Monday, August 8, 2011

The global economic bubble has burst, and it has become clear that governments can no longer continue to run massive budget deficits indefinitely, economist Marco Pietropoli says.

In an exclusive interview with Press TV, Pietropoli, an economist with RM Wealth Management, said, “The markets, in many ways, have been completely misaligned with economic fundamentals over the last couple of years.”

“The markets are finally starting to price these matters in,” he added.

US, Asian, and European stock markets suffered heavy losses on Monday, with Friday's unprecedented US credit rating downgrade adding to the financial crises.

“We were living in this bubble territory where we perceived that governments can carry on running massive budget deficits forever, and that Mr. Bernanke will keep printing money and propping up asset prices,” Pietropoli stated.

On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 634 points, or about 5.55 percent, in one of its steepest declines ever in the first full day of trading since Standard & Poor's downgraded the US credit rating on Friday.

European stocks also continued to fall as fears grow that Europe's debt crisis is spinning out of control, with Greece, Ireland, and Portugal having already received bailout packages from the European Union and Italy and Spain in danger of becoming the next victims of the crisis.

Tokyo's Nikkei stock market fell 1.4 percent before making slight gains on Monday while Australia's S&P/ASX-200 index shed almost 2 percent in early trading, and indexes in New Zealand plummeted more than 3 percent.

On Sunday, the Saudi stock market rose slightly after diving 5.46 percent earlier in the day, while other Arab stock markets all plunged.

Last week, China's top ratings agency slashed the US credit rating from A+ to A, after having downgraded the US credit rating from AAA to A+ in November.

GMA/HGL

Forex & Currencies: Swiss Franc Surges as Market Confidence Dives

Forex & Currencies: Swiss Franc Surges as Market Confidence Dives - CNBC

The Swiss franc hovered near record highs against the dollar and euro in Asia on Tuesday, having surged on the back of a global stock market rout as a crisis of confidence gripped investors.

Image Source | Getty Images

Swiss Francs

The Japanese yen also firmed and the U.S. dollar jumped against the euro and commodity currencies as Wall Street's biggest selloff since December 2008 prompted a massive flight to safety.

Even U.S. Treasuries soared, despiteStandard & Poor's downgrade of the United States' prized triple-A credit rating, a move that unsettled investors already worried about festering debt problems on both sides of the Atlantic.

"We're in a skittish market and the market is looking for a some sort of circuit break. Chinese data today might potentially do it," said Grant Turley, senior currency strategist at ANZ in Sydney.

» Barackalypse Now: Infowars Special Report

» Barackalypse Now: Infowars Special Report Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

PrisonPlanet.tv
August 8, 2011

In this 8/8/2011 special report, Alex Jones covers the United States’ downgrade from AAA credit rating, the dramatic stock plunge, and the related exploding price of gold. He also touches upon other news stories he was unable to get to during the radio show, including the comments of former first lady Jackie Kennedy about LBJ concerning the JFK assassination.

PART 1/2

The Infowars Nightly News airs nightly starting September 1st; Become a PrisonPlanet.tv member today and be the first to get exclusive updates, special news reports, rants and more…
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PART 2/2

Economic Collapse: Brace for Impact!

Economic Collapse: Brace for Impact! | Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

“Brace for Impact.” I have thought about this economic collapse title for months. I held onto it and figured I would know when the right time was to put it out there. Today is the day. Watching mainstream media (MSM) this weekend, you would think a one notch downgrade to America’s debt doesn’t really matter. For example, former CNBC anchor Erin Burnett said Friday night on CNN the downgrade was “already priced into the market.” The panel spoke as if the first U.S. debt downgrade in history was no big deal. To that I say, positively absurd!

The gold market must think the same thing I do because when the Asian market opened, the price of the yellow metal shot up more than $27 an ounce, which is another all-time high. At around 1:30 am today it was up $50 and ounce another all-time high! I don’t know where gold will close in the U.S. market, but I think it is safe to say gold (and silver) prices are going much higher. On the other hand, stock prices are headed much lower. I’ll be shocked if the Dow doesn’t end 300 points lower today. I wonder if the Plunge Protection Team (aka the Presidents Working Group on Financial Markets) will step in front of this runaway locomotive.

China also thinks the U.S. debt downgrade is a big deal and a big negative future trend. CNBC reported yesterday, “The man who leads one of China’s top rating agencies says the greenback’s status as the world’s reserve currency is set to wane as the world’s most powerful policy makers convene to examine the implication of S&P’s decision to strip the United States of its triple “A” rating. In comments emailed to CNBC, Guan Jianzhong, chairman of Dagong Global Credit Rating, said the currency is “gradually discarded by the world,” and the “process will be irreversible.” (Click here for the complete CNBC story.)

There are those, this week, that said the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating will be a “wake-up call” for Washington politicians. Some pundits claim this might pull both parties together, get something done for the good of the country, and finally deal with the immense problem of debt spending and entitlements. I think this will end up becoming a battle cry for both Democrats and Republicans in the 2012 election. Both are blaming one another for the downgrade. Yesterday on “Meet the Press,” Senator John Kerry (D) trotted out some new partisan language and called the S&P action on U.S. debt a, “Tea Party downgrade because a minority of people in the House of Representatives countered even the will of many Republicans in the United States Senate who were prepared to do a bigger deal.” Speaker of the House John Boehner (R) said this weekend, “Unfortunately, decades of reckless spending cannot be reversed immediately, especially when the Democrats who run Washington remain unwilling to make the tough choices required to put America on solid ground.”

The political sniping over the weekend signals that both parties know the economy cannot be fixed anytime soon, let alone before the 2012 election. So, the blame game is what we will be stuck with as the American economy continues to sink. Forget about the “Select Committee” of 6 Democrats and 6 Republicans getting any deficit reduction deal. The fight over spending cuts and tax increases is stuck in a feedback loop. That is part of the reason why S&P cut the credit rating of the U.S. Nothing is going to get done on the debt, at least not before the country goes off a financial cliff. In cutting U.S. debt, S&P also ultimately cut the value of the dollar. Almost all borrowing costs at all levels will rise, and the dollar will sink right along with the slowing economy.

Economist John Williams of Shadowstats.com has been warning for months about a sudden dollar sell-off. According to Williams, $12 trillion liquid dollar assets are held outside the U.S. (dollars and Treasuries). If the holders of these assets throw in the towel and cash out, there could be a severe dollar sell off. That could spike inflation, cause interest rates to surge and eventually plunge the country into a hyperinflationary depression, according to Williams. A special Shadowstats.com report put out yesterday said, “Lack of confidence in the U.S. dollar has been pushed to a new and more dangerous nadir in the last two weeks. Dollar selling has been exacerbated by the contentious and virtually meaningless debt deal negotiated by the President and Congress, by Standard & Poor’s downgrading the rating on U.S. Treasuries to “AA+” from “AAA,” and by mounting market recognition of the ongoing U.S. economic and systemic-solvency crises. Pending still is the Fed’s move to QE3.
The dollar’s back is close to being broken. Despite near-term interventions and extreme volatility, the heavy dollar selling that follows will be highly inflationary. . . “

The kind of impact we are going to have will not be like flying into the side of a mountain. It will be the kind of crash that skids over land, clipping trees and buildings until the plane ends up wingless in a smoldering heap. I just hope the fuel tanks don’t ignite when the long rough ride is over.

Greece In Panic: Masses Race To Pull Cash From Banks Causing A Great Depression Style Bank-Run

The Guardian reports that while Western media has been silent on the issue Greece is in an absolute state of panic facing a Great Depression style run on the banks as people race to withdrawal their cash.

The growing economic crisis in Greece has entered the cusp of a complete financial collapse which for the most part being ignored by the Western media.

Perhaps the news out of Greece has been overshadowed by debt ceiling debate and today’s collapse in domestic financial markets which was fueled by economic data indicating that the U.S has either entered a second recession or is in a double-dip recession that some say in fact is a depression.

Regardless of why Greece is was not on the radar it should be because the situation is dire.

As Michelle Caruso Cabrera points out safety deposit boxes in Greece are sold out due to a Great Depression style run on Greek banks. For those that don’t know what a “bank-run” is the masses in Greece are flocking to their banks to pull their cash out of the banks.

CNBC's Cabrera reports greece safety deposit boxes sold out

As the Guardian article below informs us the dreaded bank-run has arrived despite politicians selling out the live hoods and futures of the people of Greece in exchange for a second banker bailout loan to pay back the interest on the first banker bailout loan.

Economists and world leaders told the Greek politicians that they needed to force harsh Austerity measures on their citizens to prevent this exact situation from occurring.

Needless to say, even after subjecting to the will of the International banking cartel, Greece is now in an absolute state of panic as people rush to save their cash and live savings.

Western media could just be keeping the issue under wraps for the time being to buy the Wall Street enough time to pull their money out of the banks and move it into gold.

That could explain why the markets crashed today and gold shot through the roof.

Of course, the only thing the masses were told about the situation in Europe is that there are renewed debt fears in Europe.

Meanwhile Wall Street is fully aware that the masses are pulling their cash out of the banks.

It appears that the British newspapers have grown fed up with the elite. They are fed up with theconstant reports of scandal and corruption involving their own police and politicians. They are breaking away from the pack and letting the cat out of the bag on this one.

Greece in panic as it faces change of Homeric proportions

Fear is driving a silent bank run in Greece – but some see the government’s austerity plans as a chance to transform

Taxi drivers run from teargas during clashes on the island of Crete, Greece. Photograph -- Image Photo Services - AP

In one of the biggest banks in the centre of Athens a clerk is explaining how his savers have been thronging to pull out their cash.

Wary of giving his name, he glances around the marble-floored, wood-panelled foyer before pulling out a slim A4-sized folder. It is about the size of a small safety-deposit box – and those, ever since the financial crisis hit Greece 18 months ago, have become the most sought-after financial products in the country. Worried about whether the banks will stay in business, Greeks have been taking their life savings out of accounts and sticking them in metal slits in basement vaults.

The boxes are so popular that the bank has doubled the rent on them in the past year – and still every day between five and 10 customers request one. This bank ran out of spares months ago. The clerk leans over: “I’ve been working in a bank for 31 years, and I’ve never seen a panic like this.”

Official figures back him up. In May alone, almost €5bn (£4.4bn) was pulled out of Greek deposits, as part of what analysts describe as a “silent bank run”. This version is also disorderly and jittery, just not as obvious. Customers do not form long queues outside branches, they simply squirrel out as much as they can. Some of that money will have been used to pay debts or supplement incomes, of course, but bankers put the sheer volume of withdrawals down to a general fear about the outlook for Greece, one that runs all the way from the humble rainy-day saver to the really big money.

‘Clueless’ government

“Every time the markets move, I get phone calls,” says an Athens-based fund manager. “They’re from investors asking: ‘How can I get my money out of the country?’ ”

One senior investment banker is more blunt: “People are scared that the government doesn’t know what the fuck it’s doing.” He tells a story about an acquaintance who took out €30,000, wrapped it in a bag and stashed it in his garage. “The bag had previously had some food inside,” he says. “So it attracted rats, who ate the notes.”

Bags of money in garages, frightened savers fleeing banks and even the country: these aren’t the sort of stories you associate with a comparatively-prosperous European country, but with a developing one facing a life-or-death economic crash. The fact that they are now emerging from Greece not only indicates the scale of financial distress, it suggests something else: Greece today looks like parts of Latin America in the worst moments of its financial crisis.

In an echo of the days of Jim Callaghan, the International Monetary Fund is back in Europe, doing what it is more accustomed to doing in Buenos Aires or Brasilia: making emergency loans and telling the government how to run its economy. What is more, the scale of the changes an overborrowed Athens is now making are so vast and so rapid that they will leave Greece looking like a different country.

The government itself describes its plan to slash public spending and jack up taxes as one of the most ambitious deficit-reduction programmes in the world. But what often goes missing from this discussion of a fiscal crash-landing is the impact on the lives of citizens who have precious little time to adjust. When salaries of civil servants are slashed by up to 30% within a few months, as happened last year, and over 20% of public-sector workers face unemployment within the next four years – plus whole swathes of national assets are to be privatised before Christmas, with more job losses doubtless to follow – then you are talking about a wholesale transformation of a workforce.

Greece is already one of the poorest and most unequal societies in Europe, reckons Christos Papatheodorou at the Democritus University of Thrace. Among the few countries that look worse are Romania, Bulgaria and Latvia. So what will Greek society look like after the government’s austerity measures take effect? He pauses, then says: “It will probably look like a developing country.”

That message has not been lost on workers either: one of the new nouns used by trade union members and others who oppose the cuts is kinezopeisi, or China-isation. The claim is that such large drops in wages will lead to a workforce paid barely more than their counterparts in Shenzhen.

The oddest thing of all is that some of the leading lights in the government appear to see nothing wrong in a wholesale transformation of Greek society, albeit not into one that resembles an enterprise zone in eastern China. Elena Panaritis is widely tipped as one of the up and comers in Greece’s government, and it is not hard to see why: smart, formidably well-trained in economics after a career with the World Bank, funny and fluent in English, she is exactly the sort of person any prime minister would choose to give a keynote address to fretful institutional investors.

Economists, Experts: US Is Bankrupt, Second Severe Recession Imminent

Prison Planet.com » Economists, Experts: US Is Bankrupt, Second Severe Recession Imminent

Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
Aug 8, 2011

Economists, Experts: US Is Bankrupt, Second Severe Recession Imminent Trader on stock market fl 007

A number of economists, investors and financial experts have weighed in on the US debt crisis today, following Friday’s S&P downgrade, warning that economic meltdown is close.

Renowned Economist Nouriel Roubini, who predicted the 2008 crash and has been predicting a double dip recession for some time, noted in the Financial Times today that the recent media driven impression of a short term “recovery” was a “delusion that has been dashed.”

“Even before last week’s panic, the US and other advanced economies were odds-on for a second severe recession.” Roubini writes.

“America’s recent data have been lousy: there has been little job creation, weak growth and flat consumption and manufacturing production. Housing remains depressed. Consumer, business and investor confidence has been falling, and will now fall further.”

The New York University professor, who recently warned of a “perfect storm” of fiscal woe converging on the global economy in 2013, states that he believes avoiding another severe recession is tantamount to “mission impossible”.

“Until last year policymakers could always produce a new rabbit from their hat to trigger asset reflation and economic recovery.” Roubini writes. “Zero policy rates, QE1, QE2, credit easing, fiscal stimulus, ring-fencing, liquidity provision to the tune of trillions of dollars and bailing out banks and financial institutions – all have been tried. But now we have run out of rabbits to reveal.”

In comments to CNBC, legendary investor Jim Rogers noted that The US does not even deserve a AA+ debt rating, much less a AAA rating.

“It seems to me it’s physically, humanly impossible for the U.S. to ever pay off its debt ,” Rogers said. “They can roll it over and continue to play the charade, but the U.S. is bankrupt.”

Rogers’ opinion was seemingly echoed by ratings agencies S&P and Moody’s today, as they warned that the US could be downgraded again before 2013.

S&P Executive John Chambers told Fox News that a partial reason for Friday’s downgrade was due to the fact that the US political system has proven itself to be “dysfunctional”.

“I think that’s a good word.” Chambers said. “We got to a position where we were within ten hours of having a major cash flow problem. This is not what happens in other countries.”

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

HSBC chief economist Stephen King weighed in, suggesting that “The downgrade by S&P, the ratings agency, merely confirms what everyone already knew,” namely that “fiscal rot set in years ago” in the US.

“Even before the financial crisis, the fiscal path was unsustainable: an ageing population combined with extravagant social security commitments suggested either the need for massive tax increases or draconian spending cuts,” said King.

Stocks have dramatically slumped this morning with The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreasing 328.92 points, or 2.9 percent, to 11,115.69.

“The U.S. credit rating downgrade extended a rout that wiped out $1.94 trillion in market value from the country’s stocks.” reports Bloomberg.

Asian stocks tumbled with some of the biggest US debt holders warning that the US is acting “immorally” and “irresponsibly”.

Presidential candidate Ron Paul, for years the leading voice for sound monetary policy in the US, responded to the downgrade yesterday, noting “I’m surprised it took them so long to downgrade, I didn’t think (S&P) should have had that rating for a long long time.”

“it’s interesting that when we were working on raising the debt limit, over my objection, they can say ‘well if you don’t raise the debt limit, we’re going to downgrade you’, so we raise the debt limit and they downgrade anyway.” The Congressman added.

Warning of a coming inflationary dollar crisis, Paul stated “The Congress is making even bigger mistakes because they keep talking about slashing and cutting and all this, but there have been no suggestions of cutting anything at all.”

Court documents say U.S. knew about coke

Court documents say U.S. knew about coke - UPI.com

EL PASO, Texas, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. officials let the Sinaloa drug cartel smuggle tons of cocaine into the United States in exchange for intelligence about rival cartels, court documents say.

The claim was made by attorneys in defense of Mexico's Vicente Zambada-Niebla, who was extradited to the United States to face drug-trafficking charges in Chicago, the El Paso (Texas) Times reported.

If the claim is true, it could prove to be as damaging to federal investigators as the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm's "Operation Fast and Furious," that let U.S. weapons get into Mexico, the report said.

Documents filed in U.S. federal court said the Sinaloa cartel was allowed to bring tons of cocaine into the United States in exchange for information about rival cartels, The Houston Chronicle reported.

The documents also said Zambada-Niebla worked as an informant for the U.S. government while he was a known fugitive.

'2nd crash kills 33 US Afghan force'

PressTV - '2nd crash kills 33 US Afghan force'

The Taliban claim 33 US soliders have been killed in a second helicopter crash in eatern Afghanitan. (file photo)

A second helicopter belonging to the US-led NATO coalition has crashed in Paktia Province in eastern Afghanistan, killing 33 US forces on board.

Taliban Spokesman Zabihullah Mojahid claimed responsibility for the crash, which occured in Zarmat city on Monday, saying 33 American troops were killed in the downing, a Press TV correspondent reported on Monday.

Separately, another NATO chopper made a hard landing in the same area in eastern Paktia province late Sunday, Afghan witnesses and officials told Press TV.

The US-led NATO forces have cordoned off the scene of the incident, witnesses said.

The incident has reportedly left some casualties, but there are no words yet on the exact number of the killed or injured.

The main cause of the incident is not clear yet.

Meanwhile, the US-led alliance issued a statement and confirmed that the helicopter made an emergency landing. The statement said no one was injured and that it has launched an investigation into the incident.

The incident came in the wake of a similar incident on Saturday, which claimed lives of 31 US forces.

Taliban claimed responsibility for Saturday helicopter crash, but NATO said it has started an investigation into the incident.

Second Recession in U.S. Could Be Worse Than First

Second Recession in U.S. Could Be Worse Than First - Yahoo! Finance

US prepares for military intervention in Somalia

US prepares for military intervention in Somalia :: www.uruknet.info :: informazione dal medio oriente :: information from middle east :: [vs-1]

WSWS, August 6, 2011

The Obama administration is preparing a new military intervention in Somalia under the pretext of humanitarian concern for starving drought victims. The media has fallen into line with a campaign mixing crocodile tears and hand-wringing with denunciations of the Islamist movement al-Shabaab, which is blamed for the deepening crisis.

Just as the bombing campaign in Libya was launched with appeals to save the civilian population of Benghazi from slaughter, so now a fresh intervention is being prepared in Africa supposedly to save the starving children of Somalia. This is a cynical exercise in public deception.

Al-Shabaab is at most 10,000 strong, according to a report produced for the US Council on Foreign Relations. Its most loyal forces probably amount to only a few hundred fighters. It has no organisational connections to Al Qaeda, according to the National Counterterrorism Center.

History is about to repeat itself

A National Debt Of $14 Trillion? Try $211 Trillion

A National Debt Of $14 Trillion? Try $211 Trillion : NPR

August 6, 2011

When Standard & Poor's reduced the nation's credit rating from AAA to AA-plus, the United States suffered the first downgrade to its credit rating ever. S&P took this action despite the plan Congress passed this past week to raise the debt limit.

The downgrade, S&P said, "reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics."

It's those medium- and long-term debt problems that also worry economics professor Laurence J. Kotlikoff, who served as a senior economist on President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers. He says the national debt, which the U.S. Treasury has accounted at about $14 trillion, is just the tip of the iceberg.

Sources: Seal Team 6 Was Murdered

Standard & Poor’s Downgrade Seen as Adding Urgency to Debt Panel To MUTE IDEOLOGICAL DISAGREEMENTS

Standard & Poor’s Downgrade Seen as Adding Urgency to Debt Panel - NYTimes.com

By ROBERT PEAR

Published: August 7, 2011

REPRINTS

WASHINGTON — The downgrade of the United States government’s credit rating by Standard & Poor’s is almost sure to increase pressure on a new Congressional “supercommittee” to mute ideological disagreements and recommend a package of deficit-reduction measures far exceeding its original goal of at least $1.5 trillion, lawmakers said Sunday.

The Caucus: Voters Want a Change Politicians Can't Deliver(August 7, 2011)
Second Recession in U.S. Could Be Worse Than First (August 8, 2011)
Global Finance Leaders Pledge Bold Action to Calm Markets(August 8, 2011)
Amid Criticism on Downgrade of U.S., S.&P. Fires Back (August 7, 2011)
Anger Over Credit Rating Resurfaces in Washington(August 7, 2011)
News Analysis: Rating Cut of U.S. Debt Echoes the Nervousness of Global Markets(August 7, 2011)

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The latest on President Obama, the new Congress and other news from Washington and around the nation. Join the discussion.

Even before the panel is appointed, its mission is expanding. Its role is not just to cut the annual budget deficit and slow the explosive growth of federal debt but also to appease the markets and help restore the United States’ top credit rating of AAA. Otherwise, taxpayers may eventually have to pay more in interest for every dollar borrowed by the Treasury.

The report certainly got the attention of Capitol Hill. “I think this is one of the most telling, important moments in our country’s history right now,” Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, said Sunday on the NBC program “Meet the Press.” He added: “This poses a set of choices not just about a recession. It’s about a financial crisis and the structure of our economy, which really has been misallocating capital.”

In the S.&P. report on Friday outlining the reasons for removing long-term Treasury debt from its list of nearly risk-free investments, the company cited doubts about the ability of the two political parties to bridge their gulf on fiscal policy.

Credit rating agencies have thus emerged as a powerful constituency whose concerns are taken seriously by Congress.

Representative Joe Courtney, Democrat of Connecticut, said he had “read and reread the S. & P. report” several times since it was issued Friday night, and he said it could spur action by Congress. If the 12 members of the committee, to be appointed by Aug. 16 by Congressional leaders of the two parties, could agree on a deficit-reduction package, and if Congress approved it, Mr. Courtney said, “that would surprise a lot of skeptics” and could disprove the company’s criticism of the United States political system.

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Monday, August 8, 2011

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'Global economic bubble has burst'