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The U.S. economy will probably tip back into recession next year if Congress fails to address an impending “fiscal cliff,”the Congressional Budget Office said. The nonpartisan agency said in a report late yesterday that the economy would contract at an annual rate of 1.3 percent in the first half of 2013 if lawmakers allow the George W. Bush-era tax cuts to expire and $1.2 trillion in government spending cuts to take effect in January.

If we get another MF Global folks the market will drop 5,000 DOW points and not bounce, as that will be that -- in the grains, in the commodities, in everything. [snip] I have no idea what their [Penson(PNSN)] liquidity position actually looks like. All I know is what I see in their stock price. But this does not look good, and as Ann points out there is now history with MF Global and the CME refusing to make good when their oversight fails and customer funds "disappear." In short don't expect that you're safe if Penson blows because there...

And now, one man has taken his own life and left behind a note -- a call to revolution. "The Tsolakoglou government has annihilated all traces for my survival, which was based on a very dignified pension that I alone paid for 35 years with no help from the state. And since my advanced age does not allow me a way of dynamically reacting (although if a fellow Greek were to grab a Kalashnikov, I would be right behind him), I see no other solution than this dignified end to my life, so I don’t find myself fishing through garbage...

Banks were closed and reorganized, depositors protected and external creditors told to stuff it. Despite claims at the time of "dire consequences" they never materialized -- oh threats were made, but in the end nobody invaded and nobody did a damn thing about it, because they couldn't. As for handcuffs, we might get those too.... Iceland’s special prosecutor has said it may indict as many as 90 people, while more than 200, including the former chief executives at the three biggest banks, face criminal charges. That would be a great thing indeed. The lesson here is that you don't have...

Worth watching.... and thinking about. But do so soon, because if we don't the system will collapse, and then there will be no benefits at all. Bill puts into graphs in a couple of minutes what I've been writing about for the last five years. Your choice is to either act on it or go to the store, right now, and buy all the vasoline you can find -- because if you don't act you're going to need it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u24nH03NccI&feature=player_embedded#!

There are times when one questions a report as possibly being wrong or in error, and then there are times when one has to raise a flag and say "This is an intentionally false picture being presented by a government agency."I'm in the latter camp with this one, and it is rare for me to brand something as not possibly wrong and in error, but intentionally fraudulent. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in January, and the unemployment rate decreased to 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job growth was widespread in the private sector,...

My fellow Americans;Four years ago, on this day in 2008, Bear Stearns stood on the edge of collapse.  We did not know this, of course, as other than their two hedge funds' failure their internal condition was hidden -- by the company and by the regulators who were charged with keeping our financial system safe.Over the next six months we came close to losing America.Today, we're not in much better shape.We have failed to address the first, and only, reason we find ourselves mired in an economic situation where we cannot grow and we cannot prosper.  Where The Senate has...

... and that pretty colored thing you're about to stick in your mouth, which came from the back side of the alleged unicorn, is not candy. How many times do we have to go over this? How long will you, dear reader, continue to suspend disbelief and basic logic along with 5th grade mathematics? Take a personal inventory on this MLK day. Let us presume that today, at 12:00 Noon local time, you are fired and discover that all of your credit (visa/mc/discover/amex/store cards/etc) have been revoked. The Federal Government comes up on the TV and radio, telling you that...

The Black Bloc (what the "Oakland Liberation Front" mimics) is an intentionally disruptive tactic which has infiltrated and radicalized protests world wide. The core principles and tactics are: Vandalism, rioting, and street fighting. The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, ongoing protests, and movement on the whole has defined itself in self stating principles at every assembly from the very beginning as "non violent". Anyone who claims that the presence of a few people who infiltrate a peaceful group and stir up crap somehow taints the entire organization must, to be fair, then call the entire Tea Party a bunch of dope-dealing...

Well, We Know Who The Felons Are - They Wear Badges After four years of reporting on the various immoral, unethical and in many cases criminal acts perpetrated by people in our financial system and Congress, we now have our evidence at the bar. This man was gassed for waving a flag. He was not alone. Last night "OccupyOakland" was literally laid siege by the police. Firing rubber bullets and tear gas into a peaceful gathering, they committed hundreds of cases of felonious assault upon peaceful individuals. I'll lay odds that not one of the felons-in-blue will be indicted, prosecuted...

The SEC alleges that Citigroup Global Markets structured and marketed a CDO called Class V Funding III and exercised significant influence over the selection of $500 million of the assets included in the CDO portfolio. Citigroup then took a proprietary short position against those mortgage-related assets from which it would profit if the assets declined in value. Citigroup did not disclose to investors its role in the asset selection process or that it took a short position against the assets it helped select. Citigroup has agreed to settle the SEC’s charges by paying a total of $285 million, which will...

That's what all the crooners want you to believe. Today is 10/4. Yesterday the S&P closed at 1099. It also closed at 1099 on that same day in 2008. Over the next month and a half it would fall to 750, rally for a couple of months to about 900, and then collapse to 666. Are we about to have a repeat - or a rhyme?

From the moment only Greek teachers, doctors, police, army, ministry and local government employees will not receive a salary, just as the seniors did not expect nyugdíjukra good time. The ATM is emptied in minutes. The local banks are stuck holding government securities, an immediate liquidity crisis, devaluation of the Greek banking system in total collapse. Thus the savings of depositors is totally wasted because the Greek government deposit insurance or guarantee was now living. Bankkártyájukról since then, not only at home will not be able to withdraw some money, but the world's only automatájából not. The benzinkutakból run out...

A Representative Republic? That's So Last Century It really doesn't get any more clear than this, does it? As a way to solve the national debt crisis, North Carolina Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue recommends suspending congressional elections for the next couple of years.“I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,� Perdue said at a rotary club event in Cary, North Carolina, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. “I really hope that someone...

Remember the mantra that "consumers have delevered" which has been run over the last two years as an incessant bark from the media, attempting to goad you, the consumer, into more spending and more consumption to "lift the economy." This claim has been a lie and a fraud upon the public and the new Fed Z1 makes this clear. The peak household credit liability was $13.92 trillion. It currently stands at $13.30 trillion, a reduction of a mere 4.6%. This all came from home mortgages going ka-boom; $10.6 trillion to $9.9 trillion, a reduction of $700 billion. Total net reduction...

Are you prepared yet? No? Well I'm sorry, because it's too late now. I mean really, honestly too late. The market figured it out and it didn't take very long - in fact, it took less than an hour. This latest distortion by The Fed has just destroyed the last bit of earnings power the banks had. It's gone. All to preserve the ponzi scheme in the Federal Government - the same Federal Government that just sent a bleat to Bernanke about tampering with the economy. The very same legislators that will now do nothing about what was just done....

Seriously. There is persistent chatter about a Greek default over the weekend, which Greece denied, but the denier refused to be named. If it's not true, then put your damned name on the statement or be considered what you are - liars. Greece failed to place their short-term bill rollover. That's a declaration by the market that even for short-term paper the market has utterly lost confidence in Greece and the Euro. Germany's DAX market relative to the United States just hit a five year low today. To add to the "liar liar pants on fire" calls Germany is now...

The world will recognize the Depression we have tried to cover up. This is not a US-centric story. The Eurozone will get the unemployment and tax consequences too. Germany will be forced to choose between propping up the entire rest of the Euro (which it can't) and detonating it and going back to the Deutsche Mark (which it will be forced to.) There is a very high probability of war that comes out of this, although the exact trigger is not something I can forecast. War is the classical solution to these problems, and it is unlikely to be different...

The true tipping point is reached when ordinary Americans - including those who are paying their mortgages - come to realize that their titles have been clouded as well, and may be no good at all. Oh sure, you may believe you got a release of your mortgage, but if the bank in question never had the conveyance in the first place they gave you a worthless piece of paper. The truly bad news, if it comes at all, will only come later - perhaps many years later.

So this afternoon I'm going to the tag office to renew my vehicle tags, and I have Rush on the radio. I must have been touched by God or something, because just as I turned it on he started with a long monologue on how everything we've had for the last 20 years has been fake. Cars, houses, flatscreen TVs, unlimited medical care for the poor, Medicare, etc, you name it - all fake. Oh sure, the car, the TV and the doctor are real - you can touch them. But we never paid for them. We borrowed more and...

And we have a Federal Government providing $1,700 billion - 12% of GDP - in false economic demand that does not actually exist! The alarm clock is ringing right now. ... there will be a crash.

The "most-recent" proposals cut anywhere from nothing in actual spending (Democrat proposal) for 2012 to $90 billion (Republican.) And neither contains any actual cuts on a forward basis - the Republicans are at least honest about it and say they just "hold discretionary non-defense spending at 2011 levels." That's not a cut in spending.

<p>Representative Ron Paul has hit upon a remarkably creative way to deal with the impasse over the debt ceiling: have the Federal Reserve Board destroy the $1.6 trillion in government bonds it now holds. While at first blush this idea may seem crazy, on more careful thought it is actually a very reasonable way to deal with the crisis. Furthermore, it provides a way to have lasting savings to the budget.</p>

It sure looks like they did. Yesterday. Here's the DTS (daily cash statement) for Treasury. And here's the problem with it: Note that the pink line did not move much. In fact, it went down. It should have gone up - a lot - because the "Trust Funds" (you know, Social Security and Medicare?) that you folks on the left keep bleating about being "money good" and "actual debt" had a coupon payment from Treasury due yesterday. IT WAS NOT MADE. IF IT HAD BEEN, IT WOULD HAVE BLOWN THE DEBT LIMIT. That's a default, and it instantaneously destroys both...

I am posting this vanity to take the pulse of fellow Freepers regarding the possibility of martial law being imposed, and your thoughts on the best way to react when it is. I’ve been something of a “prepper” for a few years now, watching history unfold and putting store by the truth of the old Boy Scout Motto. I’ve watched our imperfect US Constitution be easily subverted, but I have held fast to my faith in the much more fundamental Declaration of Independence. Preparedness, the “eternal vigilance” our Forefathers’ spoke of, has seemed a patriotic duty in these dark times....

In today’s “modern” globalist economy, we have relied upon centralized and highly manipulated trade, forced interdependency, senseless and undisciplined consumption, endless debt creation, welfare addiction, and the erosion of quality, as a means to sustain a system that ultimately is DESIGNED to erode our freedoms not to mention our ability to effectively take care of ourselves. We have been infantized by our financial environment. In the near future, those who wish to live beyond a meager staple of government handouts (if any are even given) will be required to make a 180 degree reversal from their current lifestyle of dependency...

How to survive a depression How to Survive A Depression Today Solutions On This Site - How To Survive A Depression A Global Depression Survival Store and Resource Site Many of us are wondering how to survive a depression today in 2010. Current global economies appear to be on a downward spiral and there is no end in sight. Everyday there's a new industry that is tanking. The key is to plan on how to survive a depression without anyone telling you that a depression is full swing. By the time they tell you it's a depression it will be...

Get a kit.” “Make a plan.” “Be informed.” For years, Evonne Richards had seen the signs and read the messages urging her to prepare for an emergency. A mother of four, she found it easy to push off the task. After all, the only threat that seemed likely in the landlocked 21 acres where the family had lived 27 years was a house fire. In September, she finally printed off the checklist from ready.gov. She stockpiled about 60 gallons of water in empty milk and juice containers, adding a dash of bleach to each. She bought a three-day supply of...

Be prepared to "shelter in place" or "bug out" as appropriate. "Wilding" events have already happened in some major cities. This is likely to spread if there is a "fiscal" or "monetary" accident and the "FSA" (free **** army) funds get cut off. These events could spread very quickly, and many large cities could go near-feral within days. You need to know what you're going to do about that if it happens. If you think it can't, you're wrong - it both can and might. Being prepared costs nothing. Being unprepared might cost you your life. Consider walking down the...

Carville bluntly told Imus: "You know, look - this is a humanitarian - you know, you're smart enough to see this . . . People, you know, if it continues, we're going to start to see civil unrest in this country. I hate to say that, but I think it's imminently possible." Of course its imminently possible. We have created an entitlement society. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough (it was), we added to it by enabling people to pretend to have via debt. So we gave the people the illusion of prosperity without actually having to work for...

Not content to tax your gasoline purchases, now the government wants to track exactly how far you drive - which, of course, implies tracking exactly where you drive. The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive. .... Among other things, CBO suggested that a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax could be tracked by installing electronic equipment on each car to determine how many miles were driven; payment could take place electronically at filling stations. Oh yeah, that'll go...

A primer for those who are not familiar with nuclear power in general may be helpful. The plants in question are "BWR" plants, or "Boiling Water Reactors." Fuel comprising a mixture that contains Uranium-235 and/or Plutonium-239 are placed into rods with a zirconium cladding. These are arranged inside a high-pressure container. Hydraulically-controlled rods that contain material that absorbs neutrons are placed in the core as well. The pressure vessel is filled with ordinary water. ...steam outlet to the turbines is closed. This causes the pressure to rise rapidly and the steam to collapse back to liquid water in part of...

If you remember, I questioned whether Obama was crossing the line into sedition with his statement that he intended to ignore a declaratory judgment. Well, they apparently (after stalling) asked the Judge for a stay, and got something a bit different than they asked for in reply. Judge Vinson began with:

A "few" years later....If Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans pass a budget repair bill that restricts union rights, labor groups in Madison said they would endorse the entire of a general strike of unions around the state. Aniel said the group would make sure all emergency services would continue throughout the state.”What we have to do is to make sure all essential services to people are provided,” said Aniel. “Then we’ll determine what other entities deserve those services.”Oh really? The unions will decide what is an "essential service" and who deserves to receive it?Two words in response:**** and You.Clear enough?...

... you know the end is approaching.The world's largest retailer has struggled with pricing as it has lost customers to dollar stores while it also is still recovering from a poorly executed decision, since reversed, to pare down the number of items it offered. Lost customers to dollar stores? You mean to tell me that the price ramps that everyone sees are real, and they're hurting people to the point that they can't afford to shop at WalMart any more? Hmmm...... but I thought there was no impact of Bernanke's policies on America, and that we should all pay attention...

.... are the handcuffs? A review of mortgage-servicing practices by U.S. regulators found serious problems with internal controls and staffing levels at the companies, which are likely to result in formal enforcement action against more than a dozen major financial institutions, according to people familiar with the situation. "Formal enforcement action" = A tiny fine and a scolding. Well, maybe a scolding. But wait... "By emphasizing timeliness and cost efficiency over quality and accuracy, examined institutions fostered an operational environment that is not consistent with conducting foreclosure processes in a safe and sound manner," Mr. Walsh said in his remarks....

This infuriates me: CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Don’t be so sure that a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is the best home loan for your needs. For some borrowers, it may make more sense to consider an adjustable-rate mortgage instead. And the usual song is.... So, for a borrower who plans on moving within five years anyway, they’d save as much as $19,283 by financing with an ARM. For the examples, Gumbinger used HSH’s four-day cumulative rate averages from Feb. 7 through 10. For such a borrower let's run a few assumptions. First, you're doing the 5/1 because you have trouble with the...

This ain't good: The Producer Price Index for finished goods rose 0.8 percent in January, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This advance followed increases of 0.9 percent in December and 0.7 percent in November and marks the seventh straight rise in finished goods prices. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of intermediate goods moved up 1.1 percent, and the crude goods index rose 3.3 percent. On an unadjusted basis, prices for finished goods advanced 3.6 percent for the 12 months ended January 2011. (See table A.) Yuck. This isn't just bad,...

How Badly Are We Screwed? Very.Febuary 14, 2011Karl Denninger The TBAC report is out and it's nasty. (The Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee) Key is here: The OMB, by the way, projected five trillion in surpluses in 2000. That is, a net debt of near zero over ten years. Do you think they're a bit optimistic compared to reality? Instead we doubled the debt. Which, incidentally, was a doubling from 1990 too. And, I might add, that was roughly a doubling from 1980. Welcome to compound function Hell. How many times do you really think you can do this? Again? Really?...

This is an absolutely unacceptable amount of bloodshed: SAN DIEGO -- A taxi cab driver plowed slowly into a crowd on a sidewalk in San Diego's busy Gaslamp District early Saturday, injuring more than two dozen people, police said. We cannot have automobiles doing this sort of damage. 25 people were injured, 17 of them requiring hospitalization, and one woman had her leg severed. These are astounding and utterly unacceptable injures. These evil things called "taxi cabs" are responsible for the horrifying damage done in San Diego. That's a type of automobile, and of course we can't trust any of...

I was wondering how long this would take.... it appears that all the crooners that have appeared in front of Congress and elsewhere have finally had their heads cut off by.... as I expected..... a bankruptcy Judge. Bankruptcy Judges are federal judges. The Federal bench tends to have a very low tolerance for bullcrap, although they do get bamboozled and fall prey to political arguments from time to time, like any body composed of humans. Nonetheless if you want to find justice, you usually will have a better shot at it in a Federal courtroom than in a State one....

The Press Finally Prints The TruthKarl DenningerThe Market Ticler2-2-2011 ... about Iceland. Unlike other nations, including the U.S. and Ireland, which injected billions of dollars of capital into their financial institutions to keep them afloat, Iceland placed its biggest lenders in receivership. It chose not to protect creditors of the country’s banks, whose assets had ballooned to $209 billion, 11 times gross domestic product. Yep. Remember, we were told that if we did this, the economy would tank and there would be tanks - literal martial law. Iceland did it, with their banks standing at eleven times GDP, far more...

You have the opportunity to shut down the White House and their continued lawlessness with their refusal to honor the decision out of Judge Vinson. De-fund, right now, all of the executive departments involved in this crap-pile, including the IRS, HHS and even The Executive's office budgets! The power of the purse belongs to the House of Representatives. You have the majority. You can therefore force such a bill through The House, and if The Senate will not concur, there's a debt ceiling dead ahead that allows you to force all of this down Obama's throat. Without your affirmative action...

From the wire: The Legislature's first attempt at revamping public pension plans' skyrocketing expense for state and local governments has proved shortlived, with a Central Florida House member quickly withdrawing his proposed bill. Rep. Fred Costello, R-Ormond Beach, said Friday that after huddling with union representatives, he has decided to drop his proposal (HB 303) that would have eliminated overtime pay from base salaries for retirement calculations and ended the state's Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP). Costello instead said he has been assured by the Florida Police Benevolent Association, Florida State Firefighters Association, and other unions that they would lobby...

Background: In 1986 an amendment called "The Hughes Amendment" was allegedly attached to wider firearms legislation in The House and passed. This amendment made unlawful the private ownership of machine guns manufactured after 1986. Today, you can own a machine gun, but the Hughes Amendment, H.A.#777, effectively created a "sinking stock" of such weapons that will eventually dwindle to zero as they wear out. Hundreds of people have been convicted of violating this law since, some when their weapons have malfunctioned rather than being intentionally modified. There's a problem with this law, however. It appears that the amendment was never...

It's common for companies to indemnify their officers and directors against lawsuits. But what happens when the company gets taken over by the government? Oh, you know.... Since the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taxpayers have spent more than $160 million defending the mortgage finance companies and their former top executives in civil lawsuits accusing them of fraud. The cost was a closely guarded secret until last week, when the companies and their regulator produced an accounting at the request of Congress. This would be amusing if it wasn't so outrageous. Remember, most of these allegations date...

It is not independent, it is an arm of Treasury. Everything you were told was a scam and a lie - yet another time for But the new rules have slowly begun to catch the attention of market analysts. Many are at once surprised that the Fed can set its own guidelines, and also relieved that the remote but dangerous possibility that the world's most powerful central bank might need to ask the U.S. Treasury or its member banks for money is now more likely to be averted. The change essentially allows the Fed to denote losses by the various...

Oops... it's not here.... Iceland’s special prosecutor into the banking crisis has confirmed that raids have taken place today and that arrests have been made. The Central Bank of Iceland is among the institutions under investigation. Hoh hoh hoh...... Now we're talking. Investigations into the banking crisis, and they're actually going to lock up some banksters? Now that's progress. Speaking of progress, has anyone paid attention to the labor force participation rate in Iceland lately, or the change in unemployment, or the change in imports and exports? I wouldn't say their economy is "booming", but it sure looks pretty good...

Get a load of this... If local governments succeed in the fight against how banks have recorded the transfer of mortgage notes through the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, home loans could become as expensive as credit cards, K&L Gates Partner Laurence Platt said Wednesday. .... Platt admitted there were issues with the system, but he warned that scoring short-term political points could be the end of affordable housing. "They are making secured credit unenforceable," Platt said. "If you think you're going to get 4% mortgages on unsecured loans, you're wrong. You're going to get credit card rates. MERS was designed...

Well well well.... what do we have here? JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMC Mortgage, facing homeowner lawsuits over foreclosures, was sued by the trustee of a mortgage portfolio for refusing to turn over documents detailing the quality of loans bought by the trust. Who sued them? Wells Fargo! The issue is that EMC is refusing to turn over loan files. Wait a second.... where's EMC's role in this? We're gonna have problems here I think. Shouldn't Wells have these documents already? Probably - unless they had a custodial agreement with EMC. And if they did, what's EMC's excuse? They don't...