / republicans are but distinctions without significant differences. Moreover, there’s the literal rearrangement of the congressional deck-chair seating in the u.s.s. titanic halls for the non-event state of the union (wobama the ‘b’ for b*** s***, more empty words belied by actions / non-action) … Previous: Topic A: What should be in State of the Union? (Washington Post) [ Well, at the very least, it should be noted that the states of the union are crumbling (see bankruptcy headlines infra), ergo, the state of the union is crumbling and precarious indeed. The problem with and for wobama is that he’s been there, done that, and his words don’t match his actions, as is so regarding his not easily forgotten campaign promises (from perpetual wars, to no pros the frauds on wall street, to new ‘bubble building’ as in last precursor to crash supplanting sound economics. Blame it on the teleprompter … sounds like a plan! All we really know for certain is what definitely will not be in the state of the union; viz., a solution to pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america’s intractable decline. ] ]

Fed Continues Failed Monetary Policy Suttmeier, chief market strategist at ValuEngine.com

‘Fed Is Continuing a Failed Monetary Policy (And, amazingly, their rationale is the same failed rationale that preceded the last bubble, as now, crash, as will, that was spun by senile greenspan that wall street frauds / insiders sold into; you know, that so called wealth effect which in reality is theirs not yours; viz., their gain, your pain.)

• Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in December confirms that the economic recovery is continuing, though at a rate that has been insufficient to bring about a significant improvement in labor market conditions.
• Growth in household spending picked up late last year, but remains constrained by high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit.
• Business spending on equipment and software is rising, while investment in nonresidential structures is still weak.
• Employers remain reluctant to add to payrolls. The housing sector continues to be depressed. Although commodity prices have risen, longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable, and measures of underlying inflation have been trending downward.

Fed policy includes the continuation of QE2, which is the purchase of $600 billion of longer-dated US Treasuries to be completed by the end of the second quarter. We are in the midst of this program that is failing to bring down US Treasury yields as intended. The yield on the 10-Year US Treasury was at 2.334 on October 8 in anticipation of QE2 then traded as high as 3.568 on December 16. This keeps the housing market depressed, which is a Fed concern.

Fed Policy has kept the funds rate at 0% to 0.25% since December 16, 2008, and expects to maintain that rate for a continued extended period. I have argued for years that the FOMC should never have pushed the funds rate below 3%. Lower rates hurt citizens living on a fixed income, and invites Wall Street speculation. Monetary policy focuses on creating and popping asset bubbles, which has destroyed consumer confidence and leaves businesses reluctant to create jobs.

New Home Sales rose 17.5% in December to an annual rate of 329,000, but this is skewed by an unexplained 71.9% gain out West. For 2010 as a whole, single-family home sales fell 14.4% to a record low 321,000 units. The Commerce Department began tracking this statistic in 1963. The inventory of new homes is now at the lowest level in more than 40 years as home builders cannot obtain the credit needed to meet potential higher demand in 2011. The National Association of Home Builders indicated that the 71.9% rise in sales in the West may have been caused by contracts signed ahead of costly new building codes going into affect in some states this month.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage loan applications decreased 12.9% on a seasonal basis last week. The Refinance Index decreased 15.3% and reached the lowest level since last January. The Purchase Index fell 8.7%, to its lowest level since October, and 20.8% lower year over year.

Market Reaction to the Federal Reserve Statement

• The yield on the 10-Year US Treasury moved higher by about 10 basis points to 3.430. So what’s the point of QE2?
• Comex gold and Nymex crude oil rallied as that extended period of a 0% funds rate provides Wall Street with a license to speculate.
• The dollar and US stocks were little changed.

Stocks will peak this week, or will confirm recent highs as a peak over the next few weeks. In Dow terms, failing above 12,000 just as the Dow peaked above 14,000 in October 2007.

Stocks remain overvalued fundamentally according to ValuEngine with all 16 sectors overvalued and only 35.1% of all stocks undervalued. This follows last week’s ValuEngine Valuation Warning, which will renew if less than 35% of stocks are undervalued.

All major averages are extremely overbought on their weekly charts and my Proprietary Analytics show weekly risky levels at 12,162 Dow, 1333.9 S&P 500, 2805 Nasdaq, 5321 Dow Transports, and 828.86 Russell 2000. There is an 85% chance that the Dow will decline to my annual pivot at 11,491 at some point in 2011.

10-Year Note -- (3.422) The yield continues to trade in a range set in December -- between 3.568 on December 16 and 3.247 set on December 20. Today’s pivot is 3.454.

Comex Gold -- ($1345.9) Gold shows daily and semiannual value levels at $1325.1 and $1300.6 with quarterly and annual pivots at $1331.3 and $1356.5. Gold is trending below its 50-day simple moving average now at $1377.9.

Nymex Crude Oil -- ($87.57) Crude oil is now trending below its 50-day simple moving average at $88.00 with the 200-day at $80.48. My semiannual pivot remains at $87.52.

The Euro -- (1.3710) This week’s value level is 1.3398 with chart resistance at 1.3786 as the euro becomes overbought on its daily chart.

Daily Dow -- (11,985) The daily chart is overbought after setting a new high for the move at 12,020.52 on Wednesday. Daily and weekly risky levels are 12,062 and12,162. My annual value level remains at 11,491.’

Jobless Claims Rise to Highest Level Since October [ Jobless claims much worse than expected … stocks rally. ] NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The number of Americans filing unemployment claims rose to its highest level since October last week, the Labor Department said early Thursday. The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims increased by 51,000 to 454,000 in the week ended Jan.22 after dropping to 403,000 in the previous week. Economists were expecting initial claims to rise to 410,000, according to consensus estimates from Briefing.com. The number of Americans filing continuing claims -- those who have been receiving unemployment insurance for at least a week -- came in higher than expected as well at 3.99 million for the week ended Jan.15, an increase of 94,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 3.89 million. Consensus estimates projected continuing claims to drop slightly to 3.83 million from 3.86 million reported the previous week…’

Earnings Drag Dow Down to Another 12000 Closing Miss…Orders for goods expected to last at least three years fell and a reading of manufacturing activity in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's district slowed sharply in January…Japan's long-term credit rating to double-A-minus from double-A, citing concerns over the country's high debt levels…better-than-expected reading of pending sales of existing homes (foreclosures / distressed sales – Drudgereport: Foreclosure activity up across metro areas... ), coupled with a surprisingly large jump in jobless claims didn't add clarity to the economic outlook (dismal) …

Microsoft's Windows disappoints as PC sales wane (Reuters)

See-Saw Session Lands Stock Averages Just in the Black Midnight Trader ‘4:26 PM, Jan 27, 2011 --

• NYSE up 13.42 (+0.2%) to 8,207.06
• DJIA up 4.39 (+0.04%) to 11,990
• S&P 500 up 2.91 (+0.2%) to 1,300
• Nasdaq up 15.78 (+0.6%) to 2,755

GLOBAL SENTIMENT

• Hang Seng down 0.27%
• Nikkei up 0.74%
• FTSE down 0.07%

UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) NFLX continues evening gain that followed earnings beat.
(+) CAT beats with results.
(+) PLD in merger talks.
(+) SBUX continues evening drop that followed disappointing earnings.

DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) NOK has sharply pared early decline as investors ignore earnings beat to focus on outlook.
(-) RCL misses with sales.
(-) PSTI continues evening drop as stock offering set.
(-) T beats by a penny on Q4 EPS, revs in line.
(-) RPC gets exchange non-compliance letter.
(-) LDK selling shares.
(-) PG disappoints with results.

MARKET DIRECTION

Stock averages end with narrow gains after crossing between positive and negative territory today following disappointing economic data and a mixed batch of earnings from a range of blue-chips and tech shares. The Nasdaq's 0.6% rise at its preliminary close leads the averages.

First-time claims for unemployment benefits rose to 454,000 in the latest week, the highest level since late October. Economists had expected the number to rise to 407,000; weather was believed to be a factor in the latest report.

Also reported, orders for U.S.-made durable goods sank in December, falling 2.5%. Excluding transportation, orders rose 0.5%. The decrease was unexpected. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected a 1.0% rise in durables. This is the fourth drop in durables in the last five months.

Blue-chip earnings were mixed. Caterpillar (CAT) shares were just firmer late in the day after a sharp rise in profit there. AT&T (T) fell 3% on weakness in demand for new wireless contracts. Procter & Gamble (PG) fell 2.9% after an earnings miss. Netflix (NFLX) jumped sharply after reporting upbeat earnings.

Crude oil dropped to its lowest price in around two months after the disappointing economic data. March futures ended down $1.69, or 1.9%, at $85.64 a barrel, its lowest close since November 30. Gasoline and heating oil futures also slid.’

Is the Market Headed for a Sell-Off? [ Yes … I agree, except that fundamentally the longer term prospects are even worse than his bearish outlook suggests (don’t forget the debasement of the dollar, manipulation, and spending / printing money the nation doesn’t have in real terms behind this manipulated uptick) and summarized as follows: ‘I suspect that this rally is on its very last legs. We should see a very healthy 10% or so correction within the next 1-2 week period ... This market is headed for a sell-off. ] Zaky ‘As the market scrutinizes President Obama's State of the Union Address, and looks to Bernanke & Co. for any signs as to when the Federal Reserve's inflationary stance toward monetary policy might be coming to an end, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) will be attempting its 9th consecutive weekly gain for the first time since 1995.For the past 20 years, the Dow has managed countless 8-week rallies which have tended to almost always end very poorly on the 9th week. The only other time we've seen the Dow rally for 9 straight weeks was in the period between January and March 1995. Before that, we would have to go to the 1980's to find a 9 week period of consecutive gains.So the big question this week will be whether the Dow can buck the 8-week trend or whether we'll see a sell-off to end the week and the Dow streak at 8. What one should notice is how incredibly weak the overall market tends to become after 8 weeks of straight gains.

Below is a list of all the times the Dow gained 8 straight weeks since the mid-1990's, starting with the most recent:

1. March 2001 to April 2001

The Dow gained 8 straight weeks before experiencing a 100% retracement of the gains in a 20% correction which lasted all summer.

2. November 2003 to January 2004

The Dow gained exactly 8 weeks before topping out, trading sideways for 6 weeks and then traded down for nearly 10 months before rallying into year end. That 8-weeks period topped a nearly 9 month which was met with very heavy selling throughout the year.

3. October 2002 to December 2002

The Dow gained 8 straight weeks before putting in a decisive top and losing the entire move over the next 14 week period. The Dow experienced a near 30% slide after putting in a top at 8 consecutive up weeks.

4. January - March 1998

The Dow gained for 8 weeks straight, paused and then rallied a few more weeks before putting in a decisive top which led to a correction that retraced the entire move over the following 15 weeks. The Dow experienced a 25% correction after rallying relentlessly for 5 months.

5. January - March 1995

The Dow rallied 9 straight weeks, had a slight pull-back and then rallied all the way until year end. The market didn't see even a minor correction in all of 1995. The Dow rallied nearly 60% in 1995 alone.This history should outline just how over-extended this rally is becoming. There are only a few occasions in modern history where the Dow closed up for 8 consecutive weeks, and only 1 occasion in the last 16 years where the Dow closed in the green for 9 consecutive weeks.There is almost no profit taking in this market, which suggests that a lot of people and institutions have significant built-in gains. One piece of bad news and we're likely to see everyone heading to the exits at once. Rallies that have pull-backs tend to last significantly longer than those where we have months of consecutive weekly gains such as this one.Without consolidation and profit taking, these rallies tend to end very poorly. It is much healthier to see rallies where the DJIA pulls back every 2-3 weeks than these rallies where the Dow just shoots to the sky for 8 straight weeks. The above cases demonstrate this clearly.I suspect that this rally is on its very last legs. We should see a very healthy 10% or so correction within the next 1-2 week period. In fact, I believe it's quite possible that the highs of this rally can be put in during the next 1-2 trading sessions. Whatever the case may be, good buying opportunities present themselves in February and March. This market is headed for a sell-off.’

2011 Update: Another Lost Decade for Stocks - Are You Prepared? [ I agree that this is but a (manipulated) bull cycle in a secular bear market with substantially worse to come! ]Kopas ‘In February 2010, we published an article on Seeking Alpha entitled “Another Lost Decade for Stocks - Are You Prepared?,” wherein we argued that the year 2000 marked a secular (long-term) peak for U.S. stocks. A secular bear market is formed when a series of business cycles are linked together, establishing an extended period of stock market under-performance. Our objective here is to bring you up-to-date on the progress of this secular bear market and help you prepare for the next ten years.

The first benchmark we monitor is U.S. stock prices adjusted for inflation. In this chart below, we compare the U.S. stock market to the Shiller 10-year Price/Earnings ratio. This P/E ratio is an indication of investor confidence; a lack of that signals extreme valuation levels. Our conclusion is that investor psychology is still too optimistic and has a long way to go before reaching an undervalued stock market level.

[chart] click to enlarge

Updating our duration and valuation benchmarks, again we find progress, but not yet achieving the truly undervalued levels we expect to see toward the end of a secular bear market. Based upon previous cycles, it appears we are only slightly past the half way mark in terms of years, number of recessions, and valuations. A look at our chart and table comparing this to earlier secular bear markets illustrates our conclusion. We expect that a major bottom for inflation adjusted stock prices is still years away before stocks finally gravitate toward the target area outlined below.

[chart]

New Benchmark: Tobin Q Ratio

In this update we introduce another relative valuation benchmark created by Yale economics professor and Nobel laureate James Tobin, hence the name Tobin’s Q Ratio. The Q ratio is calculated as the total value of the stock market divided by the replacement cost of all its companies. Values greater than 1 indicate stock prices sell above their replacement cost and are therefore “expensive.” A reading below 1 indicates stocks can be bought below replacement cost and therefore indicates that it is cheaper to buy a company than to build one.

A long-term view of the Q ratio gives investors a good understanding of value, information about current risk levels and a method to assess probable returns for the long term. Secular bear markets historically bottom when the Q ratio declines to a bargain level less than .4, meaning stock prices sell for just 40% of replacement value. Today’s reading of 1.03 is above the average reading of .75 and considerably higher than the average secular low reading of .33. Investors beware; stocks have considerable more downside potential before the Q ratio truly reflects a great valuation. Buy and Hold tactics will continue to frustrate investors, just as they have in the past decade.

[chart]

In conclusion, none of the benchmarks we evaluate indicate we are anywhere close to a secular stock market bottom yet. In the meantime, a prudent and profitable investment strategy should be flexible enough to actively adjust portfolio asset allocation, depending on where we are in the business cycle and the direction of the secular trend.’

Home Prices Declining as Expected Minyanville/ Suttmeier ‘Reviewing My No.1 Theme for 2011: Home prices will resume a decline that began in mid-2006. We had the homebuyer tax credits expire in mid-2010, and government-sponsored mortgage modifications provided limited help. In 2011 we face continued foreclosure issues including questionable documentation, and banks have a record high Other Real Estate Owned (OREO). OREO is up to $53.2 billion at the end of the third quarter, up 338.2% since the end of 2007. Depressed home sales are being sold at a 30% to 35% discount, which reduces property appraisals at the county level. Homebuilders will have to compete with these lower prices and we need a mortgage modification program for all Americans, not just those at risk of losing their homes. QE2 (quantitative easing) is not working and US Treasury yields are higher, causing mortgage rates to rise. “The Great Credit Crunch” began with housing, and that foundation needs repair before Main Street can recover with sustainable job creation.

The S&P / Case-Shiller Home Price Index -- Points to lower home prices through November. [chart]

• The 20-City Composite is down 1.6% year over year in November and down 1.0% sequentially.
• The 20-City Composite is up only 3.3% from its April 2009 low, but remains about 50% above where it began in January 2000.
• Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, Portland (OR), Seattle, and Tampa hit new lows, below the levels set in April 2009.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) also shows a year-over-year house price decline of 4.3% in November. [chart] [chart]
House prices will continue to decline as long as the Conference Board’s reading on Consumer Confidence remains weak. The Conference Board's reading on Consumer Confidence jumped to 60.6 in January from 53.3 in December, but keep in mind that the neutral zone for this measure is 90 to 120, so consumer confidence remains extremely weak. Show me readings between 90 and 120 and home prices will stabilize.

Stocks will peak this week, or will confirm recent highs as a peak over the next few weeks

Stocks remain overvalued fundamentally according to ValuEngine with 15 of 16 sectors overvalued and only 38.9% of all stocks undervalued. This follows last week’s ValuEngine Valuation Warning where just 33.3% of all stocks were undervalued. Below 35% is the warning. All major averages are extremely overbought on there weekly charts and my Proprietary Analytics show weekly risky levels at 12,162 Dow, 1333.9 S&P 500, 2805 Nasdaq, 5321 Dow Transports, and 828.86 Russell 2000. There is an 85% chance that the Dow will decline to my annual pivot at 11,491 and the Dow Transports and Russell 2000 ended last week below their annual pivots at 5179 and 784.16 respectively.

10-Year Note -- (3.317) The yield continues to trade in a range set in December -- between 3.568 on December 16 and 3.247 set on December 20.

Comex Gold -- ($1333.3) Gold is now oversold on its daily chart with daily and semiannual value levels at $1316.1 and $1300.6 with quarterly and annual pivots at $1331.3 and $1356.5. Gold is trending below its 50-day simple moving average now at $1378.5.

Nymex Crude Oil -- ($87.82) Crude oil is now trending below its 50-day simple moving average at $87.96 with the 200-day at $80.48. My semiannual pivot remains at $87.52.

The Euro -- (1.3643) This week’s value level is 1.3398 with chart resistance at 1.3786 as the euro becomes overbought on its daily chart.

Daily Dow -- (11,977) The daily chart is overbought after setting a new high for the move at 11,985.97 Tuesday morning. This week’s risky level is 12,162. My annual value level remains at 11,491. There are negative divergences for the S&P 500, Nasdaq, Transports, and Russell 2000. Dow Transports are flirting with a close below its 50-day simple moving average at 5047.’

Fed's Broken Record: Recovery Too Weak For Job Growth Schaefer ‘The Federal Reserve left its benchmark federal funds rate unchanged Wednesday and made no change to its plan to purchase $600 billion in longer-term Treasury securities by the end of June.According to the afternoon statement issued by the Federal Open Market Committee, “the economic recovery is continuing, though at a rate insufficient to bring about a significant improvement in labor market conditions.”A confluence of factors continue to constrain household spending, including high unemployment (9.4% at last check), modest income growth, lower housing wealth and tight credit. The central bank addressed the rising prices in commodity markets, chiefly oil and food, noting that “although commodity prices have risen, longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable and measures of underlying inflation have been trending downward.”January’s vote passed without dissent, but that was due more to a change in the makeup of the committee than any shift in the support for the path of Chairman Ben Bernanke. Inflation hawk Thomas Hoenig, who has dissented against the Fed’s easy monetary policy and asset purchase programs, is no longer a voting member after his FOMC term ended at year’s end.Given the lack of anything new in the Fed statement, it came as little surprise that major U.S. equity indexes held their ground after the release. The Dow was up 26 points at 12,003, the S&P 500 7 points to 1,298 and the Nasdaq set the pace rallying 22 points to 2,742. The euro was on hold in the high $1.36 range, while oil prices maintained their earlier advance above $87 a barrel and gold was narrowly positive on the day at $1338 an ounce.’

Goldman Sachs Can’t Say It Didn’t Get Bailed Out Anymore — It Kept Billions From AIG Even though Goldman Sachs execs testified on the Hill that AIG bailout funds it received did not stay with the bank, but were dispersed as compensation to clients and institutions on the other side of a prop trade gone wrong, it actually kept $2.9 billion for itself, according to a report by the FCIC.

Audit the Fed Reintroduced Congressman Ron Paul (TX-14) today introduced HR 459, The Audit the Fed Bill to the 112th Congress.

While the Financial Crisis Commission Report Looks Impressive At First Glance, It Doesn’t Hit Hard Enough … and Won’t Lead to Any Real Change The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission largely blames Greenspan, Bernanke, Geithner, Summers, the rating agencies, SEC and big banks for the economic crisis.

Gold Usurps Dollar As Safe Haven for Worried Investors During the past few years of global economic turmoil, the securities markets have been driven by fear. When fear drives the market, the result is unusual market behavior and decisions by investors that would normally not occur were fear not in the driver’s seat.

Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Slams Greenspan, Bernanke, Geithner, Paulson, Summers, SEC, Rating Agencies and Big Banks for Causing Crisis The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is releasing its report Thursday.

Marc Faber’s Most Provocative Interview Ever: Compares Obama To A Prostitute, Goes Long Treasurys Earlier, Marc Faber appeared on Bloomberg TV, in what may go down in history as his most scandalous interview ever.

Paper Money Madness: Inflation-Fueled Economic Growth Does Not Indicate That An Economy Is Getting Stronger If the U.S. economy “grows” by 4 percent in 2011, but by the end of the year we are paying $3.00 for a loaf of bread, $4.00 for a gallon of milk and $5.00 for a gallon of gasoline are the American people going to be better off economically or worse off?

Dollar Jumps Vs Yen After Japan’s Debt Rating Cut ABC | The dollar jumped against the Japanese yen Thursday after ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Japan’s credit rating because of the Asian country’s deepening debts, but hit another 2-month low against the euro and lost ground against the British pound.

How to Abolish the Fed and Convert to Gold as Money Activist Post | Now that Ron Paul has become Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee, the managers at the Fed are facing the dreaded time when they may have to reveal the secret dealings that they use to help their political and banking friends worldwide.

Obama’s Spending Freeze Just ‘Spare Change’: Roubini CNBC.com | Obama proposed a five-year freeze on non-discretionary defense spending for five year to lower the deficit by about $400 billion.

(1-27-11) Dow 11,989 +4 Nasdaq 2,755 +15 S&P 500 1,299 +2 [CLOSE- OIL $85.64 (-54% for year 2008) (RECORD TRADING HIGH $147.27) GAS $3.00 (reg. gas in LAND OF FRUITS AND NUTS $3.20 REG./ $3.29 MID-GRADE/ $3.39 PREM./ $3.79 DIESEL) / GOLD $1,313 (+24% for year 2009) / SILVER $26.65 (+47% for year 2009) PLATINUM $1,774 (+56% for year 2009) / DOLLAR= .72 EURO, 82 YEN, .62 POUND STERLING, ETC. (How low can you go - LOWER)/ http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/update 10 YR NOTE YIELD 3.38% …..… 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 6 Theories On Why the Stock Market Has Rallied 3-9-10 [archived website file] Risks Lurk for ETF Investors 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 Week Ahead: Risk Is Off the Cliff; Unwind Has Begun Jan 31, 2010 01-13-10 Forecast for 2010 from Seeking Alpha Contributor 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 Current Economic / Fiscal Charts Trendsresearch.com forecast for 2009 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 MUST READ: JEREMY GRANTHAM’S QUARTERLY UPDATE 25 January 2010 (850 on the S&P) by TPC 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

CBO: Social Security to run permanent deficits (AP)

No stemming red ink: Federal deficit to hit $1.5T (AP)

Deficit Outlook Darkens Wall Street Journal - WASHINGTON—The federal budget deficit will reach a record of nearly $1.5 trillion in 2011 due to the weak economy, higher spending and fresh tax cuts, congressional budget analysts said, ... Social Security now seen to run permanent deficits The Associated Press

Why the CBO may not believe all its own deficit projections Christian Science Monitor

“Obama Gun Grabbing” Tops Google Trends Infowars | Thanks to our fantastic listeners, more awareness has been raised of the Obama administration’s upcoming assault on the Second Amendment, with “Obama gun grabbing” hitting top spot on Google Trends today.

Obama to Deliver Gun-grabbing Speech Soon Kurt Nimmo | White House will unveil a brand spanking new gun control effort designed to strengthen previous anti-Second Amendment laws on the books.

Shocker: Citizen Spy Networks to be Given Immunity Paul Joseph Watson | House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King wants to shield “good citizens who report suspicious activity” from the consequences of their actions

Police trained that FEMA camps are perfectly normal Milo Nickels | Placing citizens in camps is not normal, it’s not necessary, and it never will be.

Journalist Backs Off Obama Birth Certificate Claim Kurt Nimmo | ‘Neil (a close friend of Evans) never told me there was no birth certificate,” he told Fox News. “I never talked to him.”Journalist Mike Evans is backing off a claim that Hawaii governor Neil Abercrombie told him he was unable to find Obama’s original birth certificate after a search of state and hospital archives … A former Hawaii elections clerk, Tim Adams, signed an affidavit swearing he was told by his supervisors in Hawaii that no long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate existed for Obama in Hawaii, according to Jerome R. Corsi and WorldNetDaily. According to Adams, neither Queens Medical Center nor Kapi’olani Medical Center in Honolulu had any record of Obama having been born in their medical facilities. “Senior officers in the City and County of Honolulu Elections Division told me on multiple occasions that no Hawaii long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate existed for Senator Obama in the Hawaii Department of Health,” Adams’ affidavit reads, “and there was no record that any such document had ever been on file in the Hawaii Department of Health or any other branch or department of the Hawaii government.”…’

Drudgereport: EGYPT ON FIRE

Egypt rounds up Muslim Brotherhood leaders...
Internet shut down; no TWITTER, FACEBOOK...
RAW VIDEO: Unarmed protester shot dead in streets...
Jobless Claims... Rise
Foreclosure activity up across metro areas...
DNA: Humans 97% same as orangutans … 98% same as chimps ...

HE'S BACK: Rahm ruled eligible for mayoral run... [ No surprise here … lots of juice / cash to go around … Hollywood, Jobs, Trump help Rahm haul in $10.6M … [ No surprise here, mobster trump (how was trump missed in the recent big mafia bust since he too is a corrupt bribe paying/receiving, drug money laundering among other crimes, mobster), hollywood flakes like magic mushroom eater sorkin, LSD aficionado jobs (I now realize what that premium priced disfunctional though fanciful pizzazz of apple products that I would refuse to pay extra for stems from-jobs says he owes it all to his LSD use-don’t forget, apple’s protected source code, kernel, and consequent stability existed pre-jobs and I believe, particularly after actually using an iphone, that the same is a way to extract money from an ever increasingly dumbed down / dumb (and I think at the least, eccentric if not obsessively pathological if you witnessed the near compulsive use of these extraneous-rich, in a trivially frivolous way, devices) american public by pandering to their desire for superfluous functionality which requires additional purchases through apple-I do give them credit for the more elaborate interface / touchscreen and the ipad, all of which is currently being duplicated ex-apple and presenting greater values/utility/functionality for the money-so also credit for pioneering), zionists including spielberg, etc.; no small wonder that chicago and the nation are down the tubes. ] ... ]

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

U.S. seeks balanced approach to Mideast turmoil (Washington Post) [ Wow! Talkin’ about balance. The response might be, ‘better late than never’, yet it won’t take long for all to figure out that balance means heavily weighted to zionist israel / american interests which of course, ultimately at this rate they will have none of. Indeed, america’s pro-israel stance in the region is now as good as it gets; which ain’t too good and fading fast based on … reality. It’s what they do, not what they say. Then there’s turmoil, and unforgotten turmoil brought to the region courtesy of israel / american / nato ‘adventurism’ / manipulation / conflict / war which animus will linger long after this more parochial turmoil has subsided. For america to believe the old ways will pull through is a dream that will become a nightmare for american aspirations in the region. ]

Federal Reserve stays course with bond-buying plan (Washington Post) [ Plan? Did someone say Plan? Plan for whom? If you answered fraudulent wall you’d be correct. Anyone else, not so much!

Fed Can’t Prop Up Stock Market Forever USA Watchdog | From the very beginning of QE2, it was no secret the Federal Reserve wanted the stock market to rise.

“The Fed No Longer Even Denies that the Purpose of Its Latest Blast of Bond Purchases … Is To Drive Up Wall Street infowars.com Of course, rather than admit that the Fed is failing at driving down rates, rising rates are now being heralded as a sign of success.

TrimTabs: “No Amount Of QE Will Be Able To Keep The Current Stock Market Bubble From Bursting” Zero Hedge | If the money to boost stock prices by almost $9 trillion from the March 2009 lows did not come from the traditional players, it had to have come from somewhere else. We believe that place is the Fed. ] Economic expansion is continuing, a Fed committee said in a statement, but not quickly enough.

Samuelson: Deficit dodgeball (Washington Post) [ In past posts I’ve disagreed with the tenor if not substance of Mr. Samuelson’s articles, even so far, if my memory on this unimportant point serves me, alluding to his need to bone up on basic economics by way of that once ubiquitous Samuelson economics text (is there a familial relation?), gently implying him to be a soft-touch / lightweight with regard to all things economic / business; but, this really takes the cake and I find his article, euphemistically speaking, sorely lacking. Even his dodgeball reference, though I might be accused of nit-picking, is misplaced. This is no game. The literal life or death of the nation is at stake. The insurmountable debt is unsustainable. Yet, nowhere in his article is there even a mention of the perpetual, needless wars abroad which I would argue have worsened the nation’s security position (blowback, ill will, geopolitical antipathy, etc.). Indeed, this huge expenditure on these needless wars is literally frittered away and even stolen (360 tons of $100 bills flown into Iraq disappear, etc.), abroad denying the economic benefits of such if spent domestically. His lip service in two words, ‘(b) downsizing other programs, including defense’ ( and no mention of the fraudulent wall street computerized high-frequency programmed churn-and-earn / a negative in real economic terms) , falls short and his article is sophomoric at best.

Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Slams Greenspan, Bernanke, Geithner, Paulson, Summers, SEC, Rating Agencies and Big Banks for Causing Crisis The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is releasing its report Thursday.

Marc Faber’s Most Provocative Interview Ever: Compares Obama To A Prostitute, Goes Long Treasurys Earlier, Marc Faber appeared on Bloomberg TV, in what may go down in history as his most scandalous interview ever.

Paper Money Madness: Inflation-Fueled Economic Growth Does Not Indicate That An Economy Is Getting Stronger If the U.S. economy “grows” by 4 percent in 2011, but by the end of the year we are paying $3.00 for a loaf of bread, $4.00 for a gallon of milk and $5.00 for a gallon of gasoline are the American people going to be better off economically or worse off?

Fed to Pursue QE Even as Business Lending Gains The Federal Reserve will probably push forward with $600 billion in securities purchases even as the biggest jump in business loans in more than two years adds to signs the U.S. economy is gaining strength.

Obama’s Spending Freeze Just ‘Spare Change’: Roubini CNBC.com | Obama proposed a five-year freeze on non-discretionary defense spending for five year to lower the deficit by about $400 billion.

Bank of England chief Mervyn King: standard of living to plunge at fastest rate since 1920s The Telegraph | Households face the most dramatic squeeze in living standards since the 1920s.

CBO: Social Security to run permanent deficits (AP)

No stemming red ink: Federal deficit to hit $1.5T (AP)

Deficit Outlook Darkens Wall Street Journal - WASHINGTON—The federal budget deficit will reach a record of nearly $1.5 trillion in 2011 due to the weak economy, higher spending and fresh tax cuts, congressional budget analysts said, ... Social Security now seen to run permanent deficits The Associated Press

Why the CBO may not believe all its own deficit projections Christian Science Monitor

Stop Saying 'Mancession'! Unemployment Now Harder On Women

National / World

Altered States of the Union Harrison ‘By now, coverage of last night's State of the Union is saturating every orifice of the next-generation media landscape. From Twitter feeds to real-time blogs to traditional outlets and back, everyone has an opinion and it's high time they share it!

We, at Minyanville, sympathize with the information deflation -- trying to consume what's out there is akin to sipping water from a fire hose -- and it's our job to provide a slightly different take on events that in one way or another shape financial markets and those involved in them (not necessarily in that order).

Through that lens, I'll share some top-line vibes as we hike up our weekly Hump:

• What's the over/under on the man hours put into the seating chart last night?
• How much of the speech was rhetoric and how much was realistic?
• One of the President's campaign promises was the specter of diplomacy and working with the global community. Last night, he stressed the need to “out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world."
• I get the need for competitiveness within a global community but that statement seemed to encapsulate the "globalization vs. protectionism" dynamic that we've long mused was an unintended consequence of policy that injects drugs that mask the symptoms rather than medicine that cures the disease.
• Sidebar: Ben Bernanke received a 66% approval rating from global investors. Ya think? I mean, seriously -- why wouldn't he? My question is two-fold. First, when did a grand experiment become a popularity contest? Second, I'm a size seller of 66% when our children take the same poll (much like Alan Greenspan's legacy failed to withstand the test of time).
• Is it me or was there a think bubble with a lamb chop in it sitting above John Boehner's head as he watched the President from behind?
• I actually thought the President was speaking to me when he said, "There are some corners that suggest we're changing the rules in the middle of the game." He owned it -- he said, "the rules have changed' -- and veered the conversation in the direction of the global competitiveness via the Internet.
• What he missed on that front, in my humble opinion, is that the Internet was the most deflationary invention of all time! You see that pen in front of you? You can buy that pen in 17,000 places in a few clicks of your mouse, which is awesome -- if you want to buy a pen. If you manufacture and sell pens however, it, in a word, sucks.
• Deficit reduction and tax cuts are not peas and carrots, Forrest.
• Full disclosure -- I voted for Obama because I believed the enormity of the economic condition rendered it a "push" between the candidates (I'm not defending that rationalization, I'm simply being honest in sharing it).
• The swing factor, for me, was the specter of diplomacy vs. the potential for a "harder line," which in my view would have fast-tracked our tricky trifecta of societal acrimony, social unrest, and geopolitical strife.
• I'm all for "being part of the solution rather than being part of the problem" -- that's how we roll in the 'Ville -- but the first step in solving a problem is admitting that you have one. As I watched the crowd last night, I couldn’t help feel that it was a performance, and until we can get away from popularity contests for public policy and move the needle towards tough love, my fear is that the boom and bust cycle will continue with increasingly rapid succession, with excess breeding excess, until something truly unfortunate occurs. That’s not a proclamation on timing, it’s an inevitable consequence that looms large, albeit currently invisible.
• But of course, that's just one man's humble opinion.’

State Of The Union Won't Help State Of The Market Lenzner ‘I was ready to predict that the promise of a budget freeze, lower corporate taxes and upbeat talk would pay off in higher stock prices, stronger dollar, lower interest rates, rally in the bond market and lower gold, commodity prices. But, when I woke this morning I realized the freeze was only on 10% of the budget, a $40 billion reduction of a $1.5 trillion deficit. I understood that the possibility of a lower corporate tax rate was going to be paid for by getting rid of tax loopholes used by big business. Not very many details either. And then I tried to imagine the cost of high speed rails, clean energy technology and faster internet access– and just exactly who was going to pay for all this infrastructure over the next 2 or 3 decades.And I realized once again I had gotten hopeful about rhetoric and Democratic Senators sitting next to Republican Senators. Reality’s always less lustrous than rhetoric. Being a musical comedy fanatic all I could think of was “Promises, Promises.” David Stockman’s stark reality check;; an admonition by Reagan’s former budget chief to Obama for not telling it like it really is last night, startled me out of a momentary reverie. I don’t think the American public could take it. Then, I looked to see what Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke had been saying. Seems he was waxing eloquent about the S&P 500 index being up 20% plus and the broader Russell 2000 running up 30% plus–QE2– monetary policy– not fiscal policy– had come through for the investor class. “It’s like a campfire reliant on gasoline to maintain; when you stop pouring it on, it’s over; an absurd way to run an economy,” emailed one of my market gurus.’

V for Victory Promo: You Are The Resistance TheAlexJonesChannel | All over the world, defenders of freedom are making their mark. Be victorious and take action.

Republicans Revive Proposed Legislation to Force ISPs to Retain User Data Kurt Nimmo | Rep. Sensenbrenner wants to force ISPs to hold data on customers without probable cause.

UN Human Rights Official Under Fire For Describing 9/11 As A Cover Up Steve Watson | The majority of the members of the 9/11 Commission have questioned the official account.

V for Victory: Latest Entries Infowars.com | Submissions to Alex Jones’ V For Victory campaign continue to flood in.

Abercrombie Admits Failure To Discover Obama Birth Certificate Paul Joseph Watson | Revelations of close friend of Hawaii Governor contradict official claim that privacy laws prompted Abercrombie to abandon search.

Hersh: High-ranking members US military part of ‘Knights of Malta,’ ‘Opus Dei,’ Webster ‘ Speaking at a campus operated by Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, [Seymour] Hersh said he was working on a new book that details “how eight or nine neoconservative, radicals if you will, overthrew the American government.” “It’s not only that the neocons took it over but how easily they did it — how Congress disappeared, how the press became part of it, how the public acquiesced,” he continued, according to the published quotes. [...] He further claimed that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Vice Admiral William McRaven and others in the JSOC were members of the “Knights of Malta” and “Opus Dei,” two little known Catholic orders. “They do see what they’re doing — and this is not an atypical attitude among some military — it’s a crusade, literally,” Hersh reportedly continued. “They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians. They’re protecting them from the Muslims [as in] the 13th century. And this is their function.” ‘

Ron Paul Attacks State Of The Union Theater Congressman Ron Paul dismissed last night’s State of the Union political theater of making Republicans and Democrats sit together as part of a tenuous symbolic gesture in connection with the Tucson shootings as nothing more than “a bunch of fluff”.

Global Elite Cite China As Model For Economic New World Order Power in the global economy is shifting from the advanced world to Asia as recovery takes hold, Davos analysts said Wednesday, as political and business elites began their annual meeting.

Drudgereport: ANALYSIS: Obama's Plan Would Cost Another $20 Billion, Raise Taxes...
Rand Paul proposes $500 billion in federal budget cuts...
OBAMA WARNS AMERICANS: World economic rules have changed...
Address viewership falls from last year...
PAPER: Spaced out speech...
ROUBINI: Spending Freeze Just 'Spare Change'...

SHOCK CLAIM: Hawaii Gov. Admits There Are No Obama Birth Records In Hawaii...
RETRACTION: 'I misspoke and I apologize,' reporter says...

STATE OF THE UNION: 81-Year-Old Man, 75-Year-Old Wife Severely Beaten In $18 Robbery (new york, s.i.)...

On public investment, Republicans again show they aren't serious (Washington Post) [ I realize that Mr. Pearlstein means well and as a journalist / columnist / reporter he must write something; but, I take umbrage at any purported distinctions between the two parties when measured against what they do in broader strokes ( perpetual war, over-spending, protection for wall street frauds, etc.) and their dissembling which I find nauseating and beyond the pale. ] When talking about the federal government and its budget deficit, Republican politicians love to score points by noting that "you'd never run your household or your business that way." Then again, you'd never run your household or your business by ignoring investment.

IED casualties in Afghanistan spike (Washington Post) [ Yeah! That progress thing’s a b**ch! What do you expect them ( Petraeus optimistic on war ) to say? That the money spent / diverted to these lucrative for the few war profiteers (360 tons of $100 bills flown into Iraq disappear, etc.) has been worth the defacto bankruptcy of the nation. The new military brass as with gates’ cia are without honor, from illegal drugs, to illegal arms, to war crimes, etc.. ]

Home prices fall, heightening fears of double dip (Washington Post) [ How ‘bout just one big, continuing dip except for the protected frauds on wall street who precipitated the decline! The debt levels are now insurmountable, the nation’s defacto bankrupt, and the ‘no recession fed’s’ exacerbating all with there new bubble for wall street’s sake that insiders and the frauds on wall street will sell into. ] Only four areas posted year-over-year gains in November, including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and the Washington region.

Meyerson: On doing business (Washington Post) [ Come on! Wake up! There isn’t one industry except entertainment (film particularly, and of course, hands on health care) that can’t be done substantially cheaper (if not better, and some would even argue better) in China. That’s the fact, jack! That’s reality! That’s the structural shift that’s been the source of all that wall street cash including huge, disproportionately ridiculous executive pay packages (along with with wall streets protected frauds) … you know, that great sucking sound that Ross Perot alluded to!

Grading the SOTU / Roboinson (Washington Post) [ I say this sincerely and without even a tinge of sarcasm that anyone who even watched / listened to wobama’s ‘speech’ should be embarrassed / ashamed of themselves (not that I listened to dumbya bush’s either). The grade is ‘f’ as in failure as is his failed presidency, as in ‘f’ himself. Wobama is but a pathetic b*** s*** artist and a total embarrassment! Previous: Gerson: Obama, more deficit hawk than GOP? (Washington Post) [ Come on! Where do they get this stuff? Wobama not only continued war criminal dumbya bush’s perpetual war, fraudulent wall street protectorate, etc., free-spending ways, but added to the deficit in his own profligate ways; and, as I’ve said before, democrats / republicans are but distinctions without significant differences. Moreover, there’s the literal rearrangement of the congressional deck-chair seating in the u.s.s. titanic halls for the non-event state of the union (wobama the ‘b’ for b*** s***, more empty words belied by actions / non-action) … Previous: Topic A: What should be in State of the Union? (Washington Post) [ Well, at the very least, it should be noted that the states of the union are crumbling (see bankruptcy headlines infra), ergo, the state of the union is crumbling and precarious indeed. The problem with and for wobama is that he’s been there, done that, and his words don’t match his actions, as is so regarding his not easily forgotten campaign promises (from perpetual wars, to no pros the frauds on wall street, to new ‘bubble building’ as in last precursor to crash supplanting sound economics. Blame it on the teleprompter … sounds like a plan! All we really know for certain is what definitely will not be in the state of the union; viz., a solution to pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america’s intractable decline. ]

Drudgereport: BANKRUPTCY FOR STATES STUDIED
CA DECLARES EMERGENCY
Facing $1.6B shortfall, San Fran pays employees $170 million in bonuses...

What Happened to 15 Million Jobs?
Wall Street's 'Bernanke' rally runs into headwinds...
Home sales hit 13-year low...
UPDATE: Hawaii governor says Obama's birth record 'exists' but can't produce it...

Obama daughter practices Chinese with Hu...
Chinese Tiger ate US Dove for lunch...

FBI 'largest' Mafia takedown...
Flowchart...
'Vinny Carwash', 'The Fang', 'Tony Bagels', 'Johnny Pizza', 'Baby Shacks', 'Jack the Wack', 'Junior Lollipops', 'Bobby Glasses'...

MTV PORN: Parents Television Council Calls for Fed Investigation Into 'SKINS'...
VIACOM PRESENTS: SEX AT 15!
Young Star Defends Show's Racy Content: 'It's What Teens Are Doing'...
TACO BELL Pulls Ads...
Teacher Suspended After 2nd Graders 'Sex Acts In Class'...
Joan Rivers calls Michelle Obama 'Blackie O'... [ ‘Blackie O’ … Very funny! … I like that … but don’t look for joan on ‘The View’ anytime soon, or invites from the whitehouse either … but of course, and ‘Blackie O’ might retort that joan will be too busy anyway, reprising the role of ‘The Joker’ in the next Batman film by the gifted director, Christopher Nolan, with AH new Catwoman … meow! ]

]

Robinson: It's hard to argue with that speech.

Shiller Ratio Points to U.S. Equities Being Significantly Overvalued [ Yes they are indeed; so take this especially great opportunity to sell, take profits since there’s much, much worse to come! That computer-programmed spike into the close to keep suckers suckered does not change the aforesaid. ]

The Great Debt Shift: No Wonder Currencies Are Under Pressure Browne ‘If one were asked to describe the major global economic changes that have unfolded since the financial crisis began, a good starting place would be the massive shift of debt from the private to the public sector. Attempting to arrest a deepening crisis, governments all around the world have bailed out businesses and companies by transferring bad debts to the public books. Although these moves have provided some current stability (after all, governments are much less likely to default), the long-term consequences may be dire.

Two of the world's largest economies, the EU ($16 trillion) and the US ($14 trillion), have become the leading practitioners of private-to-public debt shifting. The US has assumed the debts of banks, insurers, mortgage holders, and even entire industrial sectors. The European Union has done the same for entire states. The resulting public debt levels are, predictably, placing strains on both the dollar and the euro.

Worse still, the bailouts have created a spirit of apathy toward debt accumulation. Western governments have embarked on a debt binge for the ages. Already, the credit ratings of the United States and some of the EU's core countries, such as France and the UK, are being questioned.

While this socialization of private debt has created deep citizen resentment, it remains to be seen whether political pressure is enough to hold back the tide. In the US, the forces of fiscal restraint appear to have the upper hand at present; but, this late in the game, it is far from certain that the newly elected fiscal hawks will be able to avert civil unrest and debt default.

It is worth noting that the debt shift has offered some near-term benefits. Relieved of repayment anxiety, many companies have posted very promising earnings reports in recent months (one needs to only glance at Detroit). Despite continued demand weakness, these companies have worked hard to improve their balance sheets and raise operating margins. The resulting rally in share prices has given rise to a belief that recovery is at hand.

However, despite buoyant share prices, unemployment continues at dangerously high levels, depressing tax revenues and leading to much greater entitlement spending. This has made public debt levels rise even faster.

Total world direct sovereign debt, excluding guarantees and unfunded medical and pension obligations, is some $41.6 trillion dollars. When the $2.9 trillion owed by global municipalities is included, total direct public sector debt is over $50 trillion. Against this total, even the wealth of cash-rich nations such as China ($2.85 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves) and Japan ($1.1 trillion in reserves) pale into insignificance.

With so little credit to soak up the future financing needs of the US and the EU, it is no wonder that both their currencies are coming under pressure. It should be no surprise that Chinese President Hu began his state visit to the US by warning that the debased dollar was causing much of the world's monetary problems - and was thus no longer credible as the world's reserve. Once unshielded by that great privilege, I forecast that the US dollar will plummet.

In many ways, the euro may fare little better. The EU has organized a $1 trillion rescue package for its smaller members, but, in practice, there is not enough money for all the troubled peripherals, let alone a core state like France or Spain. Last week, the EU suggested that Greece should be allowed to default and restructure much of its debt. The Irish Times reported that the EU has allowed Ireland to print its own euros to settle the debts of its banks. Will it allow Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Italy and France to do the same? If so, what credibility will remain for the euro?

Possible because a major currency collapse is unprecedented in living memory, investors have been slow to react. While the markets are calm at present, we mustn't forget that the nature of panic is that it is sudden. It can erupt quickly and overwhelm the unprepared. When it does, even supposedly rock-solid assets like Treasury bonds may be discounted severely.

In such a climate, gold and silver are as faithful as Old Yeller.’

Bad Omens: Stocks Get Bad Breadth, Small Caps Lose Steam Dobosz ‘ “Jump on the bus or get left behind,” shouted Mr. Market last September as stocks began a persistent ascent without much of a pause that has continued into 2011. In recent weeks, however, we’re starting to see slippage under the surface that suggests the overall market has trouble ahead…’

Stick Save Bulls: Dave's Daily - ‘The headline writers couldn't keep up with the late day "stick save" as most had stocks down on the day. But, editors got things changed quickly. Bulls want Dow 12,000 and with another round of POMO the easy money is there. It's not just us stating the obvious, Jeremy Grantham's Pavlov's Dog on QE2 [ ‘But be aware that you are living on borrowed time as a bull; on our data, the market is worth about 910 on the S&P 500, substantially less than current levels, and most risky components are even more overpriced. ‘ ] essay and even MarketWatch discussed this with "Market Addicted to QE." As far as most are concerned, even Bernanke, B still follows A and one goal of QE is to raise stock prices. Commodity prices were lower Tuesday as oil continues to slide while precious metals fell. Remember, it's options expiration at the COMEX Wednesday so caution is advised. Economic data was mixed with home prices falling sharply while Consumer Confidence beat expectations. Earnings rolled in, and with few exceptions, continued to beat analysts' estimates by wide margins (What do they pay these guys?) Volume improved dramatically from Monday while per the WSJ, breadth mixed to negative.’

Can You Hear the Waterfall? Nyaradi ‘One of the most intriguing aspects of financial writing is the various colorful aphorisms that abound in this business. We enjoy comments like “the trend is your friend,” and we hope to “let our winners run” while we watch “bulls and bears” struggle for control of the hearts and minds of the markets.One of my favorites and I think the one most applicable for today is the concept of the “waterfall” or the “waterfall decline.” It’s certainly a visual image and one that can clearly be seen on charts like the recent Shanghai Composite that we’ll take a look at in a moment. With each passing day, the probability of a waterfall decline in U.S. markets becomes more likely…’

Greece Default to Trigger Break of European Union by 2016, Bloomberg Poll Shows A Bloomberg survey shows 48 percent believe one or more nations will drop out of the European Union within the next 2-5 years. Only 23 percent believe a nation will never drop out of the EU. Meanwhile, 74 percent believe it is likely Greece will default on their sovereign debt and 53 percent believe Ireland will default.

U.S. Trade Deficit Exports 1.3M Jobs Hansen ‘In Dr. Michael Pettis Econintersect article - Currency Wars and Trade Woes but China Marches On - he concluded:

So that leaves the U.S. Either it can accept rising trade deficits as it absorbs the employment problems of the rest of the world, or it can move to intervene in trade. I don’t know what it will do, but I am pretty confident that the domestic debate will intensify. One way or the other the crisis in international trade is far from over. In fact the day after I finished this entry the Financial Times, again, had a new headline: “Trade war looming, warns Brazil.”

The burr under my saddle is jobs. I may leave that theme for a time but always return. Trade deficits export jobs. Some think it is only money on balance sheet - but it is jobs that are exported when when a country imports manufactured goods.

Some quick facts using unadjusted data:

• Through November 2010 according to U.S. Census, the USA has manufactured $4.55 trillion of goods in 2010.
• Total employment in the manufacturing industry is 11,660,000 according to the BLS. This means that for every $1,000,000 of production in 2010, 2.56 people were employed.
• Through November 2010 according to US Census data, the USA has exported $0.8 trillion of manufactured goods - or 17.5% of manufacturing.
• The total import of manufactured goods through November 2010 is a little more than $1.3 trillion making the manufactured goods trade gap more than $0.5 trillion.
• The manufacturing trade gap of $500,000,000,000 ($0.5 trillion) times 2.56 people per $1 million of manufacturing equals approximately 1.3 million jobs…’

Fed to Pursue QE Even as Business Lending Gains The Federal Reserve will probably push forward with $600 billion in securities purchases even as the biggest jump in business loans in more than two years adds to signs the U.S. economy is gaining strength.

WELCOME TO STAGFLATION: UK Economy Shrinks While Inflation Set To Rise 4% The UK economy seems to be quietly slipping back into recession. UK economy contracted 0.5% in the fourth quarter compared to the consensus of 0.5% growth.

Scotia-Mocatta Sells Out Of 1 Kilo Silver Bars It seems that not a day passes by without some major dealer running out of a precious metal in inventory.

Russia Imposes Inflation-Driven Price Controls: Will Use Price Caps On “Socially Important” Commodities Russia has just announced it would proceed with price caps on a variety of foodstuffs, from buckwheat, to potatoes, assorted fruits and vegetables and all other commodities it deems “socially important” accoding to Russian newspaper gazeta.ru.

National / World

Naked Body Scanner Blamed For Woman’s Death Steve Watson | Those who pass through the scanners will be at risk of long term health effects, such as cancers, according to some scientists.

Ventura Lawsuit To Re-Ignite TSA Revolt? Paul Joseph Watson | Deadline for TSA to respond to Bob Barr FOIA is today.

Moscow Attack May Result in Checkpoints Outside of Airports Kurt Nimmo | Less than a day after the fatal suicide bomb attack on Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, pilots and aviation security experts are calling for a reevaluation of airport security.

Wall Street Partying in Davos as Bankers Escape Culpability for Crisis As Wall Street chief executive officers flock to the World Economic Forum, they’ll be breathing a sigh of relief along with the Swiss mountain air: There are no panels on compensation or redesigning financial regulation.

E-mails Suggest Bear Stearns Cheated Clients Out of Billions Lawsuit alleges the bank took extreme measures to defraud investors, and now JPMorgan may be on the hook.

Carnegie Touts Green Credentials Of Genghis Khan For Slaughtering 40 Million People Environmentalists are promoting a new historical hero in the fight against global warming, none other than Mongol warlord Genghis Khan, with the Carnegie Institution touting the emperor’s green credentials because his empire slaughtered no less than 40 million people – an act that helped lower carbon emissions and keep the planet cool.

22 Facts About California That Make You Wonder Why Anyone Would Still Want To Live In That Hellhole Of A State Why in the world would anyone still want to live in the state of California at this point? The American Dream Saturday, January 22, 2011

Why in the world would anyone still want to live in the state of California at this point? Residents of California have been forced to endure a brutally oppressive level of taxation for many years, and yet the state of California has still managed to find itself on the verge of bankruptcy. California Governor Jerry Brown declared a “fiscal emergency” in his state on Thursday, but nobody is even pretending that such a declaration is actually going to help matters. Brown wants to cut even deeper into the state budget (even after tens of billions have already been slashed out of it in recent years) and he wants to explore ways to raise even more revenue.

Meanwhile, the standard of living in California is going right into the toilet. Housing values are plummeting. Unemployment has risen above 20 percent in many areas of the state. Crime and gang activity is on the rise even as police budgets are being hacked to the bone. The health care system is an absolute disaster. At this point California has the fewest emergency rooms per million people out of all 50 states.

While all of this has been going on, the state legislature in Sacramento has been very busy passing hundreds of new laws that are mostly about promoting one radical agenda or another. The state government has become so radically anti-business that it is a wonder that any businesses have remained in the state. It seems like the moving vans never stop as an endless parade of businesses and families leave California as quickly as they can.

One of the only things keeping the population of California relatively stable at this point are the massive hordes of illegal immigrants that are constantly pouring into California cities. There are certain areas of major California cities that you simply do not ever want to go into anymore. In fact, there are rumors that the police will not even venture into certain areas anymore.

Traffic in California is a bigger nightmare than it ever has been before and the state cannot even keep up with repairing the roads and infrastructure that it already has. There are a few areas of California where you can still see the promise of greatness and the amazing natural beauty that once attracted tens of millions of Americans to the state, but they are few and far between now. At this point, most of the state is turning into one gigantic hellhole.

Perhaps the state could have some hope of turning things around if they had some solid leadership, but at this point the vast majority of the politicians in the state are pushing agendas that are so “radical” (not in a good way) and so “anti-American” that it is absolutely frightening.

Of course on top of everything else there is the constant threat of wildfires, mudslides and earthquakes. One day a really “big earthquake” is going to hit, and once that happens many people believe that the geography of the state of California could be permanently altered forever.

But what most people are focused on right now is the horrific financial condition that the state of California currently is in. Governor Brown recently summarized his analysis of California’s financial condition with the following statement: “We’ve been living in fantasy land. It is much worse than I thought. I’m shocked.”

Yes, things really are that bad in California.

The following are 22 facts about California that make you wonder why anyone would still want to live in that hellhole of a state….

#1 The California state government is facing a potential state budget deficit of 19 billion dollars this year, and California debt is rapidly approaching junk status. One way or another the taxpayers of California are going to have to pay for this mess somehow.

#2 California Governor Jerry Brown recently unveiled a “draconian” budget plan for 2011 that includes 12 billion dollars more in spending cuts and that maintains 12 billion dollars in recent tax increases.

#3 The state of California currently has the third highest state income tax in the nation: a 9.55% tax bracket at $47,055 and a 10.55% bracket at $1,000,000.

#4 California has the highest state sales tax rate in the nation by far at 8.25%. Indiana has the next highest at 7%.

#5 Residents of California pay the highest gasoline taxes (over 67 cents per gallon) in the United States.

#6 California had more foreclosure filings that any other U.S. state in 2010. The 546,669 total foreclosure filings during the year means that over 4 percent of all the housing units in the state of California received a foreclosure filing at some point during 2010.

#7 Home prices in some areas of California have completely fallen off a cliff. For example, the average home in Merced, California has declined in value by 63 percent over the past four years.

#8 725 new laws (most of them either completely pointless or completely stupid) went into effect in the state of California on January 1st.

#9 20 percent of the residents of Los Angeles County are now receiving public aid of one kind or another.

#10 The number of people unemployed in the state of California is approximately equal to the populations of Nevada, New Hampshire and Vermont combined.

#11 In some areas of California, the level of unemployment is absolutely nightmarish. For example, 24.3 percent of the residents of El Centro, California are now unemployed.

#12 Residents of California pay some of the highest electricity prices in the entire nation.

#13 The state of California ranks dead last out of all 50 states in the number of emergency rooms per million people.

#14 According to one survey, approximately 1 out of every 4 Californians under the age of 65 has absolutely no health insurance.

#15 At one point last year it was reported that in the area around Sacramento, California there was one closed business for every six that were still open.

#16 In the late 70s, California was number one in per-pupil spending on education, but now the state has fallen to 48th place.

#17 In one school district in California, children as young as five years old are being forced to watch propaganda films that tout the benefits of “alternative lifestyles”, and parents are being told that no “opting out” will be permitted.

#18 The crime rate in the San Diego school system is escalating out of control. The following is what San Diego School Police Chief Don Braun recently told the press about the current situation….

“Violent crime in schools has risen 31 percent. Property crime has risen 12 percent. Weapons violations (have gone up) almost 8 percent.”

#19 Oakland, California Police Chief Anthony Batts announced last year that due to severe budget cuts there are a number of crimes that his department will simply not be able to respond to any longer. The crimes that the Oakland police will no longer be responding to include grand theft, burglary, car wrecks, identity theft and vandalism.

#20 Things have gotten so bad in Stockton, California that the police union put up a billboard with the following message: “Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in California. Stop laying off cops.”

#21 During one recent 23 year period, the state of California built 23 prisons but just one university.

#22 The farther you look into the future, the worse California’s financial problems become. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, California’s unfunded pension liability is estimated to be somewhere between $120 billion and $500 billion at this point.

So could the state of California actually go bankrupt?

In Washington D.C., some lawmakers are now working very hard behind the scenes to come up with a way to allow individual U.S. states to declare bankruptcy.

If something like that is worked out in Washington, then certainly the state of California would potentially be one of the first states to take advantage of it.

Unfortunately, the truth is that the state of California is a complete and total mess at this point, and not even bankruptcy is going to fix much.

The state has become a rotting, festering hellhole that is getting worse by the day. Yes, some really good people still live there, but there are some really, really good reasons why so many people are leaving the state in droves.

But perhaps you disagree. Does anyone want to state the case in favor of the state of California? Please feel free to express your opinion below….’

Economy News Nightmare: 20 Things That You Should Not Read If You Do Not Want To Become Very Angry The Economic Collapse | Today America is very, very frustrated.
#1 Today, millions of American families are digging deep into their savings and investments in a desperate attempt to stay afloat. Over the past two years, U.S. consumers have withdrawn $311 billion more from savings and investment accounts than they have put into them.
#2 15 billion dollars: the total amount of compensation that Goldman Sachs paid out to its employees for 2010.
#3 The number of American families that were booted out of their homes and into the streets set a new all-time record in 2010.
#4 Dozens of packages that we buy in the supermarket have been reduced in size by up to 20%. For example, there are now 2 less slices of cheese in a typical package of Kraft American cheese, and there is now 9 percent less toilet paper in a typical package of Scott toilet paper. So now, you may think that you are paying the same amount for these items that you always have, but the truth is that you have been hit with a large price increase.
#5 One Canadian company is making a ton of money shipping “millions and millions of dollars” worth of manufacturing equipment from factories that are being shut down in the United States over to new factories that are being set up in China.
#6 In America today, the wealthiest 20% own a whopping 93% of all the “financial assets” in the United States.
#7 Only 35 percent of Americans now have enough “emergency savings” to be able to cover three months of living expenses.
#8 47 percent of all Americans now believe that China is the number one economic power in the world.
#9 If the U.S. banking system is healthy, then why does the number of “problem banks” continue to keep increasing? This past week the number of U.S. banks on the unofficial list of problem banks reached 937.
#10 According to former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich, the wealthiest 0.1% of all Americans make as much money as the poorest 120 million.

#11 U.S. housing prices have now fallen further during this economic downturn than they did during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

#12 According to some very disturbing new research, 45 percent of U.S. college students exhibit “no significant gains in learning” after two years in college.

#13 Americans now owe more than $884 billion on student loans, which is a new all-time record.

#14 The United Nations says that the global price of food hit an all-time record high in December, and the price of oil is surging towards $100 a barrel, but the U.S. government continues to insist that we barely have any inflation at all.

#15 The more Americans that are on food stamps the more profits that JP Morgan makes. Today, an all-time record of 43.2 million Americans are on food stamps, and JP Morgan is making a lot of money processing millions of those benefit payments.

#16 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.

#17 Dozens of U.S. states are either implementing tax increases in 2011 or are considering proposals to raise taxes.

#18 The United States has had a negative trade deficit every single year since 1976.

#19 The U.S. national debt has crossed the $14 trillion mark for the first time, and at some point during 2011 it will cross the $15 trillion mark.
#20 What the U.S. economy really needs is for the government to get off all of our backs, but instead they continue to tighten their grip on us. In fact, the Obama administration is proposing a “universal Internet ID” that would watch, track, monitor and potentially control everything that you do on the Internet’

Eisenhower’s Worst Fears Have Been Realized Washington’s Blog | All in all it appears that Eisenhower’s worst fears have been realized and his remarkable and unique warnings given for naught.

Wikileaks Is The “Cognitive Infiltration” Operation Demanded by Cass Sunstein [ The following is a very important read. That said, I’m still against the censorship since one always, in the final analysis, must discern truth from falsehood, information from disinformation, reality from propaganda. In truth, I found it somewhat shocking and more than surprising that of all places ‘to escape to’, Assange chose Orwellian england, puppet to the u.s. and guarantor of servility to u.s./zionist interests, such is there own desperate circumstances. ] Webster G. Tarpley | Awareness is growing around the world that the Wikileaks’ theater of the absurd is radically inauthentic — a psyop…’ Tarpley.net

January 22, 2011 Awareness is growing around the world that the Wikileaks-Julian Assange theater of the absurd is radically inauthentic – a psyop. Wikileaks and its impaired boss represent a classic form of limited hangout or self-exposure, a kind of lurid striptease in which the front organization releases doctored and pre-selected materials provided by the intelligence agency with the intent of harming, not the CIA, nor the UK, nor the Israelis, but rather such classic CIA enemies’ list figures as Putin, Berlusconi, Karzai, Qaddafi, Rodriguez de Kirchner, etc. In Tunisia, derogatory material about ex-President Ben Ali leaked by Wikileaks has already brought a windfall for Langley in the form of the rare ouster of an entrenched Arab government.

Obama White House NSC Russia Director Michael McFaul Deploying IMF Shock Therapist Boris Nemtsov as Wheelhorse of Feeble “Stop Putin in 2012″ Bid.

At Foggy Bottom and Langley, a manic fit has been building since the flight of Ben Ali. US imperialist planners now believe they can re-launch their shopworn model of the color revolution, CIA people-power coup, or postmodern putsch against a whole series of countries in the Arab world and far beyond, including Italy. The color revolutions had been looking tarnished lately, as a result of the failure of the Twitter Revolution in Iran back in June 2009. Previously, the Cedars Revolution of 2005 had failed in Lebanon. The Orange Revolution in Ukraine had been rolled back with the ouster of NATO-IMF kleptocrats Yushchenko and Timoshenko. In Georgia, the Roses Revolution was increasingly discredited by the repressive and warmongering regime of fascist madman Saakashvili.

US Seeks to Mobilize a New Generation of Young Nihilists Across the Globe

But now, NSC, State, and CIA believe that the color revolution has a new lease on life, thanks to their estimate that the United States, because of Wikileaks and Assange, has captured the imagination of a new generation of young nihilists across the globe who are described as the post-9/11 generation, estranged from governments and opposition parties, and thus ready to follow Langley’s peroxide Pied Piper.

Assange started his intensive deployment phase this year with video of a Class A US war crime in Iraq, which was very graphic but which dealt with an incident which was already widely known. The second document dump focused on Iraq, but now the targeting had shifted to Prime Minister Maliki, and the Iranian asset whom the US by some strange coincidence was trying to oust as leader of Iraq in favor of the US puppet Allawi. With the third document dump, this time involving State Department cables, we found out much derogatory gossip about such classic CIA targets as Russian prime minister Putin, Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi, the Russian-Italian strategic alliance, President Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina, and President Karzai of Afghanistan, along with jabs at supposed US allies who need to be kept off-balance and dependent, including the Saudi Arabian royal family, French President Sarkozy, and others. Wikileaks thus directs the vast majority of its fire against figures who are part of the CIA’s enemies list.

No Equal Time for CIA Covert Operations

Assange also provides a splendid pretext for draconian censorship and limitations on the freedom of the internet. The totalitarian liberal Senator Feinstein wants to bring back Woodrow Wilson’s infamous Espionage Act of 1917 in honor of Assange. Assange must be seen not as an activist, not as a journalist, and not as an entertainer, but rather as a spook. John Young of Cryptome, according to some reports, has denounced Wikileaks, to which he formerly belonged, as a CIA front. In a December 29 RT interview, Young described the internet as “a very large-scale spying machine.”1 The internet is indeed a vast battlefield, where the intelligence agencies of the US-UK, China, Israel, Russia, and many others clash every hour of the day, with commercial spies, hackers, anarchists, cultists, mercenary trolls, and psychotics all getting into the act as well. Intelligence agencies deliberately feed real and doctored material to various websites, sometimes using their own disgruntled employees as cutouts, conduits, and go-betweens. This means among other things that Bradley Manning cannot be taken at face value, although it is also clear that he like anyone else should not be tortured.

Assange is now famous, it might be argued. But the Wall Street controlled media can make anyone famous, from Lady Gaga to Justin Bieber to Snooki, and this is what they have done with Assange. It is wrong to capitulate to the demagogic power of these media by making it appear that there might be some legitimate value to Assange. Up to now, the CIA has been organizing color revolutions using Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and so forth as vehicles. Now they think they have a cult figure whom they can sell to the youth bulge in the Arab world and other developing countries, where most of the population is under 30. This is an operation which must be exposed.

Most recently, Wikileaks has played a role in the CIA’s new “Jasmine Revolution” in Tunisia by publishing some State Department cables about the sybaritic luxury and lavish lifestyle of the Ben Ali clan, leading to the downfall of that regime. The CIA is now gloating that with the help of Wikileaks it can now topple all the Arab regimes at will, from Mubarak to Qaddafi to Bouteflika, and replace them with new and more pliable puppets eager to clash with Iran, Russia, and China

If Assange ever launches his much-touted doomsday machine against the Bank of America or some other financial institutions, we will be justified in asking that the Securities and Exchange Commission make public the extent of short interest in those stocks by certain hedge funds, especially those controlled by George Soros. And as far as Assange’s attacks on the Vatican are concerned, they fit neatly into four centuries of British intelligence warfare against the Holy See, going back to Guy Fawkes and Lord Robert Cecil’s Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and beyond. Not much new or radical here.

Wikileaks: No Serious Derogatory Information about US, UK, Israel

It is illuminating that none of Assange’s document dumps have revealed any notable scandals involving Great Britain or Israel. No US public figures have had to resign because of anything Wikileaks has done. No major ongoing covert operation or highly placed agent of influence has been blown. After all these months, there are still no US indictments against Assange, even though we know that a US grand jury will readily indict a ham sandwich if the US Attorney demands it. If the CIA had wanted to silence Assange, they could have subjected him to the classic kidnapping aka rendition, meaning that he would have been beaten, drugged, and carted off to wake up in a black site prison in Egypt, Poland, or Guantanamo Bay. Otherwise, the CIA could have had recourse to the usual extralegal wetwork. We must also assume that the new US Cybercommand with its vast resources would have little trouble shutting down the Wikileaks mirror sites, no matter how numerous they might be. The same goes for Anonymous and other flanking organizations of Wikileaks. But these considerations are purely fantastic. Assange emerges today as the pampered darling and golden boy of The New York Times, Der Spiegel. The Guardian, El Pais — in short, of the entire Anglo-American official media Wurlitzer. He reclines today in baronial splendor in the country house of a well-connected retired British officer who should be quizzed by the media about his ties to British intelligence. The radical-chic world, from Bianca Jagger to Michael Moore, is at Assange’s feet.

Cass Sunstein Present at the Creation of Wikileaks

Wikileaks was apparently founded in 2006. Originally, the group was programmed to attack China, and its board was heavily larded with fishy Chinese dissidents and “democracy” activists from the orbit of the Soros foundations. Interestingly, the first big publicity breakthrough for Wikileaks in the mainstream US media was provided by an infamous totalitarian liberal today ensconced in the Obama White House – none other than Cass Sunstein. In Sunstein’s op-ed published in the Washington Post of February 24, 2007 under the title “Brave new Wikiworld,” we read: “Wikileaks.org, founded by dissidents in China and other nations, plans to post secret government documents and to protect them from censorship with coded software.” How interesting that Sunstein was present at the creation of the new Wikileaks psywar operation!

This is the same Sunstein who today heads Obama’s White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. In his January 2008 Harvard Law School Working Paper entitled “Conspiracy Theories,” Sunstein infamously demanded that the United States government deploy groups of covert operatives and pseudo-independent agents of influence for the “cognitively infiltration of extremist groups” – meaning organizations, activists and Internet websites who espouse beliefs which Sunstein chooses to classify as “false conspiracy theories.”

Wikileaks = Cass Sunstein’s Program for Cognitive Infiltration In Action

It should be clear that Assange and Wikileaks are precisely the practical realization of Sunstein’s program for “cognitive infiltration” shock troops to counteract and overwhelm any real mass understanding of oligarchical domination in the modern world, and any discussion of what kind of economic policies are needed to secure a recovery from the present world depression.

In line with Sunstein’s recipe, Assange is a self-declared enemy of 9/11 truth. As Assange told Belfast Telegraph reporter Matthew Bell last July, “I’m constantly annoyed that people are distracted by false conspiracies such as 9/11, when all around we provide evidence of real conspiracies, for war or mass financial fraud.” In other words, Assange argues that the truth about 9/11 truth is not nearly as radical as the various scandals which Wikileaks claims to expose. But the scandals Assange is offering target mostly the adversaries of the CIA.

Assange must also be seen as a deeply troubled individual and a possible psychopath. He has the ravaged emotional complexion that we might expect from an alumnus of one of the many MK-Ultra operations. He reportedly spent several years in the menticidal Anne Hamilton-Byrne cult (also known as The Family and Santiniketan) near Melbourne, Australia. Here little children were separated from their parents and made to ingest LSD, Anatensol, Diazepam, Haloperidol, Largactil, Mogadon, Serepax, Stelazine, Tegretol, Tofranil, and other potent psychopharmaca. Dozens of children were told that Hamilton-Byrne was their real mother, and had their hair dyed blond. Anne Hamilton-Byrne reportedly regarded blond hair as a sign of racial superiority. Careful observers will have noted that Assange’s hair is sometimes blond, sometimes more brownish, raising the question of whether his grooming practices are a residue of his time with Hamilton-Byrne, whom he says he does not remember. When other kids were getting cookies and milk, was Assange being lobotomized by LSD and other potent psychopharmaca dished up by Hamilton-Byrne? There is evidence pointing in that direction.

With Assange, we thus have the tragic spectacle of the emotionally mutilated product of a CIA (or MI-6) covert operation of 40 years ago, who has now been given a prominent role in a key counter-insurgency ploy of the present time. Will the youth of the world, already burned by their recent fatuous obsession with Obama, be duped again by such an impaired individual?

The Precedent: Pentagon Papers Whitewashed CIA, Blamed Army, Demonized Kennedy

Assange’s revelations mainly involve communications labeled Confidential or Secret, and which in reality would be over-classified if marked Official Use Only. In other words, Assange is in reality a purveyor of low level cable traffic, not of earth-shattering secrets. This reminds us of an earlier CIA limited hangout operation, the one known as the Pentagon Papers. This was a carefully screened selection of historical documents, supplemented by outright forgeries, relating to the Vietnam War and compiled by Morton Halperin and Leslie Gelb, both of whom have gone on to glittering careers in the imperialist foreign policy establishment – Gelb became president of the Council on Foreign Relations, while Halperin serves today as chief political officer of the Soros wolfpack of foundations. The papers were leaked by former RAND Corporation official Daniel Ellsberg, who had been a very bellicose hawk in Vietnam before a suspicious Damascus Road conversion to pacifism, and then published in the US establishment press – similarly to Assange today. There was nothing in the Pentagon papers which a casual reader of LeMonde or Corriere della Sera did not already know. But, as Mort Sahl later said, left liberals have generally had very few heroes, so they battened on to Ellsberg and lionized him – led by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and some others. (This is a syndrome which we see again today: at the moment when Obama’s treacherous sellout on the Bush tax cuts was providing a final disillusionment for many gullible left libs, Assange arrived on the scene as their new Savior. Not by chance, Ellsberg has now designated Assange as his own reincarnation, and thus surely the new Messiah.)

The Pentagon papers had been carefully selected by the CIA itself to cover up CIA war crimes in Vietnam, blaming these on the US Army wherever possible, while also obscuring the CIA’s massive program of drug production and narcotics smuggling. The Pentagon Papers systematically hid the salient political fact of the entire Vietnam era, which is that President John F. Kennedy before he was assassinated was preparing to end the de facto US combat role in that country. Instead, Kennedy was systematically demonized and smeared, emerging as the villain of the piece. Needless to say, the Pentagon papers throw no light whatsoever on the CIA role in the Kennedy assassination – in the same way that Assange’s various document dumps tell us nothing of importance about 9/11, the Rabin assassination, Iran-contra, the 1999 bombing of Serbia, the Kursk incident, the various CIA color revolutions, or many of the other truly big covert operations of the past decades.

The limited hangout is not new; it was described in a secret memorandum by Venetian intelligence chief Paolo Sarpi to the Venetian Senate in 1620 as the art of “saying something good about somebody while pretending to be saying something bad.” That is the common denominator of the CIA’s limited hangout operations from Ellsberg to Philip Agee to Assange, with so many other “former” CIA operatives turned “whistleblowers” along the way. ‘

Drudgereport: CUT! WHAT?!
GOOGLE Comes Under Fire for 'Secret' Relationship with NSA...
IMF: Instability Threatens Recovery...
OH NO: Price Drop Points to Likely Double Dip in Housing Market...
Jobless Rise in 20 States as Workers Still Laid Off...
UK Economy May Be Heading for Double Dip...
Obama will 'have to produce birth certificate' to run again...
NYT: Former Spy With Agenda Operates Own Private CIA... [ Quite serious a problem … Remember … these people really are quite stupid but self-interested if not greedy; and, if the money’s right, they wrap themselves in the flag and find a reason … remember ollie north who’s an absolute dope … and there are many, many more worse than him. Then there’s their war mongering which of course is the precursor to their war profiteering, etc.. ]
UPDATE: Hawaii governor says Obama's birth record 'exists' but can't produce it...
BACKTRACK: Now Hawaii won't release birth info...
Hollywood, Jobs, Trump help Rahm haul in $10.6M … [ No surprise here, mobster trump (how was trump missed in the recent big mafia bust since he too is a corrupt bribe paying/receiving, drug money laundering among other crimes, mobster), hollywood flakes like magic mushroom eater sorkin, LSD aficionado jobs (I now realize what that premium priced disfunctional though fanciful pizzazz of apple products that I would refuse to pay extra for stems from-jobs says he owes it all to his LSD use-don’t forget, apple’s protected source code, kernel, and consequent stability existed pre-jobs and I believe, particularly after actually using an iphone, that the same is a way to extract money from an ever increasingly dumbed down / dumb (and I think at the least, eccentric if not obsessively pathological if you witnessed the near compulsive use of these extraneous-rich, in a trivially frivolous way, devices) american public by pandering to their desire for superfluous functionality which requires additional purchases through apple-I do give them credit for the more elaborate interface / touchscreen and the ipad, all of which is currently being duplicated ex-apple and presenting greater values/utility/functionality for the money-so also credit for pioneering), zionists including spielberg, etc.; no small wonder that chicago and the nation are down the tubes. ] ...
COURT: Candidate 'must have actually resided' in city for 1 year before election...
Plans appeal to Illinois Supreme Court...
CHICAGOLAND SHOCK: RAHM BOOTED OFF BALLOT
China 'on Collision Course' with USA...
Bank Moves to Buy U.S. Branches...
Stealth fighter 'based on crashed American plane'...
Chinese Pianist Played Anti-American Propaganda Tune at White House?

Emanuel vows to fight ballot ruling (Washington Post) [ Ill. court rules on Emanuel … OPINION: Rahm got robbed (of his and of those of his prospective booty) Drudgereport: Hollywood, Jobs, Trump help Rahm haul in $10.6M … [ No surprise here, mobster trump (how was trump missed in the recent big mafia bust since he too is a corrupt bribe paying/receiving, drug money laundering among other crimes, mobster), hollywood flakes like magic mushroom eater sorkin, LSD aficionado jobs (I now realize what that premium priced disfunctional though fanciful pizzazz of apple products that I would refuse to pay extra for stems from-jobs says he owes it all to his LSD use-don’t forget, apple’s protected source code, kernel, and consequent stability existed pre-jobs and I believe, particularly after actually using an iphone, that the same is a way to extract money from an ever increasingly dumbed down / dumb (and I think at the least, eccentric if not obsessively pathological if you witnessed the near compulsive use of these extraneous-rich, in a trivially frivolous way, devices) american public by pandering to their desire for superfluous functionality which requires additional purchases through apple-I do give them credit for the more elaborate interface / touchscreen and the ipad, all of which is currently being duplicated ex-apple and presenting greater value/utility/functionality for the money-so also credit for pioneering), zionists including spielberg, etc.; no small wonder that chicago and the nation are down the tubes. ] ...
COURT: Candidate 'must have actually resided' in city for 1 year before election...
Plans appeal to Illinois Supreme Court...
CHICAGOLAND SHOCK: RAHM BOOTED OFF BALLOT
China 'on Collision Course' with USA...
Bank Moves to Buy U.S. Branches...
Stealth fighter 'based on crashed American plane'...
Chinese Pianist Played Anti-American Propaganda Tune at White House?
NYT: Former Spy With Agenda Operates Own Private CIA... [ Quite serious a problem … Remember … these people really are quite stupid but self-interested if not greedy; and, if the money’s right, they wrap themselves in the flag and find a reason … remember ollie north who’s an absolute dope … and there are many, many more worse than him. Then there’s their war mongering which of course is the precursor to their war profiteering, etc.. ]
UPDATE: Hawaii governor says Obama's birth record 'exists' but can't produce it...
BACKTRACK: Now Hawaii won't release birth info...

The Mafia family tree: FBI flowchart reveals
127 'mobsters' arrested in biggest ever blitz on New York's crime empires ( This is a very big deal! http://albertpeia.com/mafiafamilytreeflowchartFBIarrests.htm ) ]

Hezbollah-backed candidate has votes to become prime minister (Washington Post) [ Now who could possibly deny the rationality of the Lebanese wisdom of a leader that puts not war crimes nations israel / u.s. and nato allies interests, but rather the interests of Lebanon and the Lebanese people first beyond words and propaganda based on what they do; ie., most recent of many in the region: US-led airstrikes kill Afghan civilians 1-24-11Two separate airstrikes by US-led foreign forces have killed at least five civilians and wounded several others in various parts of Afghanistan. ] BEIRUT - The Shiite armed movement Hezbollah on Monday had the support needed for its candidate to become Lebanon's prime minister, effectively ending the Western-backed rule of U.S. allies who came to power more than five years ago.

Obama won't endorse Social Security cuts (Washington Post) [ Is that written in stone? Does that mean veto? Is this failed presidency pre-election year desperation? Where will the cuts come from for ‘deficit reduction’? What does the teleprompter say? For some, social security is all they have, many corporate pensions underfunded, defunct from bankruptcies, non-existent, etc.. Now there is a very rich pension fund that the citizens have paid for and does have a lot of fat for cutting; viz., Wikipedia: ‘Congressional pension is a pension made available to members of the United States Congress. Members who participated in the congressional pension system are vested after five (5) years of service. A full pension is available to Members 62 years of age with 5 years of service; 50 years or older with 20 years of service; or 25 years of service at any age. A reduced pension is available depending upon which of several different age/service options is chosen. If Members leave Congress before reaching retirement age, they may leave their contributions behind and receive a deferred pension later.^[1]’ … official site: ‘Members of Congress are eligible for a pension at age 62 if they have completed at least five years of service. They are eligible for a pension at age 50 if they have completed 20 years of service, or at any age after completing 25 years of service. The amount of the pension depends on years of service and the average of the highest three years of salary. By law, the starting amount of a member’s retirement annuity may not exceed 80 percent of his or her final salary. As of October 1, 2000, the average annual pension for members of Congress who have retired under CSRS is $52,464, and $46,932 for retirees under FERS-only or both FERS/CSRS. ‘ ]

Economic policy stuck in reverse (Washington Post) Jeff Sessions | Opinion We have seen no real plan, no strong leadership, no apparent willingness to confront the growing danger on the horizon. [ Mr. Sessions is right on target and for me to comment further would only take away time from the ‘must read’ substantive article by Mr. Sessions! ]

Gerson: Obama, more deficit hawk than GOP? (Washington Post) [ Come on! Where do they get this stuff? Wobama not only continued war criminal dumbya bush’s perpetual war, fraudulent wall street protectorate, etc., free-spending ways, but added to the deficit in his own profligate ways; and, as I’ve said before, democrats / republicans are but distinctions without significant differences. Moreover, there’s the literal rearrangement of the congressional deck-chair seating in the u.s.s. titanic halls for the non-event state of the union (wobama the ‘b’ for b*** s***, more empty words belied by actions / non-action) … Previous: Topic A: What should be in State of the Union? (Washington Post) [ Well, at the very least, it should be noted that the states of the union are crumbling (see bankruptcy headlines infra), ergo, the state of the union is crumbling and precarious indeed. The problem with and for wobama is that he’s been there, done that, and his words don’t match his actions, as is so regarding his not easily forgotten campaign promises (from perpetual wars, to no pros the frauds on wall street, to new ‘bubble building’ as in last precursor to crash supplanting sound economics. Blame it on the teleprompter … sounds like a plan! All we really know for certain is what definitely will not be in the state of the union; viz., a solution to pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america’s intractable decline. ]

Drudgereport: BANKRUPTCY FOR STATES STUDIED
CA DECLARES EMERGENCY
Facing $1.6B shortfall, San Fran pays employees $170 million in bonuses...

What Happened to 15 Million Jobs?
Wall Street's 'Bernanke' rally runs into headwinds...
Home sales hit 13-year low...
UPDATE: Hawaii governor says Obama's birth record 'exists' but can't produce it...

Obama daughter practices Chinese with Hu...
Chinese Tiger ate US Dove for lunch...

FBI 'largest' Mafia takedown...
Flowchart...
'Vinny Carwash', 'The Fang', 'Tony Bagels', 'Johnny Pizza', 'Baby Shacks', 'Jack the Wack', 'Junior Lollipops', 'Bobby Glasses'...

MTV PORN: Parents Television Council Calls for Fed Investigation Into 'SKINS'...
VIACOM PRESENTS: SEX AT 15!
Young Star Defends Show's Racy Content: 'It's What Teens Are Doing'...
TACO BELL Pulls Ads...
Teacher Suspended After 2nd Graders 'Sex Acts In Class'...
Joan Rivers calls Michelle Obama 'Blackie O'... [ ‘Blackie O’ … Very funny! … I like that … but don’t look for joan on ‘The View’ anytime soon, or invites from the whitehouse either … but of course, and ‘Blackie O’ might retort that joan will be too busy anyway, reprising the role of ‘The Joker’ in the next Batman film by the gifted director, Christopher Nolan, with AH new Catwoman … meow! ]

]

Shiller Ratio Points to U.S. Equities Being Significantly Overvalued [ Yes they are indeed; so take this especially great opportunity to sell, take profits since there’s much, much worse to come! ]

12 Economic Collapse Scenarios That We Could Potentially See In 2011 What could cause an economic collapse in 2011? Well, unfortunately there are quite a few “nightmare scenarios” that could plunge the entire globe into another massive financial crisis.
The Economic Collapse Jan 20, 2011 ‘What could cause an economic collapse in 2011? Well, unfortunately there are quite a few “nightmare scenarios” that could plunge the entire globe into another massive financial crisis. The United States, Japan and most of the nations in Europe are absolutely drowning in debt. The Federal Reserve continues to play reckless games with the U.S. dollar. The price of oil is skyrocketing and the global price of food just hit a new record high. Food riots are already breaking out all over the world. Meanwhile, the rampant fraud and corruption going on in world financial markets is starting to be exposed and the whole house of cards could come crashing down at any time. Most Americans have no idea that a horrific economic collapse could happen at literally any time. There is no way that all of this debt and all of this financial corruption is sustainable. At some point we are going to reach a moment of “total system failure”.

So will it be soon? Let’s hope not. Let’s certainly hope that it does not happen in 2011. Many of us need more time to prepare. Most of our families and friends need more time to prepare. Once this thing implodes there isn’t going to be an opportunity to have a “do over”. We simply will not be able to put the toothpaste back into the tube again.

So we had all better be getting prepared for hard times. The following are 12 economic collapse scenarios that we could potentially see in 2011….

#1 U.S. debt could become a massive crisis at any moment. China is saying all of the right things at the moment, but many analysts are openly worried about what could happen if China suddenly decides to start dumping all of the U.S. debt that they have accumulated. Right now about the only thing keeping U.S. government finances going is the ability to borrow gigantic amounts of money at extremely low interest rates. If anything upsets that paradigm, it could potentially have enormous consequences for the entire world financial system.

#2 Speaking of threats to the global financial system, it turns out that “quantitative easing 2″ has had the exact opposite effect that Ben Bernanke planned for it to have. Bernanke insisted that the main goal of QE2 was to lower interest rates, but instead all it has done is cause interest rates to go up substantially. If Bernanke this incompetent or is he trying to mess everything up on purpose?

#3 The debt bubble that the entire global economy is based on could burst at any time and throw the whole planet into chaos. According to a new report from the World Economic Forum, the total amount of credit in the world increased from $57 trillion in 2000 to $109 trillion in 2009. The WEF says that now the world is going to need another $100 trillion in credit to support projected “economic growth” over the next decade. So is this how the new “global economy” works? We just keep doubling the total amount of debt every decade?

#4 As the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve continue to pump massive amounts of new dollars into the system, the floor could fall out from underneath the U.S. dollar at any time. The truth is that we are already starting to see inflation really accelerate and everyone pretty much acknowledges that official U.S. governments figures for inflation are an absolute joke. According to one new study, the cost of college tuition has risen 286% over the last 20 years, and the cost of “hospital, nursing-home and adult-day-care services” rose 269% during those same two decades. All of this happened during a period of supposedly “low” inflation. So what are price increases going to look like when we actually have “high” inflation?

#5 One of the primary drivers of global inflation during 2011 could be the price of oil. A large number of economists are now projecting that the price of oil could surge well past $100 dollars a barrel in 2011. If that happens, it is going to put significant pressure on the price of almost everything else in the entire global economy. In fact, as I have explained previously, the higher the price of oil goes, the faster the U.S. economy will decline.

#6 Food inflation is already so bad in some areas of the globe that it is setting off massive food riots in nations such as Tunisia and Algeria. In fact, there have been reports of people setting themselves on fire all over the Middle East as a way to draw attention to how desperate they are. So what is going to happen if global food prices go up another 10 or 20 percent and food riots spread literally all over the globe during 2011?

#7 There are persistent rumors that simply will not go away of massive physical gold and silver shortages. Demand for precious metals has never been higher. So what is going to happen when many investors begin to absolutely insist on physical delivery of their precious metals? What is going to happen when the fact that far, far, far more “paper gold” and “paper silver” has been sold than has ever actually physically existed in the history of the planet starts to come out? What would that do to the price of gold and silver?

#8 The U.S. housing industry could plunge the U.S. economy into another recession at any time. The real estate market is absolutely flooded with homes and virtually nobody is buying. This massive oversupply of homes means that the construction of new homes has fallen off a cliff. In 2010, only 703,000 single family, multi-family and manufactured homes were completed. This was a new record low, and it was down 17% from the previous all-time record which had just been set in 2009.

#9 A combination of extreme weather and disease could make this an absolutely brutal year for U.S. farmers. This winter we have already seen thousands of new cold weather and snowfall records set across the United States. Now there is some very disturbing news emerging out of Florida of an “incurable bacteria” that is ravaging citrus crops all over Florida. Is there a reason why so many bad things are happening all of a sudden?

#10 The municipal bond crisis could go “supernova” at any time. Already, investors are bailing out of bonds at a frightening pace. State and local government debt is now sitting at an all-time high of 22 percent of U.S. GDP. According to Meredith Whitney, the municipal bond crisis that we are facing is a gigantic threat to our financial system….

“It has tentacles as wide as anything I’ve seen. I think next to housing this is the single most important issue in the United States and certainly the largest threat to the U.S. economy.”

Former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan is convinced that things are so bad that literally 90% of our states and cities could go bankrupt over the next five years….

#11 Of course on top of everything else, the quadrillion dollar derivatives bubble could burst at any time. Right now we are watching the greatest financial casino in the history of the globe spin around and around and around and everyone is hoping that at some point it doesn’t stop. Today, most money on Wall Street is not made by investing in good business ideas. Rather, most money on Wall Street is now made by making the best bets. Unfortunately, at some point the casino is going to come crashing down and the game will be over.

#12 The biggest wildcard of all is war. The Korean peninsula came closer to war in 2010 than it had in decades. The Middle East could literally explode at any time. We live in a world where a single weapon can take out an entire city in an instant. All it would take is a mid-size war or a couple of weapons of mass destruction to throw the entire global economy into absolute turmoil.

Once again, let us hope that none of these economic collapse scenarios happens in 2011.

However, we have got to realize that we can’t keep dodging these bullets forever.

As bad as 2010 was, the truth is that it went about as good as any of us could have hoped. Things are still pretty stable and times are still pretty good right now.

But instead of using these times to “party”, we should be using them to prepare.

A really, really vicious economic storm is coming and it is going to be a complete and total nightmare. Get ready, hold on tight, and say your prayers.’

Perception vs. Reality: Four Reasons to Remain Cautious on U.S. Equities [ Hey, Abbott … That’s Lou Costello calling him from the other side … Wake up! … Just kidding … but I’m not kidding when I say that contrary to Abbott’s view, infra, if you’re not a successful market timer you should rethink your position as an equity investor. Moreover, in contradistinction to Mr. Abbott’s implication, if you’re not a successful speculator (there are very few), you should rethink your position as a short seller: reason…, you could be wiped out, lose more than your principal, forced to cover (that’s why the same is considered a contrary market indicator, particularly in these manipulated, contrived markets). When I did my MBA thesis (1977, NYU, GBA, Eve.Prog., Finance), a review of the data revealed even then (and much more so now with computer programmed market manipulation) that the market remained biased / propped up (artificially, especially now with computerized manipulation) to the upside for far longer periods of time than for the downside which meant that dollar-cost averaging (through regular, periodic investment, for example), meant you were accumulating shares at higher prices generally for longer periods of time skewing the average cost to the upside (dollar-cost-averaging in declining markets was ok if analysis / forecast saw resurgence based on fundamentals - now absent – which is timing, as even senile wall street / gov’t shill Buffet would attest, that ‘greedy when others are fearful thing’). Abbott discusses perception which is the psychological factor involved in security evaluation / analysis; but investors need not and should become nuts themselves, particularly when as now, the inmates are running the asylum. ] Abbott ‘Perception determines short-term market movements. The difference between perception and reality determines the direction of major market trends. Though I generally try to avoid making macro prognostications, I believe bottom-up analysis can be informative about the current level of stock prices. I want to share what my recent work tells me about where stocks are (and where they might be headed). I will outline some various nuggets of collective wisdom that are taken for granted right now by stock bulls, and I will attempt to demonstrate how reality is likely to differ from these perceptions.

First, a disclaimer. This is not a market timing call. At all times, I stay away from market timing predictions. I think that's a loser's game in the long run. Even if I'm correct about the discrepancies between the following perceptions and realities, there's no saying when people will change their minds or shift their focuses. That said, let's dive in.

Perception vs. Reality #1
Perception: Low Interest Rates, Questionable Bond Outlook Means Stocks are Attractive
Reality: Interest Rates Are Being Artificially and Deliberately Manipulated

It's no secret that the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policy and quantitative easing efforts have held interest rates very low for very long. However, when people talk about stock market implications of bond yields, they rarely mention the fact that bond yields are artificially low. In an unmanipulated market, bond prices and stock valuations should be related, but I regard that connection as highly dubious right now. Investors who say that stocks deserve higher multiples (lower earnings yields) because bond yields are so low may well be setting themselves up for disappointing returns/frustrating losses when bond prices normalize. Again, this isn't a market timing call, and yields may remain low for quite some time. But, eventually this discrepancy will correct itself, and stock performance is likely to suffer at that time.

Perception vs. Reality #2
Perception: Earnings Growth Has Been Strong and Will Remain That Way
Reality: Top-Line Growth Will Have to Pick Up; Cost-Cutting has Run Its Course

Earnings growth has certainly been robust, but much of the strength has come from companies running lean cost structures and wringing as much efficiency as possible out of their employees and their assets. Though the recession has ended, the economy is not yet healthy enough to fuel strong sales growth. Companies can only boost profits by cutting costs and increasing productivity for so long. Therefore, top-line growth will have to play a larger role going forward than it has over the past 4-6 quarters. Whether or not economic growth is strong enough to drive revenue increases is unsure, but the current level of stock prices undoubtedly assumes it is. Any stagnation of the recovery and concomitant sluggish sales will likely hit stock prices.

Perception vs. Reality #3
Perception: European Debt Crisis Drives Short-Term Volatility, but It's Not a Long-Term Concern
Reality: Crisis May Be a Harbinger of What's to Come in the U.S. if States, the Feds Don't Improve Balance Sheets

So far, turmoil in Greece and Ireland has served only as a temporary headwind to U.S. stocks. In keeping with the investment world's increasingly short-term focus, people seem more concerned with what fiscal crises in Europe mean for U.S. stocks over the coming days and months than with what they might mean down the road. I believe that this interpretation misses the mark. Since the U.S. fiscal situtation is generally considered to be stronger than that in many European countries, U.S. federal and municipal debt issuance has been relatively smooth, and interest rates have only risen modestly. If the U.S. doesn't get serious about its fiscal woes, eventually the crisis will arrive on American shores. There's no way of telling when this might happen, but the current level of stock prices seems to imply that it never will.

Here's the problem with that. To fix the federal balance sheet and/or to improve state and municipal balance sheets, legislators will have to raise taxes and/or cut spending. Tax hikes and spending cuts both reduce consumer spending. This hurts growth. There's no way around this. Stocks can certainly continue to rise for some time, but austerity will be bearish if/when it comes. If it doesn't come, we're in for a much bigger crisis some time down the road.

Perception vs. Reality #4
Perception: Everywhere You Look, You See Good Companies at Cheap Prices
Reality: It's Hard to Find Genuine Bargains, but There are Intriguing Short Prospects Everywhere

There is no shortage of stock market commentators who claim that they see bargains everywhere they look. Perhaps I'm not looking in the right places, but I've been having a difficult and increasingly impossible time finding good companies at reasonable prices. I use similar criteria to assess long and short investments, and I find intriguing shorts in lots of sectors right now. This tells me that valuations are stretched. Certainly they can become more so before we get a selloff, but every day that stocks rally, they get more expensive.

I've written on Seeking Alpha about a number of stocks which I regard as expensive (CRM, OPEN, GMCR), and take my word for it: there are plenty more than these whose shares I do not want to own at present levels. A few weeks ago, I also mused about the Facebook-Goldman deal and argued that this valuation is indicative of excessive investor enthusiasm. Bargains are hard to find, and as valuations go up, so does positive sentiment. While this is not a prediction of an impending correction or bear market, it is a message of caution for people who think stocks are cheap right now.

All that said, I always try to consider both sides of any investment issue, and there are some reasons for optimism. Job growth has shown signs of improvement, and some economic data have been increasingly (though not uniformly) positive. The Federal Reserve remains accommodative, and I'm skeptical about whether or not there is political will for austerity. For these reasons, stocks could continue onward and upward. That said, I see too many reasons for caution, and investors are turning a blind eye to these concerns as their complacency rises.’

Poor Recovery: The Problem Is Institutional [ Well it’s true that the problem is institutional as in pervasively corrupt, incompetent, nonproductive in real terms relative to their cost / damage (still no pros on the wall street fraud which is ongoing in terms of the last crisis, the worthless paper marked to anything, and the current bubble fraud that’s high-frequency computerized churn-and-earn high-frequency commissioned / sold into, 360 tons of $100 bills disappear in Iraq, etc.. What do they get paid for?) ( Peter Schiff: Washington a parasite to economy ‘US foreclosures hit record highs in 2010, but that may not be the worst of it. 2011 may be even worse. Meanwhile, JP Morgan Chase exceeded market expectations, announcing a 47% rise in quarterly profits and released details on a $28.1 billion pay and bonus pool. Peter Schiff, the President of Euro Pacific Capital said Washington and Wall Street are becoming one force and are sucking the underlying American dry like a parasite’.); but the problem is structural, as in transfer of jobs, industries, etc. (among the sources of the huge over-compensation to wall street, company executives), never to return in any meaningful sense; and as in the defacto bankruptcy of the nation with insurmountable record debt / deficits or stated another way, broke. Unlike in the past, once beyond the propaganda, rhetoric, and smoke and mirrors / obfuscation, there is no prospective way for america to grow its way out, nor are there funds in real money with which to do it. Quite simply, america’s broke / bankrupt in every which way. ] Loundsbury ‘Harold Meyerson, Op Ed Columnist at The Washington Post, has hit the nail right on the head, in the opinion of GEI. Meyerson says the debate about whether the recession and poor recovery is a cyclical problem or a structural problem is misguided. He says the problem is institutional - - - and is he ever right!

In a column last week, Myerson points out that the devastation of The Great Recession has fallen disproportionately on the blue collar population, those without a college degree. And he traces the rolling over of median family income in this century, not just in the downturn, but since the turn of the century. Even at the peak, in 2007, median family income was less than in 2000.

What Meyerson doesn't point out is that average incomes have faired better in the 21st century and in all of the past 50 years. In fact, average family income has risen more than 2.5 times as much and median income over the last 30 years. Why is this important? Because the more there is a fat tail of ever higher incomes for a few, the greater the difference between average and median income becomes.

Myerson says:

The great sociologist William Julius Wilson has long argued that the key to the unraveling of the lives of the African American poor was the decline in the number of "marriageable males" as work disappeared from the inner city. Much the same could now be said of working-class whites in neighborhoods that may not look like the ghettos of Cleveland or Detroit but in which productive economic activity is increasingly hard to find.

This grim new reality has yet to inform our debate over how to come back from this mega-recession. Those who believe our downturn is cyclical argue that job-creating public spending can restore us to prosperity, while those who believe it's structural - that we have too many carpenters, say, and not enough nurses - believe that we should leave things be while American workers acquire new skills and enter different lines of work. But there's a third way to look at the recession: that it's institutional, that it's the consequence of the decisions by leading banks and corporations to stop investing in the job-creating enterprises that were the key to broadly shared prosperity.

Since Meyerson has chosen income disparity as a cornerstone of his argument, let's look at how incomes have grown over the last 50 years. These are shown in the following graph, not adjusted for inflation.

click to enlarge images [chart]

Real median income and average income seem to grow similarly in the 1950s and 1960s, the growth of average income starts to pull away in the mid-1960s and appears to continue to gain gound for the the next 40+ years. The more average income deviates from median income the more money is found in the high income tail on the distribution curve. This is often called a "fat tail", which is very appropriate in this discussion because that is where the fat cats are. The fat tail has not gotten so because ten times as many people equaled the incomes of the former fat cats, but more because a few fat cats have received 10 times the income. This is exemplified by the often quoted statistic that average CEO salaries were 40x average worker pay 50 years ago and today are more like 400x.

The change income distribution that seems to be appearing in the above graph becomes more apparent in the following graph where real income gains are shown for the last six decades starting with the ten years from 1949 - 1959 (the 1950s) and ending with 1999 - 2009 (the 2000s). [chart]

The 1950s and 60s were real boom years. Starting with the 1970s a lower level of income growth was established, but even that lower level could not be maintained in the 2000s.

After the 1950s every decade has seen average real income grow more than the median. The fat tail has gotten fatter over the past half century in every decade, without exception. Yes the average did decline in the 2000s, but the median declined 76% more!

The most dramatic pattern of change is evident when the data is divided into two halves: 1949 to 1979 and 1979 - 2009. This is done in the following graph: [chart]

For thirty years after World War II the wealth of the country increased in a balanced manner. The average income containing the greater contribution from the top earners of the day, grew at a rate very similar to the income growth of the broader population, represented by the median.

Yes there were "fat cats" and they had significantly larger incomes than the bulk of the population. And these top incomes grew over those three decades, but at almost the same rate as the majority of the populace.

Then something happened. From 1979-2009 it appears that the American pie suddenly got smaller. In the later three decades the real median income growth was less than 10% of the rate seen from 1949 to 1979. And as the pie got smaller, the fat cats took a much larger share. The average income grew at a rate 254% that of the median income. You might say that, as the cow gave less milk, the top of the economic ladder skimmed more and more cream off the top.

Meyerson identifies the force majuere to be corporate America:

Our multinational companies still invest, of course - just not at home. A study by the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Council Foundation found that the share of the profits of U.S.-based multinationals that came from their foreign affiliates had increased from 17 percent in 1977 and 27 percent in 1994 to 48.6 percent in 2006. As the companies' revenue from abroad has increased, their dependence on American consumers has diminished. The equilibrium among production, wages and purchasing power - the equilibrium that Henry Ford famously recognized when he upped his workers' pay to an unheard-of $5 a day in 1913 so they could afford to buy the cars they made, the equilibrium that became the model for 20th-century American capitalism - has been shattered. Making and selling their goods abroad, U.S. multinationals can slash their workforces and reduce their wages at home while retaining their revenue and increasing their profits. And that's exactly what they've done.

Meyerson doesn't get into some of the other areas that might be brought to bear on the current condition of the American economy:

• He doesn't address the fact that the U.S. ranks below some third world countries in education.
• He doesn't discuss the increasing burden of health care, both because costs have been running out of control and because an ever increasing portion of the population is kept from making the contribution they might have otherwise because of poor health.
• He doesn't discuss the capture of much potential domestic capital by financial engineers who find it much easier to get rich in a rigged casino than to make money the old fashioned way.

Part of the problem is that Americans have fallen into the way of the easiest path, where, either by credit card or by making quick trades, the desires of the moment are satisfied with no seemingly current cost.

It seems that few want to think about the needs of tomorrow. This is true starting with the masses who kiss off the idea of working hard in school to prepare for what they will need 20 years down the road. This is also true of the "capitalist" who finds that skimming a few percent off each of many deals a year to get quick, large quarterly returns is much easier than investing and building something that will will make much larger returns extending over decades and producing things of real economic utility.

There are a number of things that Meyerson does not address, but if you want to hit one nail at a time, I think he has picked the baddest nail in the plank. He finishes his column thusly:

Our economic woes, then, are not simply cyclical or structural. They are also - chiefly - institutional, the consequence of U.S. corporate behavior that has plunged us into a downward cycle of underinvestment, underemployment and under-consumption. Our solutions must be similarly institutional, requiring, for starters, the seating of public and worker representatives on corporate boards. Short of that, there will be no real prospects for reversing America's downward mobility.

If we were to address all the other issues I mentioned previously and did not address the institutional problem Meterson has identified, we would not ultimately solve our economic puzzle.’

20 Shocking New Economic Records That Were Set In 2010 2010 was quite a year, wasn’t it? 2010 will be remembered for a lot of things, but for those living in the United States, one of the main things that last year will be remembered for is economic decline…The Economic Collapse Jan 14, 2011 ‘2010 was quite a year, wasn’t it? 2010 will be remembered for a lot of things, but for those living in the United States, one of the main things that last year will be remembered for is economic decline. The number of foreclosure filings set a new record, the number of home repossessions set a new record, the number of bankruptcies went up again, the number of Americans that became so discouraged that they simply quit looking for work reached a new all-time high and the number of Americans on food stamps kept setting a brand new record every single month. Meanwhile, U.S. government debt reached record highs, state government debt reached record highs and local government debt reached record highs. What a mess! In fact, even many of the “good” economic records that were set during 2010 were indications of underlying economic weakness. For example, the price of gold set an all-time record during 2010, but one of the primary reasons for the increase in the price of gold was that the U.S. dollar was rapidly losing value. Most Americans had been hoping that 2010 would be the beginning of better times, but unfortunately economic conditions just kept getting worse.

So will things improve in 2011? That would be nice, but at this point there are not a whole lot of reasons to be optimistic about the economy. The truth is that we are trapped in a period of long-term economic decline and we are now paying the price for decades of horrible decisions.

Amazingly, many of our politicians and many in the mainstream media have declared that “the recession is over” and that the U.S. economy is steadily improving now.

Well, if anyone tries to tell you that the economy got better in 2010, just show them the statistics below. That should shut them up for a while.

The following are 20 new economic records that were set during 2010….

#1 An all-time record of 2.87 million U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in 2010.

#2 The number of homes that were actually repossessed reached the 1 million mark for the first time ever during 2010.

#3 The price of gold moved above $1400 an ounce for the first time ever during 2010.

#4 According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, approximately 1.53 million consumer bankruptcy petitions were filed in 2010, which was up 9 percent from 1.41 million in 2009. This was the highest number of personal bankruptcies we have seen since the U.S. Congress substantially tightened U.S. bankruptcy law several years ago.

#5 At one point during 2010, the average time needed to find a job in the United States had risen to an all-time record of 35.2 weeks.

#6 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, which is believed to be a new record low.

#7 The number of Americans working part-time jobs “for economic reasons” was the highest it has been in at least five decades during 2010.

#8 The number of American workers that are so discouraged that they have given up searching for work reached an all-time high near the end of 2010.

#9 Government spending continues to set new all-time records. In fact, at the moment the U.S. government is spending approximately 6.85 million dollars every single minute.

#10 The number of Americans on food stamps surpassed 43 million by the end of 2010. This was a new all-time record, and government officials fully expect the number of Americans enrolled in the program to continue to increase throughout 2011.

#11 The number of Americans on Medicaid surpassed 50 million for the first time ever in 2010.

#12 The U.S. Census Bureau originally announced that 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty and according to them that was the highest number of Americans living in poverty that they had ever recorded in 51 years of record-keeping. But now the Census Bureau says that they miscalculated and that the real number of poor Americans is actually 47.8 million.

#13 According to the FDIC, 157 banks failed during 2010. That was the highest number of bank failures that the United States has experienced in any single year during the past decade.

#14 The Federal Reserve brought in a record $80.9 billion in profits during 2010. They returned $78.4 billion of that to the U.S. Treasury, but the real story is that thanks to the Federal Reserve’s continual debasement of our currency, the U.S. dollar was worth less in 2010 than it ever had been before.

#15 It is projected that the major financial firms on Wall Street will pay out an all-time record of $144 billion in compensation for 2010.

#16 Americans now owe more than $881 billion on student loans, which is a new all-time record.

#17 In July, sales of new homes in the United States declined to the lowest level ever recorded.

#18 According to Zillow, U.S. housing prices have now declined a whopping 26 percent since their peak in June 2006. Amazingly, this is even farther than house prices fell during the Great Depression. From 1928 to 1933, U.S. housing prices only fell 25.9 percent.

#19 State and local government debt reached at an all-time record of 22 percent of U.S. GDP during 2010.

#20 The U.S. national debt has surpassed the 14 trillion dollar mark for the first time ever and it is being projected that it will soar well past 15 trillion during 2011.

There are some people that have a hard time really grasping what statistics actually mean. For people like that, often pictures and charts are much more effective. Well, that is one reason I like to include pictures and graphs in many of my articles, and below I have posted my favorite chart from this past year. It shows the growth of the U.S. national debt from 1940 until today. I honestly don’t know how anyone can look at this chart and still be convinced that our nation is not headed for a complete financial meltdown….[chart]

14 Eye Opening Statistics Which Reveal Just How Dramatically The U.S. Economy Has Collapsed Since 2007 Most Americans have become so accustomed to the “new normal” of continual economic decline that they don’t even remember how good things were just a few short years ago. ‘The Economic Collapse Jan 10, 2011

’Most Americans have become so accustomed to the “new normal” of continual economic decline that they don’t even remember how good things were just a few short years ago. Back in 2007, unemployment was very low, good jobs were much easier to get, far fewer Americans were living in poverty or enrolled in welfare programs and government finances were in much better shape. Of course most of this prosperity was fueled by massive amounts of debt, but at least times were better. Unfortunately, things have really deteriorated over the last several years. Since 2007, unemployment has skyrocketed, foreclosures have set new all-time records, personal bankruptcies have soared and U.S. government debt has gotten completely and totally out of control. Poll after poll has shown that Americans are now far less optimistic about the future than they were in 2007. It is almost as if the past few years have literally sucked the hope out of millions upon millions of Americans.

Sadly, our economic situation is continually getting worse. Every month the United States loses more factories. Every month the United States loses more jobs. Every month the collective wealth of U.S. citizens continues to decline. Every month the federal government goes into even more debt. Every month state and local governments go into even more debt.

Unfortunately, things are going to get even worse in the years ahead. Right now we look back on 2005, 2006 and 2007 as “good times”, but in a few years we will look back on 2010 and 2011 as “good times”.

We are in the midst of a long-term economic decline, and the very bad economic choices that we have been making as a nation for decades are now starting to really catch up with us.

So as horrible as you may think that things are now, just keep in mind that things are going to continue to deteriorate in the years ahead.

But for the moment, let us remember how far we have fallen over the past few years. The following are 14 eye opening statistics which reveal just how dramatically the U.S. economy has collapsed since 2007….

#1 In November 2007, the official U.S. unemployment rate was just 4.7 percent. Today, the official U.S. unemployment rate is 9.4 percent.

#2 In November 2007, 18.8% of unemployed Americans had been out of work for 27 weeks or longer. Today that percentage is up to 41.9%.

#3 As 2007 began, there were just over 1 million Americans that had been unemployed for half a year or longer. Today, there are over 6 million Americans that have been unemployed for half a year or longer.

#4 Nearly 10 million Americans now receive unemployment insurance, whichis almost four times as many as were receiving it back in 2007.

#5 More than half of the U.S. labor force (55 percent) has “suffered a spell of unemployment, a cut in pay, a reduction in hours or have become involuntary part-time workers” since the “recession” began in December 2007.

#6 According to one analysis, the United States has lost a total of approximately 10.5 million jobs since 2007.

#7 As 2007 began, only 26 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, an all-time record of 43.2 million Americans are enrolled in the food stamp program.

#8 In 2007, the U.S. government held a total of $725 billion in mortgage debt. As of the middle of 2010, the U.S. government held a total of $5.148 trillion in mortgage debt.

#9 In the year prior to the “official” beginning of the most recent recession in 2007, the IRS filed just 684,000 tax liens against U.S. taxpayers. During 2010, the IRS filed over a million tax liens against U.S. taxpayers.

#10 From the year 2000 through the year 2007, there were 27 bank failures in the United States. From 2008 through 2010, there were 314 bank failures in the United States.

#11 According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the number of U.S. families with children living in homeless sheltersincreased from 131,000 to 170,000 between 2007 and 2009.

#12 In 2007, one poll found that 43 percent of Americans were living “paycheck to paycheck”. Sadly, according to a survey released very close to the end of 2010, approximately 55 percent of all Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck.

#13 In 2007, the “official” federal budget deficit was just 161 billion dollars. In 2010, the “official” federal budget deficit was approximately 1.3 trillion dollars.

#14 As 2007 began, the U.S. national debt was just under 8.7 trillion dollars. Today, the U.S. national debt has just surpassed 14 trillion dollars and it continues to soar into the stratosphere.

So is there any hope that we can turn all of this around?

Unfortunately, the massive amount of debt that we have piled up as a society over the last several decades has made that impossible.

If you add up all forms of debt (government debt, business debt, individual debt), it comes to approximately 360 percent of GDP. It is the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world.

If the federal government and our state governments stop borrowing and spending so much money, our economy would collapse. But if they keep borrowing and spending so much money they will continually make the eventual economic collapse even worse.

We are in the terminal stages of the most horrific debt spiral the world has ever seen, and when the debt spiral gets stopped the house of cards is going to finally come down for good.

So enjoy these times while you still have them. Yes, today is not nearly as prosperous as 2007 was, but today is most definitely a whole lot better than 2015 or 2020 is going to be.

Sadly, we could have avoided this financial disaster completely if only we had listened more carefully to those that founded this nation. Once upon a time, Thomas Jefferson said the following….

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.’

Tipping Point: 25 Signs That The Coming Financial Collapse Is Now Closer Then Ever The financial collapse that so many of us have been anticipating is seemingly closer then ever. Over the past several weeks, there have been a host of ominous signs for the U.S. economy.

The Economic Collapse
Dec 17, 2010

The financial collapse that so many of us have been anticipating is seemingly closer then ever. Over the past several weeks, there have been a host of ominous signs for the U.S. economy. Yields on U.S. Treasuries have moved up rapidly and Moody’s is publicly warning that it may have to cut the rating on U.S. government debt soon. Mortgage rates are also moving up aggressively. The euro and the U.S. dollar both look incredibly shaky. Jobs continue to be shipped out of the United States at a blistering pace as our politicians stand by and do nothing. Confidence in U.S. government debt around the globe continues to decline. State and local governments that are drowning in debt across the United States are savagely cutting back on even essential social services and are coming up with increasingly “creative” ways of getting more money out of all of us. Meanwhile, tremor after tremor continues to strike the world financial system. So does this mean that we have almost reached a tipping point? Is the world on the verge of a major financial collapse?

Let’s hope not, but with each passing week the financial news just seems to get eve worse. Not only is U.S. government debt spinning wildly toward a breaking point, but many U.S. states (such as California) are in such horrific financial condition that they are beginning to resemble banana republics.

But it is not just the United States that is in trouble. Nightmarish debt problems in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and several other European nations threaten to crash the euro at any time. In fact, many economists are now openly debating which will collapse first – the euro or the U.S. dollar.

Sadly, this is the inevitable result of constructing a global financial system on debt. All debt bubbles eventually collapse. Currently we are living in the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world, and when this one bursts it is going to be a disaster of truly historic proportions.

So will we reach a tipping point soon? Well, the following are 25 signs that the financial collapse is rapidly getting closer….

#1 The official U.S. unemployment rate has not been beneath 9 percent since April 2009.

#2 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently 6.3 million vacant homes in the United States that are either for sale or for rent.

#3 It is being projected that the U.S. trade deficit with China could hit 270 billion dollars for the entire year of 2010.

#4 Back in 2000, 7.2 percent of blue collar workers were either unemployed or underemployed. Today that figure is up to 19.5 percent.

#5 The Chinese government has accumulated approximately $2.65 trillion in total foreign exchange reserves. They have drained this wealth from the economies of other nations (such as the United States) and instead of reinvesting all of it they are just sitting on much of it. This is creating tremendous imbalances in the global economy.

#6 Since the year 2000, we have lost 10% of our middle class jobs. In the year 2000 there were approximately 72 million middle class jobs in the United States but today there are only about 65 million middle class jobs.

#7 The United States now employs about the same number of people in manufacturing as it did back in 1940. Considering the fact that we had 132 million people living in this country in 1940 and that we have well over 300 million people living in this country today, that is a very sobering statistic.

#8 According to CoreLogic, U.S. housing prices have now declined for three months in a row.

#9 The average rate on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage soared 11 basis points just this past week. As mortgage rates continue to push higher it is going to make it even more difficult for American families to afford homes.

#10 22.5 percent of all residential mortgages in the United States were in negative equity as of the end of the third quarter of 2010.

#11 The U.S. monetary base has more than doubled since the beginning of the most recent recession.

#12 U.S. Treasury yields have been rising steadily during the 4th quarter of 2010 and recently hit a six-month high.

#13 Incoming governor Jerry Brown is scrambling to find $29 billion more to cut from the California state budget. The following quote from Brown about the desperate condition of California state finances is not going to do much to inspire confidence in California’s financial situation around the globe….

“We’ve been living in fantasy land. It is much worse than I thought. I’m shocked.”

#14 24.3 percent of the residents of El Centro, California are currently unemployed.

#15 The average home in Merced, California has declined in value by 63 percent over the past four years.

#16 Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has come up with a new way to save money. He wants to cut 20 percent of Detroit off from essential social services such as road repairs, police patrols, functioning street lights and garbage collection.

#17 The second most dangerous city in the United States – Camden, New Jersey – is about to lay off about half its police in a desperate attempt to save money.

#18 In 2010, 55 percent of Americans between the ages of 60 and 64 were in the labor market. Ten years ago, that number was just 47 percent. More older Americans than ever find that they have to keep working just to survive.

#19 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.

#20 The U.S. government budget deficit increased to a whopping $150.4 billion last month, which represented the biggest November budget deficit on record.

#21 The U.S. government is somehow going to have to roll over existing debt and finance new debt that is equivalent to 27.8 percent of GDP in 2011.

#22 The United States had been the leading consumer of energy on the globe for about 100 years, but this past summer China took over the number one spot.

#23 According to an absolutely stunning new poll, 40 percent of all U.S. doctors plan to bail out of the profession over the next three years.

#24 As 2007 began, there were just over 1 million Americans that had been unemployed for half a year or longer. Today, there are over 6 million Americans that have been unemployed for half a year or longer.

#25 All over the United States, local governments have begun instituting “police response fees”. For example, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has come up with a plan under which a fee of $365 would be charged if police are called to respond to an automobile accident where no injuries are involved. If there are injuries as a result of the crash that is going to cost extra.

16 Nightmarish Economic Trends To Watch Carefully In 2011 The American Dream Dec 15, 2010 ‘If you only watch the “economic pundits” on television, it can be very confusing to figure out exactly what is happening with the U.S. economy. One pundit will pull out a couple statistics that got a little bit better over the past month and claim that we have entered a time of solid recovery. Another pundit will pull out a couple statistics that got a little worse over the past month and claim that we are headed for trouble. So what is the truth? Well, if you really want to get a clear idea of what is really going on you have to look at the long-term trends. There are some economic trends which just keep getting worse year after year after year, and it is those trends that tell the real story of the decline of our economic system.

As you examine the long-term trends, you quickly come to realize that the U.S. is trapped in an endless spiral of debt, the middle class is being wiped out, the U.S. dollar is being destroyed and America is rapidly becoming a post-industrial wasteland.

Posted below are 16 nightmarish economic trends to watch carefully in 2011. It is becoming exceedingly apparent that unless something is done rapidly we are heading for an economic collapse of unprecedented magnitude….

#1 Do you want to see something scary? Just check out the chart below. Since the beginning of the economic downturn, the U.S. monetary base has more than doubled. But don’t worry – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has promised us that this could never cause inflation. In fact, Bernanke says that we need to inject even more dollars into the economy. So if you are alarmed by the chart below, you are just being irrational according to Bernanke….

[chart]

#2 Thousands of our factories, millions of our jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars of our national wealth continue to be shipped overseas. In 1985, the U.S. trade deficit with China was 6 million dollars for the entire year. In the month of August alone, the U.S. trade deficit with China was over 28 billion dollars. 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.

#3 The United States is rapidly becoming a post-industrial wasteland. Back in 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of all U.S. economic output. In 2008, it represented only 11.5 percent and it continues to fall. Sadly, the truth is that America is being deindustrialized. As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last time that less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.

#4 The number of Americans that have been out of work for an extended period of time has absolutely exploded over the last few years. As 2007 began, there were just over 1 million Americans that had been unemployed for half a year or longer. Today, there are over 6 million Americans that have been unemployed for half a year or longer.

#5 The middle class continues to be squeezed out of existence. According to a poll taken in 2009, 61 percent of Americans ”always or usually” live paycheck to paycheck. That was up substantially from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.

#6 The number of Americans living in poverty is absolutely skyrocketing. 42.9 million Americans are now on food stamps, and one out of every six Americans is now enrolled in at least one anti-poverty program run by the federal government. Unfortunately, many of those that have been hardest hit by this economic downturn have been children. According to one new study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.

#7 Many American families have been pushed beyond the breaking point during this economic downturn. Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008. The final number for 2010 is expected to be even higher.

#8 The U.S. real estate market continues to stagnate. During the third quarter of 2010, 67 percent of mortgages in Nevada were “underwater”, 49 percent of mortgages in Arizona were “underwater” and 46 percent of mortgages in Florida were “underwater”. So what happens if home prices go down even more?

#9 More elderly Americans than ever are being forced to put off retirement and continue working. In 2010, 55 percent of Americans between the ages of 60 and 64 were in the labor market. Ten years ago, that number was just 47 percent. Unfortunately, it looks like this problem will only get worse in the years ahead. In America today, approximately half of all workers have less than $2000 saved up for retirement.

#10 In the United States today, there are simply far too many retirees and not nearly enough workers to support them. Back in 1950 each retiree’s Social Security benefit was paid for by 16 workers. Today, each retiree’s Social Security benefit is paid for by approximately 3.3 workers. By 2025 it is projected that there will be approximately two workers for each retiree.

#11 Financial assets continue to become concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. For example, the “big four” U.S. banks (Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo) had approximately 22 percent of all deposits in FDIC-insured institutions back in 2000. As of the middle of 2009 that figure was up to 39 percent.

#12 The Federal Reserve has been destroying the value of the U.S. dollar for decades. Since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913, the U.S. dollar has lost over 95 percent of its purchasing power. An item that cost $20.00 in 1970 would cost you $112.35 today. An item that cost $20.00 in 1913 would cost you $440.33 today.

#13 Commodity prices continue to soar into the stratosphere. Ten years ago, the price of a barrel of oil hovered around 20 to 30 dollars most of the time. Today, the price of oil is rapidly closing in on 100 dollars a barrel and there are now fears that it could soon go much higher than that.

#14 Federal government spending is completely and totally out of control. The U.S. government budget deficit increased to a whopping $150.4 billion last month, which represented the biggest November deficit on record. But our politicians can’t seem to break their addiction to debt. In fact, Democrats are trying to ram through a 1,924 page, 1.1 trillion dollar spending bill in the final days of the lame-duck session of Congress before the Republicans take control of the House of Representatives next year.

#15 The U.S. national debt is rapidly closing in on 14 trillion dollars. It is more than 13 times larger than it was just 30 short years ago. According to an official U.S. Treasury Department report to Congress, the U.S. national debt is projected to climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015.

#16 Unfortunately, the official government numbers grossly understate the horrific nature of the crisis we are facing. John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics has calculated that if the federal government would have used GAAP accounting standards to measure the federal budget deficit for 2009, it would have been approximately 8.8 trillion dollars. Not only that, but John Williams now says that U.S. government debt is so wildly out of control that it is mathematically impossible for us to “grow” our way out of it….

The government’s finances not only are out of control, but the actual deficit is not containable. Put into perspective, if the government were to raise taxes so as to seize 100% of all wages, salaries and corporate profits, it still would be showing an annual deficit using GAAP accounting on a consistent basis. In like manner, given current revenues, if it stopped spending every penny (including defense and homeland security) other than for Social Security and Medicare obligations, the government still would be showing an annual deficit. Further, the U.S. has no potential way to grow out of this shortfall.

The more one examines the U.S. economic situation, the more depressing it becomes. The U.S. financial system is trapped inside a horrific debt spiral and we are headed straight for economic oblivion.

If our leaders attempt to interrupt the debt spiral it will plunge our economy into a depression. If our leaders attempt to keep the debt spiral going for several more years it will just make the eventual crash even worse. Either way, we are headed for a financial implosion that will be truly historic.

The debt-fueled good times that we have been enjoying for the last several decades are rapidly coming to an end. Unfortunately for the tens of millions of Americans that are already suffering, our economic problems are only going to get worse in the years ahead.’

Jobless Recovery?: 25 Unemployment Statistics That Are Almost Too Depressing To Read ‘… Unemployment is up again! That’s right – even though Wall Street is swimming in cash and the Obama administration is declaring that “the recession is over”, the U.S. unemployment rate has gone even higher. So are you enjoying the jobless recovery? Economic Collapse Blog Dec 4, 2010 ‘Guess what? Unemployment is up again! That’s right – even though Wall Street is swimming in cash and the Obama administration is declaring that “the recession is over”, the U.S. unemployment rate has gone even higher ... Times are really, really tough and unfortunately the long-term outlook is very bleak. We should have compassion on those who are out of work right now, because soon many of us may join them.

The following are 25 unemployment statistics that are almost too depressing to read….

#1 According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. unemployment rate for November was 9.8 percent. This was up from 9.6 percent in October, and it continues a trend of depressingly high unemployment rates. The official unemployment number has been at 9.5 percent or higher for well over a year at this point.

#2 In November 2006, the “official” U.S. unemployment rate was just 4.5 percent.

#3 Most economists had been expecting the U.S. economy to add about 150,000 jobs in November. Instead, it only added 39,000.

#4 In the United States today, there are over 15 million people who are “officially” considered to be unemployed for statistical purposes. But everyone knows that the “real” number is even much larger than that.

#5 As 2007 began, there were just over 1 million Americans that had been unemployed for half a year or longer. Today, there are over 6 million Americans that have been unemployed for half a year or longer.

#6 The number of “persons not in the labor force” in the United States recently set another new all-time record.

#7 It now takes the average unemployed American over 33 weeks to find a job.

#8 When you throw in “discouraged workers” and “underemployed workers”, the “real” unemployment rate in the state of California is actually about 22 percent.

#9 In America today there are not nearly enough jobs for everyone. In fact, there are now approximately 5 unemployed Americans for every single job opening.

#10 According to The New York Times, Americans that have been unemployed for five weeks or less are three times more likely to find a new job in the coming month than Americans that have been unemployed for over a year.

#11 The U.S. economy would need to create 235,120 new jobs a month to get the unemployment rate down to pre-recession levels by 2016. Does anyone think that there is even a prayer that is going to happen?

#12 There are 9 million Americans that are working part-time for “economic reasons”. In other words, those Americans would gladly take full-time jobs if they could get them, but all they have been able to find is part-time work.

#13 In 2009, total wages, median wages, and average wages all declined in the United States.

#14 As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last time that less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.

#15 The United States has lost at least 7.5 million jobs since the recession began.

#16 Today, only about 40 percent of Ford Motor Company’s 178,000 workers are employed in North America, and a big percentage of those jobs are in Canada and Mexico.

#17 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output. In 2008, it represented 11.5 percent.

#18 Earlier this year, one poll found that 28% of all American households had at least one member that was looking for a full-time job.

#19 In the United States today, over 18,000 parking lot attendants have college degrees.

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

#21 As the employment situation continues to stagnate, millions of American families have decided to cut back on things such as insurance coverage. For example, the percentage of American households that have life insurance coverage is at its lowest level in 50 years.

#22 Unless Congress acts, and there is no indication that is going to happen, approximately 2 million Americans will stop receiving unemployment checks over the next couple of months.

#23 A poll that was released by the Pew Research Center back in June discovered that an astounding 55 percent of the U.S. labor force has experienced either unemployment, a pay decrease, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work since the economic downturn began.

#24 According to Richard McCormack, the United States has lost over 42,000 factories (and counting) since 2001.

#25 In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.

But this is what we get for creating the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world. For decades we have been digging a deeper hole for ourselves by going into increasingly larger amounts of debt. In America today, our entire economy is based on debt. Even our money is debt. We were fools if we ever thought this could go on forever. Just think about it. Have you ever gone out and run up a bunch of debt? It can be a lot of fun sitting behind the wheel of a new car, running your credit cards up to the limit and buying a beautiful big house that you cannot afford. But in the end what happens? It always catches up with you. Well, our collective debt is starting to catch up with us. There is a sea of red ink on every level of American society. It is only a matter of time before it destroys our economy. IF YOU THINK THAT THINGS ARE BAD NOW, JUST WAIT. THINGS ARE GOING TO GET A WHOLE LOT WORSE. A HORRIFIC ECONOMIC COLLAPSE IS COMING, AND IT IS GOING TO BE VERY, VERY PAINFUL.’

Howard Davidowitz on the Economy: "Here Are the Numbers ... WE'RE BROKE!" 11-25-10 ‘The U.S. economy "is a complete disaster," Howard Davidowitz declared here in July, the most recent in a string of dire predictions from Tech Ticker's most entertaining guest.On the eve of Thanksgiving, I asked Davidowitz if he had any regrets, or was ready to throw in the towel given recent signs of economic revival. Are you kidding me? "Here are the numbers...we're broke," Davidowitz declares, noting the U.S. government goes $5 billion deeper into debt every day and is facing $1 trillion-plus annual deficits for the next decade. "In other words, we're bankrupt."As with the economy, Davidowitz is unwaveringly consistent in his views on President Obama, calling him "deranged, dysfunctional and discredited."Results of the midterm election show "the people of this country think we are in a catastrophe," he says. "I'm with them."Check the accompanying video for more of Howard's unfettered opinions and stay tuned for additional clips from this interview. And...Happy Thanksgiving! Aaron Task is the host of Tech Ticker. You can follow him on Twitter at @atask or email him at altask@yahoo.com’

Timid Tuesday: Is it Safe? 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! ‘

17 Things Worrying Investors Lloyd's Wall of Worry

Worry Count: 17


CHINA: 1,330,044,605 people can’t be wrong.

The PIIGS: Fasten your seatbelts. It’s gonna be a long, bumpy, expensive, weird, (insert your own adjective here) freak show of a ride.

CALIFORNIA AND THE OTHER 49 STATES: Not yet as dire as “The PIIGS”. Might I suggest the classier moniker of “The Prosciuttos” for the American basket-case states?

QE II: Gobble?

U.S. ECONOMY: The “Punky Brewster” of the global economic landscape.

UNEMPLOYMENT: Only thing worse than losing your job, losing your unemployment check. At least there’s the holiday season to cheer everyone up (read: heavy sarcasm).

TAXES: Praying to the Financial Market Gods that we don’t have another TARP-like vote fiasco.

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION PART II: Still two years before the Pres. election and the peanut gallery is already pleading for a Hail Mary Pass to get them back in the game.

HFT: Instead of beating up these liquidity supplying traders, let’s honor them with their very own stock exchange. But wait -- with no retail saps to pick-off they will never get that Day 1 opening bell tick. Perfect.

XMAS 2010: As my professor friend Nick says, “Nowadays Americans are dining off of two menus – The Million Dollar and the $0.99 Cent.” And both are pissed about it.

CURRENCIES: Poor Mr. Greenback. Does someone need a hug?

HOUSING CRISIS: Price Stabilization – Are we there yet? Just a little bit more. Are we there yet? Just a little bit more. Are we there yet? Just a little bit more….

INFLATION/DEFLATION: Fed Chief Ben B. comes out swinging from his heels in defense of inflation promotion. Don’t punch yourself out as this one is likely to go the distance.

COMMODITIES: Corrected but still sky high; fortunately these prices are only affecting core, basic, life-sustaining necessities and sparing our electronic gadgets and plus-sized SUVs. Whew!

INSIDER TRADING: Another black eye for Hedge Funds. I estimate that makes black eye number 6,597.

INTEREST RATES: South Korea and China slowly turning up the dial to “11”. On the other hand the U.S. has removed the dial altogether. This never ends well….

NORTH KOREA: Here we go again.

Consumer confidence down, LiveLeak.com - Loonie closes above U.S. dollar … dollar for first time closes below parity on Canadian loonie … hey, hey, hey … 'Huge' stock decline — but not yet MarketWatch - Brimelow ‘Commentary: Adens … ‘mega trend’ looks grim … The Adens expect a hyperinflationary collapse … ‘ Oh come on! Manipulated dollar decline with inflated earnings, stock prices thereby, etc., … we’ve seen this all before … the last few crashes … Jobless rate jumps to 9.8% as hiring slows (Washington Post) [ The reality is not a mystery! The nation’s been thrown under the bus for the greater good (wealth) of the very few (frauds on wall street, etc.); wall street giving out record bonuses from their accomplished fraud (with no-recession b.s. bernanke help) of $144 BILLION: Come on! This is gettin’ even more downright ridiculous (if that’s even possible)! Pending home foreclosure / distress sales up, oil prices (and oil stocks) up, debased dollar down, plus a little familiar ‘better than expected’ thrown in along with prospects of a ‘no-recession bernanke’ market-frothing bull session on 60 minutes and, voila, suckers’ rally into the close to keep the suckers suckered! What’s good for the frauds on wall street is bad for just about everyone else which includes the vast majority of people and businesses, domestically and globally, as current dollar manipulation / debasement ultimately results in higher costs and loss of purchasing power (ie., oil, etc.). Clearly, this is one of those fraudulent wealth transfers to the frauds on wall street et als which will ultimately be paid for by those who least are in a position to afford it, courtesy of the ever more worthless Weimar dollar, etc., inflating earnings, eps, lowering p/e multiples, etc., see infra. This is an especially great time to sell / take profits while you can since there's much worse to come! Previous: Rosy numbers on consumer sentiment, unemployment (far better than private forecasts) from the government prior to the holiday so-called ‘shop till you drop’? How can anyone believe anything they say? Najerian interviewed by Motek chimes in with the reason for good retail cheer; viz., people have stopped paying their mortgages and are using the funds to purchase retail goods; while Davidowitz adds that with record numbers of americans on food stamps, real unemployment at 17+, and wall street giving out record bonuses from their accomplished fraud (with no-recession b.s. bernanke help) of $144 BILLION … the high end stores / jewelers will do well … daaaaah! And, with insiders and wall street frauds selling into the bubble as preceded last crash, this is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits! Suckers’ rally on light volume, full moon, and government complicity (false data / reports) to keep suckers suckered (easy for the wall street frauds to do with just a mouse click / push of the button – and, they know all those technical trade lines that are easy to program in this current phase of the scam/fraud with the debased dollar). Keep in mind, the totally mindless blather from the ‘cottage industries’ of and fraudulent wall street itself in talking up lower P/E multiples when the same is a direct result of the debasement of the dollar and the consequent manipulation / translation (not real, see Davis, infra) which preceded the financial crisis / last crash. Unemployment, trade, deficit, etc., numbers continue decidedly worse than expected along with other negative data (and in the ‘wrong direction’, that spin accorded ‘down but not as bad as before’ b*** s*** ) yet the market has rallied like no tomorrow with used home foreclosure / distressed sales, though abated owing to ‘foreclosuregate’, the other ‘heralded’ good news. Moreover, the dumbo lemmings of Europe have jumped on the fraudulent defacto bankrupt american crazy train propelled to the precipice also as if no tomorrow. This is about keeping the suckers sucked in with the help of a market-frothing pre-election debased dollar for favorable currency translation and paper (but not real when measured in, ie., gold, etc.) profits which preceded the last crisis, inflating a bubble as in the last crisis to facilitate the churn-and-earn, particularly with computerized (and high frequency) trades and which commissions they’ll get again on the way down. There is nothing to support these overbought stock prices, fundamentally or otherwise. These are desperate criminals ‘at work’. Even wall street shill, the senile Buffett is saying we’re still in a recession (depression) [ Davis: ‘… all profits are inflated by 10% (from falling, debased dollar) and that 10% is the E that gets divided from the P and gives us a much better price/multiple to hang our hats on and that gets investors to BUYBUYBUY …’ The bull market that never was / were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold ] This is a great opportunity to sell / take profits (these lower dollar, hyperinflationary currency manipulations / translations to froth paper stocks will end quite badly as in last crash)! This is a global depression. This is a secular bear market in a global depression. The past up moves were manipulated bull (s***) cycles (at best) 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 ‘programmed computerized high-frequency churn and earn pass the hot potato scam / fraud as in prior crashes ( widely reported, high-frequency trading routinely accounts for more than 50% of daily U.S. equity trading volume and regularly approaches 70%. )’. 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 Stock Market's Long Decline Has Begun Smith ]

Shiller Ratio Points to U.S. Equities Being Significantly Overvalued [ Yes they are indeed; so take this especially great opportunity to sell, take profits since there’s much, much worse to come! ]

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