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Transcript
THE INTERNATIONAL FORECASTER
WEDNESDAY, April 7, 2010
040710(2)IF
P. O. Box 510518, Punta Gorda, FL 33951-0518
An international financial, economic, political and social commentary.
Published and Edited by: Bob Chapman
NOTE: NEW E-MAIL ADDRESSES
For correspondence to Bob: [email protected]
For subscription and renewal: [email protected]
CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE
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NON US OR CANADIANS SUBSCRIBERS:
Due to the time that it takes for your mail to arrive to us from a foreign country, we would like for you to email us
as above the CC information in two separate emails.
Note: We publish twice a month by surface mail or twice a week by E-mail. [email protected]
or [email protected]
RADIO APPEARANCES:
To check out all of our radio appearances click on this link below:
http://www.theinternationalforecaster.com/radio
NEXT ISSUES
Every Saturday and Wednesday in April
Bob Chapman makes regular radio interviews that can be heard over the air or online. Visit The
Bob Chapman Youtube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBobChapmanChannel) to
listen to recordings of Bob's broadcasts on the markets, politics, metals, the economy,
currencies, and current events.
Many of the websites linked on this page provide players that allow you to listen to their
programs from within your web browser. Many of them, however, provide links to live internet
broadcasts which may require additional software.
Recommended players:
VLC (Windows download, Mac download)
iTunes (Windows users click “Get Itunes for Windows” near bottom of page)
Windows Media Player (Comes with Windows, Mac download)
*****
Discount Gold & Silver Trading Co.
For the best in pricing and service for gold and silver coins, call Melody at 1-800-375-4188. Be
sure to listen to DGSTC with Bob Chapman live on Short-wave 7.415Mhz M-F 4:00PM ET,
Replays Tuesday thru Friday 8pm RT 7.465Mhz
3.215 MHz M-F 11PM ET and weekly archives at discountgoldandsilvertrading.net
1
JOHN STADTMILLER – Republic Broadcasting Network www.republicbroadcasting.org – every Tues. at
5:00-7:00 pm EST
GOLDSEEK RADIO – Every Thursday
SAM BUSHMAN - LRT Radio http://www.libertyroundtable.com
Every first and third Monday of the month 10 am to 11 am
DALE WILLIAMS - Free West Radio Program – http://www.freewestradio.com - Every first Tuesday of
Month
JOHN BRYANT– 7 p.m. EDT - network www.firstamendmentradio.com
Dr. STAN MONTEITH - Every Monday 4 p.m. & 8 p.m. PST. www.radioliberty.com, or to our shortwave
broadcasts on WHRI at 5.745 MH weekdays from 3-5 pm and 8-10 pm Pacific Time 5070 and 7465.
Shortwave: Daily M-F 3:00 - 4:00 PM: PST 5.070 Mhz 4:00 - 5:00 PM: PST 7.465 Mhz 8:00 - 9:00 PM: PST
5.875 & 6.110 Mhz
THE MERIA HELLER SHOW –every 2nd Tuesday of the month – www.Meria.net
THE POWER HOUR– GCN.live.com – Every other Monday - April 12th, & April 26th 2010.
PAT GORMAN – Sunday April 4, 2010
Stephen Lendman – April 8, May 13th, 2010 - Progressive Radio Network every 2nd Thursday of
each month.
ALEX JONES - GCN.live.com -Noon on shortwave 1st hour: WWCR 9.985 and 2nd & 3rd Hour:
Every Friday – noon CST. WWCR 9975 - Here are some of the recent Alex Jones shows that Bob has
appeared on. Mon thru Fri Noon to 4 pm EST, 12160
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIQ1Qrv_AUE
BUTCH PAUGH – May 12th June 16th - 9 p.m. EST - Also on your computer on www.gcnlive.com
<http://www.gcnlive.com/> . LIVE FM STATIONS 9:00 PM EST.-88.3 FM ROTX Campbell, TX- 92.7 FM
Lexington TN-102.9 FM in Lutz, FL-89.7 FM Nettie, WV-89.7 FM North Branch, MN-91.9 FM Kerrville, TX97.5 FM Dallas, TX-91.1 FM Austin, TX-97.5-91.1 FM Austin, TX-91.7 FM Fredericksburg, TX-91.7 FM
Johnson City, TX-90.1 FM Round Rock, TX-90.1 FM Austin, TX-96.3 FM Austin, TX-95.7 FM Dallas, TX93.3 FM Valparaiso, IN-90.7 & 88.5 FM Cosby, TN-88.3 FM Meadsville, PA-100.3 FM Kamia, ID-89.7 FM
Presque Isle ME-97.7 FM Greenville, SC-107.1 FM Oklahoma City, OK-90.1 FM Gatlinburg, TN-102.7 FM
Tampa, FL-KGGM 93.5 FM Delhi, LA LIVE AM STATIONS 9:00 EST.-WIJD 1270 AM Mobile, AL, KIOU
1480 AM Shreveport, LA,WFAM 1050 AM Augusta, GA-WELP 1360 AM Greenville, SC-WCPC 940 AM
Tupelo, MS-WROL 1340 Providence, RI-WITK 1550 AM in Scranton/Wilkesboro, PA-WNNY 1090 AM
Pensacola, FL-WARL 1320 AM Attleboro, MA-1380 WLRM AM Chattanooga, TN-WYYC 1250 AM York, PAWNVY 1070 AM Pensacola, FL-KGEZ 1600 AM Kalispell, MT REBROADCAST FM STATIONS- 91.9 FM
Macon, GA 7:00 AM-91.9 FM Freedom radio Jones City, GA 8:00 AM Est. REBROADCAST AM
STATIONS-KCKN AM 1020 Roswell, NM 10 PM Est.-KMET 1490 AM 11 AM Pst. - WASB 1590 AM
Brockport, NY 5-6 PM Est.- WRSB 1310 AM Canandaigua, NY 5-6 PM Est.-WBCR 1470 AM in Alcoa, TN 78 AM Est.-WVOG 600 AM New Orleans, LA 5:00 PM Est.
ERSKINE: - every 3rd Thursday – 2:00 pm CST GCN.live.com
Drew Raines: - Drew Raines: - Every Thursday 2200 GMT <5pm E.S.T. 4pm C.S.T.> “A
Marines Disquisition” Carried by BlogTalkRadio & Windtalkers Networks Worldwide:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/drew-malone-raineshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hesYUFCe2_U
GNC-LIVE FREQUENCIES:
http://www.gcnlive.com/Schedule_Shortwave.html
KEVIN GALLAGHER & John McGowan – Every first Friday at 9 pm EST. Time
Out Productions -
www.youtube.com/kgallagher01
Bruce McDonald - The Politics of Common Sense: 6-8 p.m. CST
[email protected]
Rob Johnson –April 13th & April 27th – May 11th & May 25th on Pappas Telecommunications’ -840
KMPH. Stockton/Modesto, CA
Reuben Torres 646-591-3551; - [email protected]
"Lets Get Real With Reuben Torres "airs every Tuesday evening from 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm unless
otherwise noted. - Next: April 20th & May 4th.
Farren Shoaf – April 3rd The Real News Radio
<http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=81009&amp;cmd=tc>
Derek ENGLER –Derek Dreamer – May 26th & June 23rd - 4pm CST.- www.NutriMedical.com
<http://www.blogtalkradio.com/derekdreamer1
Ralph Evans – Sovereign Economist http://sovereign-economist.com - Every Wednesday from 6:30 pm to
7:30 pm CDT. http://texasbroadcasting.net
2
Ralph Evans Show on the Texas Broadcasting Network
Guy Chapman – Green T Hour – Every 1st Thursday of each month
Here is the link to your show. Please use it as you see fit. Good show Bob
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/green-t-hour/2010/04/02/green-t-hour
We were talking about gun rights this week and here is the feed for our show with the NRA if you want to
listen it talks about the mayor of New York wanting to take control of our guns. This guy has really
overstepped his boundaries and really needs to be exposed for being a communist. What can we do
about people like this I really don't know? I have been blogging and trying to expose him.
Here’s the link to your show please use it as you see fit. Thanks for all the hard work great how and sorry
for the tech problems. See ya next month and thanks again
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/green-t-hour/2009/12/04/green-t-hour
James Corbett – 4/20, 5/18 and 6/04, 2010 – 10 am EST – The Sat. issue will have the April, May and
June dates posted.
Bob Chapman of The International Forecaster joins us once again to discuss the reality behind
the economic and political headlines. This month we discuss the looming US sovereign debt
crisis, the absolute proof of manipulation in precious metals markets and the ills of Obamacare.
We also discuss the alternative media movement that is threatening to topple the systems of
control that have held sway over our economy and political structures for so long.
http://www.corbettreport.com/mp3/2010-03-31%20Bob%20Chapman.mp3
Bill Deagle – 4/28 & 5/26 GCN –
3/30/10 Radio Interview with Mike McSorley
http://krms1150.com/krmsradio/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout
=blog&id=12&Itemid=24
*****
The Chicago Resource Expo is being held on April 23rd and 24th, 2010 at the Rolling Meadows
Holiday Inn Convention Center in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. The Expo features 25 natural
resource companies that range from gold miners to uranium explorers. The Chicago Resource
Expo is one of the oldest natural resource conferences in the United States, the event began in
1977. The Expo is Chaired by Rich Radez, a veteran in the natural resource industry.
The event begins on Friday afternoon at 2:30pm and concludes on Saturday afternoon at 4pm.
Q & A Discussion featuring newsletter writers, geologists, and analysts at 7pm Friday evening.
Working Lunch Q & A at noon on Saturday, includes lunch buffet. Both Friday and Saturday
afternoon feature a cocktail reception. Special teleconference featuring Bob Chapman of The
International Forecaster begins at 3pm on Saturday. Hellix Ventures will be an exhibitor and
welcomes you to visit their booth.
To read more about this FREE event, and to pre-register, please visit
<http://www.chicagoresourceexpo.com> <http://www.chicagoresourceexpo.com> . Email any
questions to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
*****
US MARKETS
Almost every day in almost any currency your purchasing power in terms of
gold is less and less. Thus, these currencies in which you save the fruits of your labor
are cheating you out of your savings.
The US dollar is particularly vulnerable because of its staggering debt even
though it is the world reserve currency. In fact the debt is so onerous that we believe
the quality rating of the dollar could be lowered by the end of the year. Many other
currencies face the same dilemma and in the final analysis only gold will be worth what
it is today or in the future.
Unless the US government expropriates Americans’ retirement plans they
won’t be able to fund their sovereign debt. This situation is exacerbated by continued
fiscal deficits of some $1.8 trillion. The administration and the Democratic Party are
bound and determined to destroy America financially. Between government, Wall
3
Street and banking America is being destroyed. This did not just happen that way; it
was planned that way. When people discover what has been done to them there will
probably be a revolution.
Government spends excessively, as free trade and globalization keeps
America under a staggering load of unemployment in what has become a corporatist
fascist nation controlled by Wall Street and banking and run by Marxists, who for years
have operated in the shadows as bureaucrats.
Many American states are on the edge of bankruptcy. Their only hope is
massive layoffs and reduced services adding to the already massive unemployment
that plagues our nation. The situation is close presently to resembling the 1930s and
that is after trillions of dollars created out of thin air permeated the economy. Worse
yet, nothing has been done deliberately to solve the problems. One might think the
antics of government; banking and Wall Street were deliberate-unfortunately they are.
It won’t be long before everything will be nationalized and corporatist fascism will be in
full flower.
We now have medical health care reform that will cost hundreds of billions of
dollars annually adding to a wildly growing deficit, which becomes more un-fundable
every day. As you all know this legislation was passed illegally. As you all know this
legislation was passed illegally and will be challenged in the Supreme Court. Can you
imagine 2,700 pages that no one in Congress read, that was passed, so we could see
what was in it. Every Democrat deserves to be thrown out of office for this piece of
criminality. Corruption in government, Wall Street and banking knows no end. This in
addition to the looting of funds for Social Security and Medicare, that the Treasury now
must fund, when they cannot even fund current debt without having the Fed buy it with
money created out of thin air. Talk about inflation – it is surely on the way. If we use
GAAP accounting, not the US government’s cash figures, the deficit is really in the
vicinity of $4.5 to $5 trillion, not $1.8 trillion. This, of course, is nothing new and the
same lying and secrecy is in force worldwide. All that people have saved worldwide
has been stolen from them - they just do not know it yet.
The phenomenon of government workers making far more than workers in
industry has to end. Unionized workers make double private industry. Is it no wonder
there is deficit spending to hold up this terrible financial burden. There is no end to the
demands of these parasites that are sucking the public dry.
The situation in Europe is so bad that all of Europe is attacking Germany
because they save and do not spend enough and their balance of payments surplus is
obscene to other spenders not only in the euro zone, but in the entire EU as well. Their
thought is Germany should be losers like we are. Then there are the PIIGS who care
about little or nothing. We know we lived for years in all of these countries and fully
understand where they are coming from. They all wanted socialism and it has doomed
them, as has the euro zone and the European Union. They are about to discover
socialism and debt are about to destroy them. You have made yourselves into
economic and financial zombies. There is no one left to bail you out. Subsidizing
everything doesn’t work as they are soon to find out. When Europe and America fail
unfortunately they are going to in part take the entire world down with them – no one is
going to be spared.
What a world we now live in. Under the “healthcare” legislation everyone can
now be “chipped,” so that government can soon catalog everything about you, so on
demand they can control you. Hitler and Stalin didn’t have the technology, but had they
had it they would have used it, just as our Illuminist masters are about to do.
Government wants to totally control your lives.
4
We have an economy in a state of collapse and part of the reason for that is
free trade, globalization, offshoring and outsourcing, which since 2000 has cost
America some 8 million good quality jobs. Where are you Smoot-Hawley now that we
need you? There are many reasons why the American economy is collapsing and free
trade, British mercantilism, is one of them.
As we have said for months there is a multilateral change coming in currencies.
A massive devaluation of all currencies and a debt settlement between countries.
When that happens consumers worldwide will lose 2/3’s of their purchasing power on
the final leg down into deflationary depression, which is probably 1-1/2 to 2 years
away. Your only protection against such events is holding gold and silver related
assets.
Those who have opted for general stock investments since 1998 have come
out even if they were lucky and that includes massive market manipulation by our
government. Not just failed policies. The creation in August 1988 of the President’s
Working Group on Financial Markets” has been a disaster for free markets and a gift to
dictators and would be tyrants. The markets are a giant scam and their underpinnings
are about to collapse. There has been little or no growth over those years. Real estate
bubbles in residential and commercial markets have collapsed and the stock market
will soon follow. Hitting you right in the forehead is almost a 4% yield on 10-year Tnotes that could well become 5% by yearend, which we predicted late last year. That
will put the 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 6-1/4% to 6-1/2%. What do you think that
will do to real estate, markets and profits? This is mainly because of sovereign debt
that grows exponentially every minute of every day. These pyromaniacs in the White
House and Congress add to the conflagration all day every day. The result has been a
25% loss in the S&P since March of 2000, and a loss versus gold of 75%. Gold has
risen from $252 to $1,224 and silver from $3.50 to $20.00 with massive government
and Fed suppression. Where do you think your money should have been and where
your money should be? In gold and silver bullion, coins and shares. Yes, as usual we
were crazy and we were right and we are going to continue to be right, because we
understand what the Illuminists are up too.
You live in a bankrupt country, along with 18 other major bankrupts, and you
will soon learn how you are going to lose everything you have worked a lifetime for. A
rise in interest rates of 5% adds $620 billion annually to the US debt in interest alone
and that is rising exponentially. The US, nor any government, can survive such debt
service.
We are calling inflation, real inflation, not the official variety of 3%, but at 8%.
John Williams says on the things you buy every day it is 10%. We should easily see
14-5/8% inflation by the end of the year just as we did 2-1/2 years ago.
The Fed has ended its $1.25 trillion program of buying toxic debt from lenders.
We do not know if that is the correct figure, we do not know from whom they were
purchased and we do not know what was paid for the MBS, because it is a secret. This
purchase has put downward pressure on interest rates for the past 15 months. This is
an abnormal procedure and it can be expected that interest rates would move higher.
It also means that the fed will now be a seller in the market as the FDIC is attempting
to be. If sold these securities will put downward pressure on these bonds and force
higher rates in a market that is already subject to crowding out by the treasury. In
addition, quantitative easing is being phased out, putting further upward pressure on
rates. The Fed if it continues these policies may stem hyperinflation but they run the
distinct risk of having deflation run out of control, which could easily drive the economy
into deflationary depression. This is a super human feat we do not see being
accomplished without major damage, at the least.
5
Rate volatility is going to increase dramatically, as the Fed works to hold the
10-year T-bill rate below 4%. This is what they did previously at great cost to savers
and taxpayers.
As rates climb the dollar carry trade becomes much less attractive and as it is
unwound borrowed money is pulled from other investments, such as bonds putting
more upward pressure on rates and at the same time downward pressure on stocks,
which have been purchased with borrowed money. If the Fed tightens, as they might
on Wednesday, yields will move even higher. If that happens those in the carry trade
and bonds and shares will see gains evaporate and sales of both bonds and stock will
ensue, as the carry trade is unwound. This is what markets are now facing.
This takes us to municipal bonds and particularly California, which has $85
billion in debt, that has to be paid by its citizens, of which about 40% do not pay any
taxes. In addition it officially has 12.4% unemployment, which is really about 25% and
getting worse daily. This is a state with $1 trillion to $3.5 trillion in unfunded pensions
and the world’s 8th largest economy. This is a state that, via federal subsidy, sold
“Build America Bonds”, bonds yielding 6.3%, or 2.4%, higher rates than Treasuries.
California is on the edge of bankruptcy and their municipal bonds should be sold, as
many from other states should be sold as well. States won’t work out of their problems
for years.
Last week the Dow rose 0.7%; S&P 1%, the Russell 2000 0.7% and the
Nasdaq was unchanged. Banks rose 0.3%; broker/dealers 0.8%; cyclicals 0.8%;
transports 1.2%; consumers 1.2%, as utilities fell 1.8%. High tech fell 0.3% as semis
gained 1.1% and Internets fell 0.2%. Biotechs fell 0.2%; gold gained $12.00; the HUI
rose 6.2% and the USDX fell 0.6% to 81.17.
Two-year Treasury bills rose 6 bps to 1.02%; the 10-year T-notes rose 10 bps
to 3.95% and the 10-year German bund fell 7 bps to 3.08%.
The Freddie Mac 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose 9 bps to 5.08%; the 15’s
rose 5 bps to 4.39%; one-year ARMs fell 15 bps to 4.05% and jumbos rose 1 bps to
5.83%.
Fed credit declined $7.4 billion. Fed foreign holdings of Treasury, Agency debt
rose $7.2 billion to a record of $3.020 trillion. Custody holdings for foreign central
banks increased $64.5 billion just year-to-date, and year-on-year 15.7%.
M2 narrow money supply fell $10 billion.
Total money market fund assets fell $30 billion to $2.983 trillion, the first time
below $3 trillion since 10/07. Year-to-date it is off $311 billion and year-on-year it is off
22.2%.
Commercial paper fell $5.2 billion, or 20.8% ytd and 24.9% yoy.
America’s debt is now $31 trillion, or 2-1/2 times US GDP. Americans on
average only own 11% of their home the remainder is debt. Home prices are headed
lower until 2013, so 20% lower prices are a certainty. In some areas homes have
already fallen 60% to 75%. This situation will feed on itself for years and bankruptcies
and inventory for sale will flourish for years. About 45% of homes have mortgages. We
wrote five years ago that the government wants to own and nationalize those homes,
so they can control the public.
As we wrote earlier we expect another large stimulus plan soon and the Fed to
reverse gears and flood the world with money sometime soon. This should be the last
rescue and the result will be hyperinflation followed by collapse and a deflationary
depression. This is the last chance to buy gold and silver inexpensively.
If you do not think there was inflation in 2007 and 2008 homeowners insurance
rose 24%, in 2008 it rose 31% and again in 2009-10 it rose 31%.
6
Treasury debt is on the ropes and is about to cause the Illuminists real trouble,
along with higher interest rates. Later this year or early next year debt as a percentage
will reach 95%. From there on its collapse. How can anyone conceive deficits of more
than $10 trillion over the next ten years?
One of our subscribers tells us before the President went to Afghanistan this
past week he went to China to beg for money. The Chinese said they have no more to
lend. The President went away empty handed. This shows you the veracity of mainline
media reporting and the needless secrecy in government. This Intel came from people
in china who are highly placed in the government.
The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index release by the Institute for Supply
Management rose in March to 55.4 from 53.0. The index reached the highest level
since November of 2007.
The increase to 55.4 was above market expectations of an increase to 53.3.
The data shows that the economic activity in the US continues to improve.
More Americans unexpectedly signed contracts in February to buy previously
owned homes, signaling government efforts to support the market will start pay off.
The index of purchase agreements, or pending home sales, rose 8.2 percent, the
second-biggest gain on record and the largest since October 2001, after a revised 7.8
percent drop in January, the National Association of Realtors announced today in
Washington.
Buyers may be vying to take advantage of an Obama administration tax credit
that requires a contract be signed by the end of April, indicating a rebound in sales will
soon emerge. Sustained gains in employment would ensure sales continue to rise
even after the government incentive expires, raising the odds the economic recovery is
maintained.
Hedge funds that aim to profit from macroeconomic upheavals have had a
lacklustre start to 2010, in spite of some of the biggest international monetary crises in
more than a decade.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b8e7ab2e-400f-11df-8d2300144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss - The Greek debt crisis and steep falls in value for
both the euro and sterling have failed to translate into noticeable gains for most macro
managers, many of whom predicted a stellar year on the back of huge global
economic rebalancing.
So-called global macro hedge funds, which specialise in bets on interest rates,
sovereign bonds and currencies, have on average lost 1.25 per cent on investments
so far this year, according to industry data compiled by Hedge Fund Research, a
Chicago-based index compiler.
Many of the hedge fund industry’s biggest names have so far failed to turn
market crises to their advantage often in spite of fervent political criticism linking them
to damaging market “speculation”.
The 5-foot alligator lurking in the algae-green waters of the community
swimming pool was not the worst thing code-enforcement officers have found in recent
years at AAA Apartments in Cocoa.
Bathrooms infested with mold. Walls with gaping holes where air conditioners
had been ripped out. Garbage and trash strewn about the 52-unit complex. The city
began issuing code-violation fines in 2007, back at the beginning of the housing slump,
and the apartments' co-owners soon owed the city $1.8 million more than three times
the current list price of the property, and enough money to motivate the now-former coowners to try bribing a code-enforcement officer.
AAA Apartments, now bank-owned, may be an example of things to come. As
home foreclosures continue to mount throughout Central Florida, code-enforcement
7
officers say apartments, condominiums and other commercial buildings are being
abandoned by their owners and repossessed by banks in growing numbers.
A surprise Fed announcement eclipsed the disappointing March Employment
Report on Friday. Yes, it is a disappointment despite the media and permabull spin,
because the Street expected March NFP to exceed 200k. One forecast had the job
gain at 400k. But only 48k temporary Census workers were recorded. So only 162k
NFP were reported.
Birth Death Model jobs are 81k, even though ADP, who actually does a count,
showed small business lost 112k jobs. Professional services gained 11,000 jobs, but
40,000 were part-time jobs.
Review and determination by the Board of Governors of the advance and
discount rates to be charged by Federal Reserve Banks.
Traders quickly surmised that if the Fed is going to allow public access to an
emergency meeting to discuss a possible discount rate hike, the probability is very
high that a discount rate will occur soon.
The probable reason for the public airing is to disabuse the notion that the
Fed’s secrecy keeps the public in the dark about its operations while it tips coming
policy to insiders who profit on the inside info.
Most of the financial media ignored the Fed notice and reported the dollar
surged because the jobs report indicated the economy had turned the corner. How is
this possible when the number of jobs were below the consensus forecast?
Other financial media types spun the disappointing NFP as good news
because it means the Fed cannot hike rates. But the dollar rally contradicts this
notion…If anything, SPMs jumped on asset allocation, which will be a temporary boost
for stocks. Perhaps the past months’ upward revisions were a factor.
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for January was revised from 26,000 to +14,000, and the change for February was revised from -36,000 to -14,000.
Once again we see chicanery in the March Employment because the
Household Survey shows a gain of 264k jobs but ‘Men 20 years & over’ accounted for
a 290k job gain. ‘Women 20 years & over’ LOST 42k jobs. This is absurd.
You might recall that we noted that the January Employment Report recorded a
541k jobs increase in the Household Survey due to an increase of 529k of jobs for
‘Women 20 years & over’, while ‘Men 20 years & over’ LOST 1k jobs. This is
impossible!
Now we see the opposite scheme ‘Men 20 years & over’ gained 290k jobs;
women lost 42k jobs.
The Household Survey shows an increase of 308,000 jobs, but the BLS did not
report this in the preamble to the report. Most of the gain is due to 233,000 gain in
‘Men 20 years and older’. ‘Men 16 year and older’ account for 297,000 of the 308,000
jobs gain in the Household Survey! For February, ‘Women 20 years of age and older’
increased only 11,000.
Wages fell 0.1% (+0.2% expected), a record for the data series; but it only
goes back to 2006. Wages should increase before employment increases due to the
high cost of benefits.
U6, comprehensive unemployment, increase 0.1 to 16.9% in March.
‘Unemployed for 27 weeks or more’ hit a record 44.1%. Per Alan Abelson, the odds of
finding a job sank to 18.7% from Feb’s 20.1%. The Exhaust Rate (people that have
exhausted unemployment benefits) hit 54.01% for February.
Gallup Daily tracking finds that 20.3% of the U.S. workforce was
underemployed in March. [The 149,268 consumer bankruptcies filed in March
8
represented the highest monthly consumer filing total since Congress overhauled the
Bankruptcy Code in 2005.]
For the week ended Wednesday, the Fed’s balance contracted $5.992B due to
the sale of $5.103B of MBS. The Fed monetized $1.5B of agencies.
US banks earned $2.5bn last year from an accounting rule that enables them
to book gains – known as “Christmas capital” by buying assets at a discount, a new
study shows. More than half of all acquisitions of failed banks last year resulted in such
gains, according to SNL Financial, which compiled the data.
Administrations release unpleasant news on Friday evening because fewer
people pay attention and the media cycle is more favorable.
You can imagine why Team Obama released the following nugget on Good Friday.
In one of its first steps to carry out the new health care law, the Obama administration
announced Friday that it was establishing a temporary insurance pool where uninsured
people with medical problems could buy coverage at reduced rates.
Federal health officials said the program would be available from late June of
this year to Jan. 1, 2014, when private insurers will be required to accept all applicants
without varying premiums on account of a person’s medical condition.
Under the new law, Ms. Sebelius can sign contracts with states to operate
insurance pools meeting federal standards. The federal government can operate the
pool directly or hire a nonprofit organization to run it in any state that does not want to
do so. To qualify for the high-risk pool, a consumer must have a pre-existing condition
and must have been uninsured for the six months before filing an application.
You can’t make up stuff like this! Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL) responding to a
constituent who asks about the Constitutionality of Obamacare, says, “I don't worry
about the Constitution on this to be honest.
More than 1 in 5 jobless Americans have been without work for a year or more,
potentially leading to a loss of skills that will hurt the economy, according to a study by
the Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative.
About 3.4 million people, or 23 percent of the unemployed in December, were
jobless for at least 12 months, the study showed. And, while the long-term job loss
spans industries and age groups, those who are 55 and older have had the hardest
time finding new positions, according to the report said.
A short workweek, a surge in permanent firings, and the slump in home values
signal that the problem of extended unemployment is likely to persist even as the labor
market and economy recover, the report said. The federal government may spend five
times as much on jobless benefits this year than in the years leading up to the
recession, it said.
Policy makers “will be under pressure to take additional action before the
recovery takes hold and the long-term unemployment rate returns to a lower level,’’
Pew said in the report.
While more experienced Americans are less likely to lose their jobs, once
unemployed they face an increasing chance of being out of work longer, the report
showed. Almost 30 percent of unemployed workers aged 55 and older have been
without work for a year or more, the highest share of any age group.
Across age groups, people with a high school diploma or less were most likely
to be unemployed for more than a year.
Even so, education did not guarantee a short stint of unemployment. Twentyone percent of jobless workers with a bachelor’s degree have been out of work for a
year or longer, compared with 27 percent of high school graduates and 23 percent of
those without a high school diploma.
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Those who are unemployed for such a length of time can lose job skills and
face the largest cuts in weekly earnings once they do return to work, the report
showed.
Manufacturing, construction, and wholesale and retail trade were among the
industries that had the highest number of people unemployed for at least a year.
The problem of long-term unemployment is not likely to diminish soon,
according to the report. A workweek near record lows indicates that companies can
give current employees more work before having to take on more staff. Also, a surge
in permanent firings signals many of those jobs are not coming back.
CA Inc., the second-largest maker of software for mainframe computers, said it
will cut about 1,000 jobs as part of its 2010 restructuring plan. CA also said its 2010
profit will be at the low end of its forecast range.
Junk bond sales reached a record this month… Companies worldwide issued
$38.3 billion of junk bonds in March, passing the previous high of $36 billion in
November 2006… Yields fell 0.95 percentage point to within 5.96 percentage points of
government debt, the narrowest gap since January 2008. This is ‘an almost
‘Goldilocks’ environment for leveraged credit markets,’ JPMorgan Chase & Co.
analysts led by Peter Acciavatti said. Sales soared as investors plowed a record $33.6
billion into speculative-grade funds this quarter, according to research firm EPFR
Global.” [Chasing yields continues and can only end in tears.]
The leveraged-loan market climbed to a 21-month high this week as rising
prices spurred companies including Cedar Fair LP and IMS Health Inc. to obtain
buyout loans during the quarter, making it the busiest period for such funding since
July-through-September 2008. Since Jan. 1, companies have raised more than $5
billion in the high-yield, high-risk leveraged-loan market to finance buyouts.
Demand for collateralized loan obligations is reviving, according to Citigroup
Inc. CLOs, shunned for their role in causing $1.76 trillion of bank write downs, buy
leveraged loans and then use the payments as collateral for bonds. Citigroup last
month priced a $525 million deal in the first new issue in a year. Leveraged, or junkrated, loans typically fund buyouts. ‘More deals are expected in the course of the
year,’ analysts led by Ratul Roy wrote. Leveraged loans prices rose to 91.7% of face
value this week, the highest since June 25, 2008. The gauge fell to a low of 59% in
Dec. 17, 2008. [Investors learned nothing from the MBS-CDO and ABS crash.]
Emerging-market companies and governments are borrowing at a record pace
to take advantage of all-time low yields. Developing-nation issuers sold $157 billion of
bonds in the first quarter, the busiest start to a year since Bloomberg began compiling
the data in 1999, as the yield on JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s benchmark EMBI Global
Diversified Index fell as low as 6.22% on March 17.
Investors flooded risky companies with money in March even as the
government prepares to shut down a key engine driving one of the greatest corporatebond rallies in history. A total $31.5 billion in new high-yield debt… hit the market
through Tuesday, exceeding the previous monthly record in November 2006. Partly
propelling the activity: The Federal Reserve’s massive mortgage-buying program,
which comes to an end… By buying $1.25 trillion of mortgage securities, the Fed
absorbed a flood of assets that otherwise would have needed buyers. That kept
money in the hands of investors, who went searching for something else to buy. The
Fed's underpinning encouraged investors to seek riskier, higher-yielding securities. A
natural choice: corporate bonds.
A bond program funded by the Obama administration’s stimulus bill will save
state and local governments billions in borrowing costs, the Treasury Department said.
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A Treasury analysis of the “Build America Bonds’’ program found that it will reduce
borrowing costs by $12.3 billion for governments building capital projects such as
schools, hospitals, and transportation.
Governments use the stimulus bonds, which pay taxable interest to investors,
instead of the tax-free bonds that state and local governments normally issue.
Investors demand higher interest rates on the stimulus bonds because of the taxes,
but the Treasury covers 35 percent of the governments’ interest payments. That
lowers the governments’ net borrowing costs to below what they would pay on taxexempt bonds.
The federal government gets back most of the 35 percent subsidy — about 28
percent — by taxing the investors, the administration said in its annual budget request.
The Treasury would not provide an estimated cost to the government of the remaining
7 percent subsidy. The Treasury does not have access to the necessary data on
investors’ taxes, an official said.
The program is a net transfer of money from the federal government to state
and local governments. Some industry officials dispute that, saying the federal
government is getting back a lower percentage of the subsidy in taxes, and that the
program costs more than the government is acknowledging.
President Obama has proposed making it permanent in a modified form.
The Treasury says the bonds open municipal finance to new classes of retail
and institutional investors, including life insurance companies.
The federal government announced yesterday that it is relaxing some rules to
make it easier for communities to spend funds on redeveloping abandoned and
foreclosed properties.
The changes, effective immediately, will allow cities, counties, and states to
buy properties in mortgage default and uninhabitable homes with lingering code
violations through the $4 billion Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
The program was started in the midst of the nation’s foreclosure crisis, but a
year later about a third of more than 300 local governments that got grants have barely
made a dent in them, according to a recent report from the US Department of Housing
and Urban Development.
Some city, state, and county officials say they have had trouble spending the
grant money because federal rules are confusing and cash investors have often outbid
them for residential properties.
“It became clear to us that the Neighborhood Stabilization Program as originally
designed was too restrictive and limited the ability of our local partners to put this
funding to work quickly,’’ Mercedes Marquez, HUD’s assistant secretary for community
planning and development, said in a statement. “We need to be more flexible so our
local partners can respond to market conditions and reverse the effects of foreclosure
in these neighborhoods as quickly as possible.’’
James Miller, spokesman for the Florida Department of Community Affairs,
which got $91 million to distribute to 24 cities and counties, called yesterday’s
announcement wonderful news.
“It just broadens the pool of available properties that local governments can
target,’’ he said. “This opens up more possibilities for them.’’
The new rules give communities a broader pool to work from. Now a
community can buy a property that is at least 60 days delinquent on its mortgage if the
owner has been notified, or if the owner is 90 days or more delinquent on tax
payments.
HUD also expanded the definition of an abandoned property to include homes
where no mortgage or tax payments have been made for at least 90 days or a code
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enforcement inspection has determined that the property is not habitable and the
owner has taken no corrective action.
Employers in the U.S. created more jobs in March than at any time in the past
three years, showing the recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s is
broadening and becoming more entrenched.
Payrolls rose by 162,000 workers, the third gain in the past five months and the
most since March 2007, figures from the Labor Department showed today in
Washington. The increase included 48,000 temporary workers hired by the
government to conduct the census. Unemployment was 9.7 percent for a third month.
The government revised the January and February job count up by a combined
62,000, putting the March gain at 224,000 after including the updated data. The
jobless rate was unchanged even after Americans who had previously dropped out of
the workforce decided to resume the job hunt, pointing to growing confidence that the
world’s largest economy will continue to expand.
California's sole auto plant shut down Thursday in Fremont as the last car
rolled off the assembly line and thousands of now unemployed workers walked out the
doors, some crying.
A red Toyota Corolla was the last of nearly 8 million vehicles that have moved
through production at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., known as NUMMI, and a
throng of workers accompanied it on the final leg of the line.
"I saw a whole lotta men crying in there when things started going quiet and we
said our goodbyes. It made me choke up," said David Guerra, who has worked at
NUMMI for 25 years -- as long as the plant's been open.
The plant, established in 1984 as a joint venture between GM and Toyota
Motors Corp., employed 4,700 workers.
More Americans filed for bankruptcy protection in March than during any month
since the federal personal bankruptcy law was tightened in October 2005, a new report
says, a result of high unemployment and the housing crash.
Federal courts reported over 158,000 bankruptcy filings in March, or 6,900 a
day, a rise of 35 percent from February, according to a report to be released on Friday
by Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, a data collection company known
as Aacer. Filings were up 19 percent over March 2009. The previous record over the
last five years was 133,000 in October.
“Even with the restrictive new law, we’re back up over where we were before
the law changed,” Mike Bickford, president of Aacer, said in a phone interview
Thursday from his headquarters in Oklahoma City. He faulted the stagnant economy,
saying a surge in bankruptcies generally follows economic contraction by 6 to 18
months, and he pointed to March as a historically busy month for bankruptcy filings.
Other experts point out that filings invoking Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code, a
simple and inexpensive option, are rising faster than more complex Chapter 13
reorganization filings, under which consumers repay a portion of their debts so they
can keep their homes, suggesting that more homeowners are simply walking away
from underwater mortgages.
“Fewer people are trying to save their homes,” Katherine M. Porter, a
University of Iowa law professor and bankruptcy expert, said in an interview by phone
on Thursday. “They realize their payments are not affordable, and bankruptcy judges
do not have the power to adjust the mortgages to make them more affordable.”
Statistics from the United States Trustee Program, the Justice Department
office that oversees bankruptcy cases, show that Chapter 7 filings as a percentage of
all bankruptcies have increased to about 73 percent in 2009 from about 62 percent in
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2006-07. Of the 158,141 bankruptcy filings in March, 118,505, or 75 percent, were
Chapter 7s and 38,241 were Chapter 13s, the Aacer report says.
“We think that means fewer and fewer families think they’re really going to save their
homes,” Professor Porter said. “They don’t have any equity, so why try to keep up with
their home payments?”
The nation’s high unemployment rate is one more reason for people to choose
Chapter 7, Professor Porter said. “To file Chapter 13, you need ongoing income, and
to the extent we have more people who are unemployed, they can’t use Chapter 13
because they don’t have that income to pay into the plan,” she said.
Finally, Professor Porter said, March is the high season for bankruptcy filings
because many people in financial distress get a tax refund check that they can use to
pay the $1,500 to $3,500 that a bankruptcy lawyer charges.
“People use their tax refunds to pay their attorney fees,” she said.
Subprime-mortgage securities are rising at an accelerating pace as the U.S.
begins to encourage reductions to homeowners’ balances, which may lead to fewer
foreclosures and a quicker end to the housing slump. A Markit ABX index of creditdefault swaps tied to 20 subprime-loan bonds rated AAA when created in the first half
of 2006 climbed 3.2% last week.
New York Governor David Paterson is asking state workers’ unions to give up
a 4% pay increase agreed to under the previous administration to help close a budget
gap of $9.2 billion, he said.
Wikileaks has obtained and decrypted this previously unreleased video footage
from a US Apache helicopter in 2007. It shows Reuters journalist Namir Noor-Eldeen,
driver Saeed Chmagh, and several others as the Apache shoots and kills them in a
public square in Eastern Baghdad. They are apparently assumed to be insurgents.
After the initial shooting, an unarmed group of adults and children in a minivan arrives
on the scene and attempts to transport the wounded. They are fired upon as well. The
official statement on this incident initially listed all adults as insurgents and claimed the
US military did not know how the deaths occurred. Wikileaks released this video with
transcripts and a package of supporting documents on April 5th 2010 on
http://collateralmurder.com.
The just completed 3 Month and 6 Month Bill auctions were the weakest ones
conducted so far in 2010. Out of 14 auctions conducted so far across both maturities
this year, the 3 Month closed at the highest rate seen since December, at 0.175%,
coupled with the lowest Bid To Cover over the same period, coming in at 3 month low
of 3.6. The same is true for the 6 Month: the closing high rate of 0.265% was
the
highest in 2010, combined with the weakest Bid To Cover YTD, at
3.63. Direct bidders
once again came in to save the day.
The fastest growth in global currency reserves since the credit crisis is blunting
a rise in Treasury yields even as concern increases about record U.S. borrowing to
finance an unprecedented budget deficit.
Worldwide reserve assets climbed 18 percent to $7.8 trillion in the 12 months
ended in March, the biggest increase since the collapse of Bear Stearns Cos. in March
2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bank of America Corp. and Royal
Bank of Scotland Group Plc forecast that growth in reserves, led by Asian nations, will
sustain demand as Greece’s fiscal woes raise concern about the risk of holding
sovereign debt and corporate bonds offer the slimmest yield premiums over Treasuries
since November 2007.
13
The Obama administration is counting on foreign investors, who own half of the
outstanding $7.4 trillion in marketable Treasury debt, to continue buying while the
Federal Reserve begins a shift in monetary policy.
Bonds with built-in protection against rating cuts are making up a record share
of debt issues as investors hedge against a slowdown in the economic recovery.
Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the brewer of Budweiser and Stella Artois, is
among companies issuing so-called step-up bonds, whose interest increases if a
borrower is downgraded. Sales surged to $37.3 billion in March, or 12.4 percent of all
debt issued, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Most of the notes are sold in
the U.S., where almost half of bonds rated as so-called junk or on the cusp of noninvestment grade include the protection.
Investors are concerned that debt-laden companies are at increasing risk of
being downgraded this year, even as the global economy emerges from the deepest
recession since the 1930s and credit markets rally. Reductions in corporate ratings
and credit outlooks outpaced increases by 150 percent in the first quarter, according to
Moody’s Investors Service.
“The recent use of step-ups shows some investors are still concerned about
downgrade risks, despite a rally in corporate debt,” said Sarwat Faruqui, a director of
capital markets origination at Citigroup Inc. in London.
Step-up interest coupons are typically used by companies rated at or below
Baa1 by Moody’s and BBB+ by Standard & Poor’s, two notches above non-investment
grade. Sales of the bonds globally are up from $16.6 billion in February and $8.4 billion
a year ago, according to Bloomberg data. In the U.S., such borrowers sold a record
$32 billion of the debt last month, or 46 percent of all bond issuance, the data show.
The Chicago Federal Reserve Bank said on Tuesday its Midwest
manufacturing index slumped in February, largely on a reversal from January's robust
growth in auto production.
The index fell 0.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted 82.6 from an upwardly
revised 83.2 in January, which was originally reported at 83.1.
Compared with a year earlier, Midwest output edged down 0.5 percent, significantly
lower than the 2.0-percent national increase.
The U.S. Federal Reserve could keep interest rates ultra-low for even longer
than investors anticipate if the outlook worsens or inflation drops, minutes from the
central bank's last meeting suggested.
The minutes released on Tuesday showed lingering concern about the U.S.
economy's prospects, with policymakers indicating they were in no hurry to raise
interest rates.
Officials believed their promise to keep rates low for "an extended period"
would not unduly constrain the central bank if it felt the need to tighten monetary
conditions.
"The duration of the extended period prior to policy firming might last for quite
some time and could even increase if the economic outlook worsened appreciably or if
trend inflation appeared to be declining further," the minutes said.
"Such forward guidance would not limit the (policy-setting) committee's ability
to commence monetary policy tightening promptly," they said.
The state of New York’s history of budget manipulation is contributing to its
chronic deficits and cash squeeze, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.
"New York needs to stop playing games with the deficit," DiNapoli said in a
statement. By shifting money between accounts in a "fiscal shell game," state officials
and lawmakers "cover cash shortfalls and avoid making the difficult decisions needed
to align spending with revenues," DiNapoli said.
14
In the year ended March 31, the state used $6.4 billion of funds shifted and
borrowed between accounts, and rolled $3 billion of payments into the current year,
which began April 1, the report said. Lawmakers haven’t agreed on a plan to close a
deficit of more than $9 billion this year in a $135.2 billion budget proposed by Governor
David Paterson.
"We agree with much of the Comptroller’s report," said Matt Anderson, a
spokesman for the Division of Budget. "That’s why we are focused on recurring
spending cuts to close deficits instead of one-time transfers," he said. Paterson has
said he wants 75 percent of the budget gap closed by reoccurring cuts that would also
shrink future deficits.
The Division of Budget’s summary of spending begins with the state operating
funds budget, which was $79.3 billion last year, "to help avoid the confusion of
transfers with the general fund," Anderson said. The general fund budget was $54.2
billion last year, and the all-government funds, a measure that includes capital
spending and federal aid, was $134 billion.
Maybe the IMF will be needed to back loans to California? Good thing the US
doesn’t need the IMF help to print money.
Los Angeles will run out of cash on May 5, city Controller Wendy Greuel said
today in a release in which she requested a $90 million transfer of reserve funds to pay
bills.
The staggering amount of unfunded debt stands to crowd out funding for many
popular programs. Reform will take something sadly lacking in the Legislature: political
courage.
The state of California's real unfunded pension debt clocks in at more than
$500 billion, nearly eight times greater than officially reported.
That's the finding from a study released Monday by Stanford University's public
policy program, confirming a recent report with similar, stunning findings from
Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.
To put that number in perspective, it's almost seven times greater than all the
outstanding voter-approved state general obligation bonds in California. Why should
Californians care? Because this year's unfunded pension liability is next year's budget
cut to important programs. For a glimpse of California's budgetary future, look no
further than the $5.5 billion diverted this year from higher education, transit, parks and
other programs in order to pay just a tiny bit toward current unfunded pension and
healthcare promises. That figure is set to triple within 10 years and -- absent reform -to continue to grow, crowding out funding for many programs vital to the overwhelming
majority of Californians.
How did we get here? The answer is simple: For decades -- and without voter
consent -- state leaders have been issuing billions of dollars of debt in the form of
unfunded pension and healthcare promises, then gaming accounting rules in order to
understate the size of those promises.
If you think Greece is bad take a look at California. On a scale of 10 to 1, 10
being highest, Greece is a 2 and the Golden State is a one. The honeymoon for both is
over - the entitlements are about to end.
Because of a $45 million budget gap, the New York City Housing Authority may
have to revoke rental-assistance vouchers from more than 10,000 low-income tenants,
a drastic move that could cause families to lose their apartments.
Izolda Mandelblat and her husband Moisey Frenkel, immigrants from Ukraine,
had been on a Section 8 waiting list for 13 years. Their benefits finally started in
November, but they now face losing them as the New York City Housing Authority tries
to bridge - a $45 million deficit.
15
The federal government gave the housing authority less money for the voucher
program, known as Section 8, than the authority expected. But the authority made
matters worse by continuing to issue new vouchers until December, eight months after
the government warned it to stop doing so because the program was likely to run a
deficit.
Individuals who don’t purchase health insurance may lose their tax refunds
according to IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. After acknowledging the recently
passed health-care bill limits the agency’s options for enforcing the individual mandate,
Shulman told reporters that the most likely way to penalize individuals that don’t
comply is by reducing or confiscating their tax refunds.
Speaking at the National Press Club on Monday, Shulman downplayed the
IRS’s role in enforcing the recent overhaul of the health insurance industry by claiming
the agency would not aggressively target individuals who don’t purchase coverage. He
noted that the health-care bill expressly forbids the agency from freezing bank
accounts, seizing assets or pursuing criminal charges, but when pressed said the IRS
would most likely use tax refund offsets to penalize those that don’t comply with the
mandate. The IRS uses refund offsets to collect from individuals that owe the federal
government a delinquent debt.
“These are not the kinds of things we send agents out about,” Shulman said.
“These are things where you get a letter from us. Congress was very careful to make
sure there was nothing too punitive in this bill.”
Many reports have claimed that enforcement of the individual mandate will be
non-existent, but Shulman’s answers indicate differently. According to BusinessWeek,
starting in 2015 Americans who don’t purchase insurance will be subject to a fine of
$325 and that sum increases to $695 in 2016. However, the commissioner seemed
confident that in most cases individuals would either receive subsidies to purchase
insurance or simply do so on their own in order to comply with the law.
“The vast majority of American people have a healthy respect for the law and
want to be compliant with their tax obligations,” Shulman said, mentioning letters,
collection notices and offsets as among the various ways the IRS will reach out to
people without coverage.
During his speech Shulman said threats against the IRS have not risen despite
media reports to the contrary. He disagreed that it has become more dangerous to
work for the IRS following the February incident in which a disgruntled pilot flew his
plane into the agency’s Austin, Texas office, killing one employee.
“There’s been a lot of stuff in the press around increased threats, which is
actually inaccurate,” Shulman said. “What there has been is increased chatter on the
Internet that has an anti-government sentiment.”
He also said it is too early to know what additional resources or how many
employees the IRS will need to enforce compliance with the mandate and clarified his
reasons for using a professional tax preparer.
“I wouldn’t read into anything about me doing it now,” Shulman said. “I’m just a
busy guy and have had good service for the past 15 years.”
SAToday reports IMF’s managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, warning
investors that global banks are still clueless. They “remain saddled with too many
toxic securities and have not yet shown an understanding of the need to embrace farreaching operational reforms … Bad loans must be disposed of before banks can play
their customary role in financing economic growth.” So what’s new? Sounds like
they’re trapped, as always, in the same old mindset of blind greed and hyper-optimism.
The IMF boss, a French economist, did made specific comments that suggest our “too-
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political-to-fail” banks are setting the world up for another, more lethal meltdown …
and possibly the dreaded “Great Depression 2″ that we recently dodged:
“All around the world, you still have a lot of undisclosed losses” …
“You never recover until the cleansing of the banks’ balance sheet has been done, and
now we’re not at the point where this has been totally done.”
“I’m rather pessimistic … politicians seem to have drawn the lesson that they need to
change the way they’re working if they want to manage the global economy” but “the
banking sector — very little lessons have been drawn in terms of behavior.”
Ouch! And that’s direct from the International Monetary Fund’s boss. You really have
to wonder if we’re headed for another meltdown soon. And since the US doesn’t have
another $23.7 trillion (nor the political will) to bailout Wall Street’s “too-greedy-to-fail”
banks again, investors better wake up fast and prepare for that dreaded “Great
Depression 2″ we barely dodged in last year’s financial “near-death” experience.
President Obama said Monday that he was revamping American
nuclear strategy to substantially narrow the conditions under which the United States
would use nuclear weapons, even in self defense.
But the president said in an interview that he was carving out an exception for
“outliers like Iran and North Korea” that have violated or renounced the main treaty to
halt nuclear proliferation
Mr. Obama described his policy as part of a broader effort to edge the world
toward making nuclear weapons obsolete, and to create incentives for countries to
give up any nuclear ambitions. To set an example, the new strategy renounces the
development of any new nuclear weapons, overruling the initial position of his own
defense secretary. Mr. Obama’s strategy is a sharp shift from those adopted by his
predecessors.
For the first time, the United States is explicitly committing not to use nuclear
weapons against nonnuclear states that are in compliance with the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the United States with biological or chemical
weapons, or launched a crippling cyberattack
Obama’s removal of the US’s most precious bargaining chip ‘big stick’ is
unfathomable.
Obama’s move will further harm Democratic prospects in November because the two
issues that have plagued Democrats for eternity are: 1) They want to destroy US
capitalism and replace it with some form of socialism; and 2) they want to disarm the
US and form a global Kumbaya circle.
Now, countries that assumed the US nuclear umbrella would protect them and
deter their adversaries from strikes against them have to quickly formulate
monumentally different strategies and outlooks.
This includes: Japan, Taiwan, Germany, Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Last night, officials from China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, the
Taliban and Al Qaeda went incontinent from laughter.
The world no longer respects the US as an economic and financial power. Do our
adversaries fear Apple, Wall Street, hedge funds, Wal-Mart or McDonald’s? No! They
fear US nuclear capabilities.
So besides having to contemplate an economy and financial system with
unprecedented government and Fed intervention and duplicity, we now have to
consider Obama’s unfathomable game changer.
Rasmussen Consumer Index Consumer and Investor Confidence Jumps
Following Jobs Report
The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of
consumers on a daily basis, is up seven points since Friday morning to 85.3. Thirty-
17
five percent (35%) of adults nationwide now believe the economy is improving. That’s
up six points since the government reported that 162,000 new jobs were created last
month. Still, a plurality of adults (45%) continue to believe the economy is getting
worse
State and local governments collected $360 billion in tax revenue in the fourth
quarter of 2009, up 0.8% from the same quarter a year ago. Property taxes, the
primary source of funding for many local governments, rose 5.8% to $170 billion.
Personal income taxes fell 4.7% in the fourth quarter of 2009 versus the same period a
year earlier.
Saudi central bank to head new Gulf monetary union
By TAREK EL-TABLAWY
CAIRO
The head of Saudi Arabia's central bank on Tuesday was named the first chairman of
a council that will serve as the precursor to a regional central bank in the latest step
toward a unified Gulf currency and greater economic integration.
Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency head Mohammed al-Jasser's appointment came
during the first meeting of the newly-created Gulf Monetary Council -- a body that
groups together the OPEC kingpin, as well as Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.
Two other Gulf Arab states, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, have opted out of
the plan.
The meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, appeared to underscore a directed push to
move ahead with a broader unification and single currency process that has been
thwarted for years by political bickering, economic challenges and infighting, analysts
said.
"From Saudi Arabia's position, it shows a clear commitment to bring all the countries
closer together and move toward the currency union," said John Sfakianakis, chief
economist at the Riyadh-based Banque Saudi Fransi-Credit Agricole Group. "It offers
the Monetary Council, and the rest of the states, the ability to tap into the technical
resources of Saudi Arabia and that of the (regional) central bank."
"The rest of the countries are seeking the needed leadership, and Saudi Arabia is
demonstrating a clear commitment," he said.
The new council is charged with drawing up the framework of the single currency,
including an exchange rate system and setting up the regional central bank with an
eye on developing a MidEast equivalent of the European Union.
But the process has hit repeated roadblocks, the most recent being when the UAE -the Arab world's second largest economy -- pulled out of the plan after Saudi Arabia,
home to the world's largest proven reserves of crude oil, was selected to house the
proposed central bank. The UAE's withdrawal was widely viewed as a reaction to
being snubbed as headquarters for the new council and central bank.
Oman had earlier said it would not participate because it did not feel it was ready to
fully integrate its economy into a broader regional body.
Still to be determined about the single currency is whether it would be pegged to a
basket of currencies, the U.S. dollar or some other currency. All six Gulf Cooperation
Council nations peg their currencies to the dollar except for Kuwait which relies on a
basket.
The new council's deputy chairman will be Bahrain's central bank head, Rasheed alMaraj. Both he and al-Jasser will hold the jobs for one year before the slots rotate to
Kuwait and Qatar.
18
Officials had said they wanted to set up the unified currency by this year, but that
deadline appeared unrealistic from the outset.
Analysts said the new target is around 2015, but even meeting that tentative timeframe
and moving on with greater integration requires overcoming hurdles that are
obstructing efforts to set up a Gulf customs union, and agreements on transfer of
labor, services and capital.
"In order for them to move toward giving a timeline for the currency union, they need to
make important progress in the technical aspects," said Sfakianakis.
He said the meeting in Riyadh, and the ongoing discussions, reflects "an important
political statement and commitment from the four countries that they're moving on
despite, the exit of Oman and the UAE
BONUS POINT: The person with the mortgage is Michele Reagan, a State Rep
from the State of Arizona. Using tips that sound like something out of recently-held
Freedom's Phoenix workshops on mortgages (hmmmm!), Reagan is being sued by
her bank after asking them to prove they actually own her note DESPITE NOT EVER
MISSING A PAYMENT! "In doing research, I began to wonder if the lender even
owned the note to my home,” she said. “So I sent them a letter and asked them and
asked them several things. I want to know who owns my property. Am I paying the
right person?” Soon after, Colonial Savings filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against
Reagan and her husband. The company says the couple is trying “to rescind their
home loan,” or back out on the loan. “We're not interested in walking,” Reagan said.
“We're not interested in saying we're not going to pay. We just need a little help with
the interest rate." “I'm current on my loan. Never missed a payment. We've never been
late. We were sued for asking too many questions,” said Reagan. As a state
lawmaker, Reagan said she had been hesitant to speak out about her ordeal. “This
has now snowballed into something so much bigger and scarier than refinancing and
asking who owns your note,” she said.
*****
Feds Prepare To Use Anarchists To Provoke Tea Party Violence
http://www.infowars.com/feds-prepare-to-use-anarchists-to-provoke-tea-party-violence/
*****
Obama's Private Army
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGW136RLhSM
*****
Utah Passes Law to Seize Federal Land
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0EJLVi8h00&playnext_from=TL&videos=2s37IL9zn
90&feature=recentf
*****
Cops & CPS Seize Child From Parents For Mistrusting Government
http://www.infowars.com/cops-cps-seize-child-from-parents-for-mistrustinggovernment
*****
Obama Says Talk Radio is “Troublesome
http://www.infowars.com/obama-says-talk-radio-is-troublesome/
*****
Cabal Owns Regulatory Apparatus and Everybody is Afraid to Regulate Them
http://www.infowars.com/cabal-owns-regulatory-apparatus-and-everybody-is-afraid-toregulate-them/
19
*****
Cop Cleared By Grand Jury For Tasering Great Grandmother During Speeding
Stop
http://www.prisonplanet.com/cop-cleared-by-grand-jury-for-tasering-greatgrandmother-during-speeding-stop.html
*****
Government to help uninsured get coverage within months
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/04/03/government_to_he
lp_uninsured_get_coverage_within_months/
*****
Updating Lynne Stewart's "Love Struggle" - by Stephen Lendman
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/04/updating-lynne-stewarts-love-struggle.html
*****
US tightens foreign airport security check
New screening, data measures for direct flights
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/04/03/us_requires_new_
security_checks_at_foreign_airports/
*****
Moves to garnish pay on rise nationwide
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/04/02/moves_to_garnish_pay_on_rise_
nationwide/
*****
China's Documentation of US Human Rights Abuses - by Stephen Lendman
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/04/chinas-documentation-of-us-human-rights.html
*****
Bill Dudley Speaks: Hints At The Endgame - Dollar Devaluation
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/bill-dudley-speaks-hints-endgame-dollar-devaluation
*****
Latest Pedophelia Scandal Rocks the Vatican - by Stephen Lendman
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/04/latest-pedophelia-scandal-rocks-vatican.html
*****
Jobs Increase by 136,000; Unemployment Rate Holds at 9.7%; BLS Refused To
Address My Question On Seasonality; Part-Time Work up by 738,000 in 2
Months
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/04/jobs-increase-by-136000unemployment.html
*****
March Non Farm Payrolls: +162K, Below Consensus, Unemployment Rate 9.7%,
Ex-Census, Weather and Birth-Death NFP Change Is -67K
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/march-non-farm-payrolls-162l-below-consensusunemployment-rate-97-hourly-earnings-down-01
*****
US Government Issues $333 Billion Net In Marketable Debt In March, Second
Biggest Ever
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/us-government-issues-333-billion-net-marketabledebt-march
*****
Residents of NJ city say cops worse than criminals
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100403/ap_on_re_us/us_drug_charges_dropped
*****
20
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Bankrupt, Federal Takeover Coming! Big Impact on
Economy, Rates, Housing & Employment … and Your Retirement Nest Egg?
http://wallstreetwarzone.com/plan-to-reshape-mortgage-market-fannie-mae-freddiemac-insolvent-new-federal-takeover-coming-soon-huge-impact-on-economic-recoveryinterest-rates-housing-employment-will-it-hurt-your/
*****
The Guys Who Got It Wrong
Obama's Economic Brain Trust
By PAM MARTENS
http://www.counterpunch.org/martens04022010.html
*****
Underemployment Hits 20% in Mid-March
http://www.gallup.com/poll/126821/Underemployment-Hits-20-MidMarch.aspx?utm_source=email%2Ba%2Bfriend&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign
=sharing&utm_term=Underemployment-Hits-20-Mid-March&utm_content=morelink
*****
Timothy Geithner is a Sniveling Scamster By Mike Whitney
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25125.htm
*****
Obama to Crush Economy with Massive CO2 Taxes as Early as Next Week
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/21566
*****
Janet Napolitano Lied, Rob Krentz Died
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=36298
*****
Looting Main Street
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/32906678/looting_main_street
*****
Hoarding, Penny-Pinching And Buying Gold
http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/27/economy-polls-investing-opinions-columnistskarlyn-bowman.html?partner=email
*****
EXTEND & PRETEND: Hitting the Maturity Wall!
http://home.comcast.net/~lcmgroupe/2010/Article-Extend_PretendHitting_the_Maturity_Wall.htm
*****
Health tax may wallop towns [This is the medical plan that was not going to
increase costs. Isn’t Marxism great?]
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/04/05/mass_communities_likel
y_to_feel_cost_of_employees_cadillac_plans/
*****
EAIF: Map: Majority-Minority Milestone in the South
Public schools
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jacobandesau/attachments/folder/917846928/ite
m/1559102326/view
*****
Winning The Cartel’s Musical Chairs Game
http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1270141200.php
*****
US-Committed Atrocities in Afghanistan - by Stephen Lendman
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/04/us-committed-atrocities-in-afghanistan.html
21
*****
RED ALERT: British Assassination Plot on Obama? Tea Party & Militias being
framed, LEAKED by LPA TV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLMgDAEeT_c
*****
On the Edge with Max Keiser - 02 April 2010 - (1/4)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN-xqLFp4Pk
On the Edge with Max Keiser - 02 April 2010 - (2/4)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Od0DV9PJJ8
On the Edge with Max Keiser - 02 April 2010 - (3/4)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0sN-PuUzWM
On the Edge with Max Keiser - 02 April 2010 - (4/4)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PButumaug7w
*****
Ron Paul on MSNBC 4/1/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glqoing1lBc
*****
Rosenberg On Central Planning, The Truth Behind NFP, And The Unmasking Of
"Facts"
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/rosenberg-central-planning-truth-behind-nfpand-unmasking-facts
*****
State plan fines feds $2,000 over gun rules
2 years in jail also possible for agent enforcing U.S. regulations on firearm
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=127787
*****
EXTEND & PRETEND: Hitting the Maturity Wall!
http://home.comcast.net/~lcmgroupe/2010/Article-Extend_PretendHitting_the_Maturity_Wall.htm
*****
Ratigan Discusses Wikileaks Video, Observes Implications On US Rules Of
Engagement And Foreign Response To US Actions
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/ratigan-discusses-wikileaks-video-observesimplications-us-rules-engagement-and-foreign-resp
*****
William Engdahl: US won't recover for at least 15 years
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmWQxNKOD7U
*****
Benazir Bhutto - Bin Laden was Murdered
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrlD6K60h5w&playnext_from=TL&videos=5VELtzT
JUlw&feature=recentlik
*****
Four Days to Defend the Open Internet
http://www.savetheinternet.com/
*****
Will The American Dream Become A Nightmare?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk7iIrfjOyc
*****
Government and Gasoline
http://www.24hgold.com/english/news-gold-silver-government-andgasoline.aspx?contributor=Ron+Paul&article=2782356456G10020&redirect=False
22
*****
"Fraud is the business model"
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/828.html
*****
Doctor tells Obama supporters: Go elsewhere for health care
http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11170
*****
More Americans Give Up Citizenship As IRS Gets Aggressive Overseas
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/americans-citizenship-irs-gets-aggressiveoverseas/
*****
Ron Paul Discusses America's Moral Decline & Economic Collapse (2/2)
http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11179
http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11180
*****
The No-Pay Movement
http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/
*****
Greek 6M-1Y Curve Inverted, Spread Difference Between 3M And 6M almost 300
bps.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/greek-6m-1y-curve-inverted-spread-differencebetween-3m-and-6m-almost-300-bps
*****
The Micro Chipping of Americans?
Relevant clauses of the House and Senate Health Bills
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18512
*****
Weakest 4 Week Auction Since July 2009 Closes at 0.16%, Bid To Cover Of 3.56
Lowest Since August 2009
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/weakest-4-week-auction-july-2009-closes-016-bidcover-356-lowest-august-2009
*****
Office vacancy rate hits 16-year high
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Office-vacancy-rate-hits-rb-754689373.html?x=0&.v=3
*****
Bank of Mom and Dad Shuts Amid White-Collar Struggle
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704207504575130171387740744.htm
l?mod=rss_whats_news_us
*****
Rubin and Greenspan to face crisis inquiry
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fad283d8-4019-11df-8d23-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss
*****
More Than 200,000 Could Lose Unemployment Benefits This Week
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/05/more-than-200000-could-lo_n_524790.html
*****
From a Fellow Subscriber who is a bail bondsman:
Hi, Mr. Chapman:
23
I hope all is well. I hope as a bail bondsman I can offer some clarification on
the video posted on your 4/3/10 edition of the IF, in which a lady has members
of the Sheriff's Department and a Bail Enforcement Agent enter her home
without a search warrant.
I know that in the last 3-4-successive presidential administrations, the rights of
the Americans people have been more and more withdrawn; however, in all
fairness, this video is not an example of loss of rights on the part of the
American people.
Whoever the sheriff and bail enforcement agent were looking for was out on
bail. I know this for a fact because a "Bail Enforcement Agent", aka Bounty
Hunter, is employed by a bail bonds company when clients forfeit their bond.
When someone is "out on bail", they are in the "custody" of the bail bond
company; the advantage being, of course, that unlike being behind bars, they
can go about their lives----jobs, family, etc.,...and they can appear in court as a
civilian and not as someone who is "in custody"----which looks very prejudicial
against a defendant.
When a client forfeits or "jumps" bail, it is the duty of the bail bond company to
either find the client, or, having failed to do so, pay the full face amount of the
bond. Unlike the police, if a bail bond company has reason to believe a client
is in a certain home (for example, if an address were provided by the client or
his indemnitor on the application), then by law, a search warrant is not
required. This has always been the case throughout American history.
BUT, and it looks like this was done on the part of the Bail Enforcement Agent,
instead of just willy nilly going to someone's house, entering and having the
appearance of breaking and entering, what a Bail Enforcement Agent will do is
when they have reason to believe that a bail jumper is in a certain locale, they
will contact the local sheriff's department and say---"Hey, Deputy Chapman, I
have so and so out on my company's bond who has forfeited. I believe they
are in this location. I just want you to know ahead of time that I'm going here to
look for them---that way, you know that I'm not merely some guy who may be
breaking and entering a home in case you are called." They will provide
supporting documentation to this effect. And sometimes the police will
accompany them, though they act in a passive capacity....more of the authority
of their presence.
What I think happened is that when the bail enforcement agent provided the
name and address of the forfeiture to the deputy department, they too, ran a
check on the individual in question. They either found a warrant for his arrest--in addition to learning that the defendant had jumped bail---and the warrant
could be for his failure to show up in court----and so they accompanied him (the
Bail Enforcement Agent)---to make sure that everything would be OK were an
arrest to take place....though to be sure, the arrest for the bail forfeiture would
have to be done by the Bail Enforcement Agent...NOT the Sheriff Deparment
If anything, Mr. Chapman, this video shows the foresightedness of the bail
agency----whoever they are---I don't know, in involving the sheriff's department,
instead of just going their on their own.
24
Best regards,
*****
From a Fellow Subscriber:
Dear Bob
You are also right the professionals are not dumb enough to believe all the phony
numbers. I have 2 friends who trade on the floor in Chicago, they say they all laugh
about how the numbers being reported are all from cooked books. They also say that
the traders are literally sitting around doing nothing on most days because there is
very little trade volume, its mostly blackbox trading, very, very little trading from Joe
public, and most trading volume magically appears in the last half hour everyday.
*****
From a Fellow Subscriber:
Bob: I just wanted to tell you that my local bank reversed the three overdraft
fees, finally. I wanted to tell you/your readers that it's best not to call customer
service more than once. They just have a script and can't do or say anything
unless it's written on their script. I didn't get any resolution to the problem with
my bank until I wrote two emails directly to the supervisor with exact dates and
an exact chronological, but brief, explanation of why I thought their actions
were unjust. Several days later, $106.00 (overdraft fees) was reversed to my
account. So, there are happy endings.....Finally, I learned that banks are
CONSTANTLY monitoring customer satisfaction (I got several emails to that
effect) because there's a war on for new, preferably responsible, customers
amongst the banks. We must not forget about fractional banking. A customer
may only bring in $30, 000-$40,000 per year, but with fractional banking times
30 or 40 according to you, that's a handsome sum of money per average
customer.
*****
COMMODITIES
The CRB index jumped 3.4% (down 2.5% y-t-d). The Goldman Sachs
Commodities Index (GSCI) surged 4.8% (up 2.5% y-t-d). Spot Gold, which traded
today, increased 1.1% to $1,120 (up 2.0% y-t-d). Silver surged 5.8% to $17.89 (up
6.2% y-t-d). May Crude jumped $4.87 to $84.87 (up 6.9% y-t-d). May Gasoline rose
5.1% (up 13.2% y-t-d), and May Natural Gas rallied 4.0% (down 27% y-t-d). May
Copper advanced 5.3% (up 7% y-t-d). May Wheat declined 2.2% (down 16% y-t-d),
and May Corn fell 3.4% (down 17% y-t-d).
The most profitable supertanker market in more than a year is heading for a 35
percent slump as oil refineries from Japan to the U.K. shut for maintenance and leave
a surplus of vessels.
Shipping costs will fall to an average of $28,758 a day this quarter from
$44,576 on April 1, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 13
analysts, traders and shipbrokers. Rates to hire the ships, each bigger than the
Chrysler Building, averaged $49,908 a day in the first quarter, the most since the last
three months of 2008.
The most extensive shipbuilding program in three decades is adding supplies
and fewer tankers are being used to store crude, swelling the number of available
vessels just as global oil demand drops for the first time in a year. Frontline Ltd., the
25
world’s biggest operator of supertankers, would lose money on any ship it hired out at
the survey’s median forecast.
GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM AND PALLADIUM
The latest short positions in major gold and silver shares are a mixed bag. In
AEM, Agnico Eagle shorts fell from 7,443,800 to 7,213,300: Silver Standard SSRI
showed an increase from 1,817,700 to 1,863,700; the Goldcorp short GG fell from
2,643,300 to 2,354,700 and Minefinders, MFN saw its short last week fall from
2,643,300 to 2,354,700.
On Monday spot gold rose $7.80 to $1,132.90, as May rose $6.70. Spot silver
rose $0.23 to $18.10 as May rose $0.21. Silver has risen $1.50 in seven sessions.
Gold open interest fell 6,101 contracts to 479,936, as silver OI fell 1,189 to 117,442.
The 10-year note traded to 4% and ended at 3.99%, helping gold and silver prices was
platinum, which traded $35.30 higher to $1,70510, palladium rose $11.60 to $502.95,
copper rose $0.05 to $3.63, oil rose $1.95 to $86.82, gas $0.03 to $2.35, natural gas
$0.22 to $4.30, all helped gold and silver prices. The CRB rose 3.08 to 279.51. The
HUI rose $4.26 to $432.30 and the XAU gained 1.79 to 173.07. The yen rose .0039 to
$.9429; the euro fell .0001 to $1.3485; the pound rose .0100 to $1,5287; the Swiss
franc rose .0013 to $1.619; the Canadian dollar rose .0083 to $.9979 and the
USDX fell .18 to 81.11. In addition the 30-year T-bond yield has broken above
its 80-month moving average – very ominous for interest rates and the stock and bond
markets. The big question now is does the Fed have the power to beat back the
challenge, or do they want too? It’s a very tall order. At a 4-1/2% ten-year T-note the
30-year fixed rate mortgage will be 5-5/8%. At 5% the mortgage will be 6-1/4%, or 61/2%. That will be very bad for real estate. In addition those higher commodity prices
spell higher inflation. The evidence presented at the CFTC hearings two weeks ago
proved beyond any doubt that the LBMA exchange in London has nothing backing
their accounts and their operation is a fractional reserve accounting scam. We have
been reporting that for 22 years but it was only 11 years ago that anyone verified what
we have had to say. This is a gold exchange that is trading $15 to $20 trillion a year,
which is larger than the US GDP.
The Dow gained 46 to 10,974, S&P 76 and Nasdaq 161 Dow points.
On Tuesday spot gold rose $2.20 to $1,135.10, as the outside month rose
$1.40. Spot silver fell $0.18 to $17.92, as May fell $0.15. Gold open interest rose 1,116
contracts to 481,052, as silver OI fell 51 to 117,391. The HUI fell 1.68 to 430.62 and
the XAU fell .49 to 172.58.
The Dow fell 3 to 10,970; the S&P rose 18 and Nasdaq rose 44 Dow points.
The yen rose .0061 to $.9367; the euro fell .0078 to $1.3486; the pound fell .0017 to
$1.5271; the Swiss franc fell .0055 to $1.0676; the Canadian dollar rose .0020 to
$.9987 and the USDX rose .23 to 81.33.
Oil rose $0.12 to $86.75; gas rose $0.01 to $2.35 and natural gas fell $0.15 to
$4.12. Copper was unchanged at $3.36; platinum fell $5.30 to $1,698.50 and
palladium rose $1.75 to $508.75 and the CRB fell .99 to 278.52.
As of 3/23 COT gold contracts by commercials of net shorts fell 18,472
contracts to 223,823, down from 304,000 at their high. Normally the figure is 95,000.
That net short position fell from 48.8% to 45.2% of net contracts. This is the lowest
figure since late April of 2009. Gold was trading at about $900 at that time. The
government has given up defending gold at these levels. That means gold is moving
higher and they will short again at some higher level.
So here's the deal: a few weeks ago, hedge funder and investor Eric Sprott
started up a physical gold bullion ETF that trades under the ticker "PHYS."
26
The ETF IPO'd on February 26th with 40 million shares outstanding and the trust has
listed assets of 13,685 ounces of gold owned, according to Jesse's Cafe Americain.
Meanwhile, in mid-February, the IMF decided to sell a ton of gold. Specifically, 403.3
metric tonnes of the stuff. It sold 200 tonnes to the Reserve Bank of India, 10 tonnes to
the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and 2 tonnes to the Bank of Mauritius, a total of 212
tonnes. That left 191.3 metric tonnes left available for purchase to qualified buyers,
which include central banks and sovereign nations. According to Kitco, Eric Sprott bid
to buy the remaining 191.3 tonnes and the IMF refused to sell it. It caused a lot of
commotion and got some people heated up about the matter. It was characterized as
Sprott calling the IMF's bluff. So we called the IMF to get the full story. We spoke with
Alistair Thomson, external relations officer at the IMF, who cleared up the matter for
us. Here's the breakdown of what he told us:
The IMF is only selling gold though a qualified agent. There is only one of these
agents at the moment and due to the nature of the gold market, they won't
reveal who or what that agent is.
The IMF is also phasing out the gold sale and does not intend to dump it all at once
because to do so would disrupt markets, which is obviously not their intention.
Sprott can't buy the gold directly because they do not deal with institutional clients
like hedge funds, pension funds, etc. The only buyers can be central bankers
and sovereign nations, that sort of thing.
The IMF board agreed months ago how they wanted to approach the sale of the
gold. Sprott is welcome to buy from central banks who have bought from the
IMF, but not from the IMF directly.
And there you have it. It's simply a matter of protocol and Mr. Sprott not adhering to it.
For Sprott to buy up 191.3 metric tonnes, which is equal to 6,747,908.92 ounces, in
US dollars at the current price of $1129.40 would cost him, well, a lot. More than
anyone can afford. Perhaps he should go the route of buying through central banks.
That or he could always hit the Yukon with a pan.
The great bull market in gold is in its tenth year. The incredible thing about this
bull market is that it is still ignored by the media and by the public At the same time
that it is hated by the central banks, although ironically, they are now actually buying
gold. On top of that, the sovereign funds of the various nations are adding gold to their
currency mix. Since the year 2000, the best asset class to be in was precious metals
and gold. Yet, never was a huge bull market so ignored, so dismissed, and so disliked.
Even today, after rising from 250 in 1999 to 1120 today, only a tiny fraction of
Americans own so much as one single gold coin. Most Americans have never seen a
gold coin. And I ask myself, how long can this go on?
Gokhran, Russia's state gems and precious metals repository, plans to buy up
to 2.5 tonnes (80,000 ounces) of gold from producers this year, 1.4 percent of the
country's output and half of what it bought last year.
A Gokhran source told Reuters on Monday the decline resulted from an
increase in the number of loans granted to producers by private banks, which have to
be repaid in gold.
Stocks of Gokhran, which is part of the Finance Ministry, are considered a state secret.
In December, Gokhran sold 30 tonnes of gold worth $1 billion to the country's central
bank in order to keep the metal inside Russia and channel the proceeds to the federal
budget. Russia plans to produce 207 tonnes of gold this year.
*****
Andrew Maguire finally exposes systemic fraud by CFTC & JPMorgan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLxoeLqQMlw&feature=player_embedded
27
*****
Gold Manipulation OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED
http://www.24hgold.com/english/news-gold-silver-gold-manipulation-officiallyconfirmed.aspx?article=2782557110G10020&redirect=false&contributor=Eric+de+Car
bonnel
*****
Manipulating Gold and Silver: A Criminal Naked Short Position that Could Wreck
the Economy
http://www.deepcapture.com/manipulating-gold-and-silver-a-criminal-naked-shortposition-that-could-wreck-the-economy/
*****
For our German speaking Subscribers:
Zensur der GoldSilber-Manipulation im Mainstream
http://www.goldseitenblog.com/peter_boehringer/index.php/2010/04/03/zensur-dergoldsilber-manipulation-im-ma
*****
Comex can easily go bankrupt, get physical gold/silver! Peter Schiff Wall st
unspun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd57H_QxID4&playnext_from=TL&videos=YAI6Nxw6W0&feature=recentlik
*****
Is Your Safe Haven a House of Cards?
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2010/04/05/is-your-safe-haven-a-house-of-cards.aspx
*****
Agnico-Eagle acquires Meliadine gold project in Nunavut
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=2765477
*****
Deflation on the prowl as Bernanke shuts down his printing press
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/7553511/Deflati
on-on-the-prowl-as-Bernanke-shuts-down-his-printing-press.html
*****
Alex Jones Covers the WikiLeaks Pentagon Snuff Video
http://www.infowars.com/alex-jones-covers-the-wikileaks-pentagon-snuff-video/
*****
Chase Sued: Allegedly Told Homeowner To Stop Payments, Then Foreclosed
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/06/chase-sued-allegedly-told_n_527031.html
*****
Report: Detroit bankruptcy looms without drastic change
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100406/METRO01/4060342/1409/Report--Detroitbankruptcy-looms-without-drastic-change
*****
California's Cap-Trade Law Faces Fall Ballot Challenge
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304620304575165843688369042.htm
l?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_news
*****
Stop paying taxes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzYg9KQl9nU&playnext_from=TL&videos=UHEhED
EjOOM&feature=recentlik
*****
Obama home country is Kenya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk3OMRqO7aY&amp;feature=player_embedded
28
*****
Raises sought for bilingual federal workers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/04/05/AR2010040504585.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzhead
*****
It's Ponzimonium in the Gold Market
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-lewis/its-ponzimonium-in-the-go_b_519893.html
*****
1/6 Bill Murphy: Paper gold, Whistleblower Andrew Maguire, market
manipulation and more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGFuN05z-JU
2/6 Bill Murphy: Paper gold, Whistleblower Andrew Maguire, market
manipulation and more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jw3HYP7cOg
*****
3/6 Bill Murphy: Paper gold, Whistleblower Andrew Maguire, market
manipulation and more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKNAXPUvm6o
*****
4/6 Bill Murphy: Paper gold, Whistleblower Andrew Maguire, market
manipulation and more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifP_XNd9WQg
*****
5/6 Bill Murphy: Paper gold, Whistleblower Andrew Maguire, market
manipulation and more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aolxchAHpZU
*****
6/6 Bill Murphy: Paper gold, Whistleblower Andrew Maguire, market
manipulation and more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOhGCeaEFb
*****
SacramaniacsMC DOC with Daniel Estulin March 31 2010 pt 1/7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6p3OC5cGHA&amp;feature=related
*****
IRS Launches New Global Program to Target ‘High Wealth Individuals'
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/63761
*****
'Something's Got To Give': Massive Pension Fund Shortfalls Threaten To
Bankrupt States
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/05/somethings-got-to-givema_n_525860.html
*****
Major Government, Military Corruption
Trillions Missing at Defense Department
http://www.wanttoknow.info/corruptiongovernmentmilitary
*****
U.S. No Longer A 'Free' Country, According To Heritage Foundation
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/06/us-no-longer-a-freecount_n_527072.html?ref=email_share
*****
F.C.C. Rules for Broadband Fairness Set Aside by Court
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/technology/07net.html
29
*****
Attack Video Reveals Why Pentagon Wanted To “Destroy” Wikileaks
http://www.prisonplanet.com/attack-video-reveals-why-pentagon-wanted-to-destroywikileaks.html
*****
CANADA
From a Fellow Subscriber:
Bob, this isn't the first time I've heard about outrageous reports coming from this part
of the country. Towns in this area are older than the border itself. In fact, there are still
houses, libraries and businesses which actually straddle the border; the front door may
be in Canada and the back door in the United States. Cartographers effectively drew
lines through peoples' houses two centuries ago and they are still there.
There was a time when Canadians got a friendly welcome into the United States with
only a cursory inspection and vice versa. Here in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region,
huge malls were constructed (the Walden Galleria being the largest) for the benefit of
Canadian shoppers just miles away. ALL of the malls fly the American and Canadian
flags side by side. I realize that's hard to comprehend if you live in Texas or California
but that's the way it is here. Does anyone in western New York, other than the guys
who fly the F-16s to the Niagara River before making a U-turn and heading back east think Canada's poses any threat to the United States?
In a fit of political expediency, where Americans had been convinced by Fox News,
Kay Baby Hutchison and Max Baucus that the "9/11 terrorists" had sneaked across the
border from Canada (as opposed to landing at JFK with valid U.S. visas) the U.S.
government decreed that Canadians must now have a passport to enter the United
States. I can tell you as a resident of Western New York, this is a textbook example of
cutting your nose off to spite your face. Many Canadians simply won't travel to the U.S.
out of principle. We actually get a friendlier reception in Mexico now!
I have a little bit of land near El Paso, Texas, near the Mexican border. I can tell you,
from my own observation, if the United States Border Patrol were as vigilant and
aggressive with the Mexicans crossing over as it is with these heathen Canadian
terrorists, this country wouldn't be in as much trouble as it is today.
Unfortunately for the United States, my fellow Canadians are not interested in coming
over here to scrub toilets, pick oranges and do landscaping for next-to-nothing.
I'm willing to wager this border patrol agent was one of many who have been
transferred to the northern border from the southern border. They've brought their warzone mentality with them. Recently, after finishing work in Niagara Falls, Ontario, I was
returning back to New York. The customs officer asked "what d'yall have in the (pickup) truck?" I'm not a native New Yorker, Bob, but I've been here long enough to know
that the word "y'all" isn't generally used once you get north of Albany.
As an aside, A few years ago I was traveling on an overnight bus from El Paso to
Albuquerque. The bus was pulled over near Truth or Consequences and the border
patrol boarded the bus and demanded our papers. Since I was about the only white
guy on the bus besides the driver, the acne-faced kid asked me, "American citizen?" I
showed him my U.S. immigration card and said, "No. Canada." He looked at me and
30
said, "Canada? Okay, whatever." And moved on. I guess he'd never met a real live
Canadian before.
This really is sad, Bob. When I was a kid, the line between the United States and
Canada truly was the world's friendliest border. I'm not calling for a North American
Union, but the U.S. government really should deploy its resources where it's needed.
And in the case of this family from New Brunswick, the border patrol is 2,500 miles
north of where it needs to be. Our two countries worked just fine for 130 years before
this nonsense started.
*****
STRANGE STORY OF THE QUEEN AND THE CHILDREN WHO 'DISAPPEARED
http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=129218%3E
*****
Canadian researchers reveal online spy ring based in China
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/canadian-researchers-revealonline-spy-ring-based-in-china/article1524228/?cmpid=nl-news1
*****
EUROPE
European banks may face a 156 billion-euro ($209bn) shortfall in funds needed
to refinance commercial real-estate debt in the next two years, DTZ Holdings Plc
estimates. About 480 billion euros of property loans will mature by the end of 2011…
Banks won’t be able to refinance all of the debt, particularly when loans exceed the
value of the properties backing them. More than half of the shortfall will occur in the
U.K. and Spain, DTZ said.
EU: Sentix Investor Confidence : 2.5 in APR vs. -7.5 in March.
Switzerland's consumer price index rose as expected by 0.1% in March, matching
February's growth rate.
Year-over-year, the Swiss CPI followed suit, also as forecast, increasing 1.4%
in March, up from 0.9% in February.
Little or no good news emanating out of Greece with reports like this one
saying that Greek citizens and corporations are moving their cash off-shore. A
colleague of mine likens this whole Greek situation with the Bear Stearns situation of
two years ago and he feels the real problem will emerge when the Lehman Brothers
equivalent (Spain or Portugal) turns up.
The Euro group’s pledge to provide a last-resort rescue net for Greece was
specifically crafted in a way that enables euro countries to stand back from the special
loan scheme if they wish, The Irish Times has learned.
However a high-level source in Brussels, with knowledge of how the statement
was written, said the language was purposely nuanced to give countries the option of
not taking part without breaching the letter of the pledge.
The statement from euro group leaders said: “As part of a package involving
substantial International Monetary Fund financing and a majority of European
financing, euro area member states are ready to contribute to coordinated bilateral
loans.” According to the source, the fact that this part of the statement did not make
reference to “the euro area member states” – specifically the absence of the word the
reflected the need to give countries the choice of standing aside from any rescue if
they could not or did not wish to take part.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: the IMF should impose default on Greece to end the
charade the model is the Uruguay default in 2003, conducted under the auspices of
31
the IMF when she was working at the Fund. “Everybody got together in a civilized way,
and it was very successful,” she said.
The average haircut was 13pc. Maturities were shuffled. Uruguay was praised
all round. Greece is a tougher nut to crack. French banks with €80bn and German
banks with €40bn (and British banks too) that bought so much Greek debt at a few
basis points over German Bunds in 2006 and 2007 will have to accept a bigger
discount to atone for their epic error, perhaps 25pc though Prof Reinhart did not put a
figure on it.
This “pre-emptive restructuring”, in IMF lingo, has to be handled with care.
“When people say there is no contagion risk because Greece is small, they are
completely wrong. Thailand was a lot smaller in 1997, and look what happened.”
Indeed, it set off the Asian financial crisis.
A Greek default would be twice the size of the two largest defaults in history put
together Argentina and Russia at least in nominal terms, nearing €300bn. The
“demonstration effect” in a long string of countries both inside and beyond EMU might
be chilling.
On a parting note, Professor Reinhart says the only budget deficit that matters
in a crisis is the “cash deficit”, and this reached 16pc of GDP in Greece last year not
the 12.7pc officially registered under “accrual” accounting.
As countries near default, they typically find all kinds of way to disguise their
troubles, by shifting debts between government agencies and delaying payments.
*****
German stand on loan rates to Greece
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e1370d50-409a-11df-94c2-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss
*****
Why Greece Will Default
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2010/04/why-greece-will-default.html
*****
Greek Deputy Prime Minister Calls Germans Racist; Believes Germans See
Greeks As Bunch Of Lazy Drinkers And Dancers
By Tyler Durden
Created 04/05/2010 - 16:26
Just because attacking the nation that is critical to making sure your bailout package is
instituted is always a good idea (together with the US and the IMF of course), the
Greek Prime Minister has accused Germans of being "prejudiced and racist" in their
treatment of Greeks. Apparently demanding fiscal prudence (or lamenting the lack
thereof) is now equivalent to stereotyping based on the color of one's skin or
something. Spanish newspaper El Pais reports that Theodoros Pangalos, who
previously demanded reparations from the Germans for WW2 acts, in an interview with
the Portuguese Journal of Business, claims German citizens still see Greeks as lazy,
and that Germans are resorting to "racially motivated" reasons to avoid providing a
bigger helping hand to Greeks. El Pais quotes Pangalos as saying: "Greeks have
problems. But why? Because they did not work hard. And why did they not work hard?
Because they have a lovely climate, music and wine, and are not as serious as the
Germans."
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/greek-deputy-prime-minister-calls-germans-racistbelieves-germans-see-greeks-bunch-lazy-drin
*****
32
Greece Rebels, Does Not Want IMF Participation In Bail Out; Fears IMF's
"Intolerably Stringent Conditions"
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/greece-rebels-does-not-want-imf-participation-bailout-fears-imfs-intolerably-stringent-cond
*****
Mercedes-maker in global bribery scandal
http://www.news.com.au/business/luxury-carmaker-daimler-in-global-briberyscandal/story-e6frfm1i-1225848882384
*****
ENGLAND
*****
Great-grandmother given an electronic tag and curfew for selling a goldfish to a
14 year-old
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/pets/7538391/Great-grandmother-given-anelectronic-tag-and-curfew-for-selling-a-goldfish-to-a-14-year-old.html
*****
LATIN AMERICA
Brazil’s industrial output rose 18.4% in February from the year-ago month, the
national statistics agency said.
Brazil’s central bank said the cost of bringing accelerating inflation back to its
target may be ‘significant.’ Consumer prices will increase 5.2% in 2010 and 4.9% in
2011, compared with 4.3% in 2009 ‘he necessary cost to bring inflation back to the
target trajectory may be significant. The recovery of commodity prices and the steep
recovery of the domestic activity level have become important risk factors for prices.
ASIA
South Korea’s exports rose faster than economists expected in March.
Overseas shipments advanced 35.1% from a year earlier to $37.68 billion.
South Korean manufacturers’ confidence for April rose to the highest level in
more than seven years as the nation’s economic recovery strengthens.
Thailand’s industrial production rose for a sixth straight month in February,
confirming the nation’s economic recovery and putting pressure on the central bank to
raise interest rates. Manufacturing output climbed 30.3% from a year earlier.
CHINA
*****
Email from a Chinese on China's Real Estate Bubble
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/04/email-from-chinese-on-chinasreal.html
*****
JAPAN
February Coincident Index up to 100.7 from100.3. February Leading Economic
Index increase to 97.9 vs. 96.7.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
33
RIME Minister Kevin Rudd has appointed Tony Burke as the nation's first
population minister, amid growing concerns the number of Australians will rise to
unsustainable levels.
Mr. Burke will be responsible for drawing up a national population strategy and
will retain his other portfolio of agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
Mr. Rudd has been under pressure to better examine the nation's population,
which is on a trajectory to reach 35.9 million by 2050.
He told reporters in Canberra the announcement came after a month of
consideration.
"Many Australians have legitimate concerns about the sustainability of the
population levels in different parts of the country,'' Mr. Rudd said.
"Particularly its impact on urban congestion, its impact on the adequacy of
infrastructure, its impact on the adequacy of housing supply, its impact on government
services, its impact also on water and agriculture and on our regions.''
Mr. Rudd has previously said he supports a "big Australia'' - and doesn't
believe growth has to be a bad thing.
In devising the strategy, he said Mr. Burke must be "acutely mindful'' of the
positive implications of growth on the economy.
"Our challenge is to make sure that we get our future population levels as right
as possible, and against that analysis make sure we're planning properly,'' he said.
Mr. Burke said his new portfolio touched every area of service delivery, and he would
consult widely as he developed the strategy over the coming 12 months.
"These issues have never previously been coordinated at a government level
and they require a high level of cooperation with every level of government,'' he said.
An early priority of the strategy will be identifying the opportunities of a growing
population and how regional areas could be developed.
It will also consider the social and economic infrastructure Australia will need in
the future, and address the challenges of growth on the environment, water and urban
congestion.
Australia’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 4.25 percent and
signaled further increases, dismissing warnings that higher borrowing costs are
already eroding consumer spending.
Governor Glenn Stevens boosted the overnight cash rate target from 4 percent,
the Reserve Bank of Australia said in a statement in Sydney today. The fifth increase
in borrowing costs in six meetings was predicted by 13 of 23 economists in a
Bloomberg News survey.
The Australian currency and bond yields rose after Stevens said the move was
a “further step” in returning interest rates to average levels. Today’s decision indicates
central bank concerns that inflation and house-price increases will surge without
greater monetary restraint, even after retail sales and home construction dropped in
February.
“We’ve got a way to go before we see rates at normal levels,” said Adam Carr,
a senior economist at ICAP Australia Ltd. in Sydney. “There’s a good case we’ll see
much stronger than normal growth rates with much higher than normal inflation and I
think the RBA is aware of that.”
The strong trend in jobs growth in the Australian economy continues with the
latest ANZ data showing a 1.8% increase in job ads in the month of February.
*****
War on publicly displayed weapons
34
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/war-on-publicly-displayed-weapons/commentse6freon6-1225849263075
*****
AFRICA
S. Africa slaying stirs racial tensions [This is the beginning of the end of any
sense of stability in South Africa, where we once lived. The ANC has gone a step too
far. Anybody who does business in South Africa has to be insane. Stay out of the
country. Needless to say, don’t purchase any South African securities.]
http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2010/04/05/white_supremacists_call
_south_african_killing_a_declaration_of_war/
*****
Malema: 'We want the mines'
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-04-04-malema-we-want-the-mines
*****
South Africa: The End of Our Democracy is Here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H9-YgNZySk#
*****
Zille warns of 'tidal wave' of rage
http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/b7cdcacd54aa44fb8849ed4b
0906bb64/06-04-2010-08-06/Zille_warns_of_tidal_wave_of_rage
*****
HEALTH
ORAL HEALTH
The scientific community now agrees that amalgam dental fillings leach mercury into
the oral cavity. How much leaks out? The studies vary on the level of toxicity and much
of the research is disputed, which allows for dental amalgam to continue to be used
unless you live in Norway, Denmark or Sweden. In a 2006 and International survey
found that 72% of people did not know mercury was a component of amalgam dental
fillings. In 1993 the FDA published a study where 50% of Americans believed that
mercury fillings caused health problems. Most dentists do not inform patients of the
material composition of the fillings. Your gamma-2 phase amalgam dental filing has
contained since 1970; silver (40%), tin (32%), copper (30%), zinc (2%) and mercury
(3%). The WHO reports that 53% of total mercury emissions are from amalgam and
laboratory equipment. The mercury in amalgam fillings is treated as a hazardous
substance and dentists have a protocol for handling it. When amalgam fillings are
removed, they are treated as hazardous waste.
HISTORY
Metal fillings are nothing new. The first recorded silver paste fillings were used in
China around 659 A.D. Before most metal materials were used, dentists used stone,
resin, cork, gum, lead and gold leaf to restore teeth. The amalgam filling got its start in
1603 when a German, Tobias Kreilius, created the metal filling by mixing copper
sulphide with strong acids then adding mercury and bringing it to a boil and pouring it
onto the tooth. The French preferred to use liquid minerals and poured it onto the tooth
which made a cement. Later, the French also added mercury to this mixture and by
1826 this became known as the “Father of Amalgam” fillings. In the 1840’s silver, tin,
lead and other alloy substances made up the amalgam filling. However, the US dental
text books called amalgam “the most pernicious material that has ever been employed
for filling teeth.” In 1843, The American Society of Dental Surgeons (the only US dental
35
association of that time) stated that using amalgam fillings was malpractice and its
members were banned from using it. However, by 1844 most fillings being done in NY
were amalgam because it was easier to apply, was cheaper and less painful for the
patient. Prior to this the only options dentists gave their patients were to have the tooth
removed or have hot gold hammered into the tooth. The American Society of Dental
Surgeons had to go along with amalgam fillings to get along. By 1859 the American
Dental Association was founded and over the next fifty years several different metal
combinations were used. The mercury ratio in amalgam fillings was modified in 1959
changing the amount of mercury from 8.5 to 1.1 ratio. In 1963 a copper dispersion
alloy was added but this did not stop corrosion and then added tin creating your
current gamma-2 phase amalgam filling.
STUDIES
Studies done by scientists and researchers outside of the FDA and ADA, such as the
one done by Freiburg University in 2005, found that the mercury from dental amalgam
is responsible for nephrotoxicity (neurobehavioral changes), autoimmunity, oxidative
tissue stress, autism, skin and mucosa alterations and possible contributions to
Alzheimer’s disease and MS. How can they make such a claim? They tested their
research by removing the mercury-riddled dental fillings in patients and there was
permanent improvement of these various, chronic conditions. Another study from
Sweden and Germany in 1997 found that 23% of patients with mercury fillings tested
positive for systemic allergic sensitivity to inorganic mercury. This group of patients
suffered from symptoms similar to chronic fatigue syndrome. They had the mercury
fillings removed and replaced with metal-free ceramics and reported a 78%
improvement in overall health. This and other research confirming the allergy
sensitivity showed up in the National Institutes of Health paper. Then in 2001 a survey
of 31,000 Americans by the US National Health and Nutrition was published by the
National Center for Health Statistics finding that dental fillings correlated with; cancer,
thyroid disease, mental health problems, MS and other nervous system disorders,
urinary system disorders, vision problems, circulation and respiratory conditions. This
and other research prompted a product warning from the FDA that pregnant women
and children should use caution with mercury fillings. Funny that mercury is also
included in childhood vaccines and now they vaccinate pregnant women. Do dentists
tell women that mercury accumulates in the body and damages hormones, enzymes,
adrenal and pituitary glands, brain and the various systems of the human body? No.
WARNINGS
The WHO in 2003 published an official list of conditions from mercury toxicity. In the
report it is estimated that amalgam fillings expose the patient to 1 to 12.5 units per day
with an average of 5 units of exposure. Gum chewing and tooth grinding enhances this
risk. They also found that the mercury fillings in MS patients altered their red blood
cells, haemoglobin, T-cells (immunity) and toxic levels of mercury were found in their
hair.
YOUR MOUTH IS A BATTERY
You may have heard that when dissimilar metals (such as gold, mercury silver, nickel
and tin) are in the mouth that they react to saliva causing electrical charges on the
filling creating a battery effect. Continuous exposure to this stresses the endocrine
glands and depresses immune function. Different companies make different amalgam
compositions. Some manufacturers use a primary component of ground glass with
36
quartz fillers and other additives. These filling composites are cured to the tooth with
either chemicals or light.
TAKING TOXICITY OUT OF TEETH
There are many trained dentists now using more natural or less toxic substances to fill
cavities. Removing the old amalgam fillings is a cautious process and care should be
given to prevent further toxic exposure to the blood system. The white fillings most
dentists are opting to use now not only for aesthetics but also for less toxicity. The
trade off is that the less toxic fillings may not wear as long and need replacing sooner.
This has been one of the big hurtles dentists have had since insurance companies did
not want to pay to replace the white fillings.
NATURAL TOXIN REMOVAL
Even if you don’t have the money to remove your amalgam fillings and replace them
with less toxic material, you can minimize toxin damage. Using your system organ
cleanses will help prevent toxin build-up. Your bowel, urinary, prostate, liver, gall
bladder and blood herb cleanses. Protect yourself further with immune boosting herbs
to keep your T-cells functioning. (Your Echinacea root, astragalus root and formulas
with garlic.) Use natural plant calcium with magnesium and boron already paired with
calcium for strong teeth and jaw. Herbs such as oat straw, horsetail and lobelia contain
these elements. Help keep bacteria and oral infections away with a combo of
Echinacea root, bayberry root, oak gall bark, peppermint leaf, cayenne and tea tree.
You will find your Organ Cleanses, Immune boosting formulas, Calcium Formula and
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or
*****
Obama Gives Key Agriculture Post to Monsanto Man
By Gary Ruskin
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18499
*****
NEXT ISSUES
Every Saturday and Wednesday in April
38