Greece ‘Scrambles’ To Make Full Monthly Pension Payments: ‘Still Missing Several Hundred Million Euros’

parthenon

Greece “Scrambles”To Make Full Monthly Pension Payments: “Still Missing Several Hundred Million Euros” (ZeroHedge, April 30, 2015):

To be sure, Greece has been “running out of money” for quite some time. Given the incessant media coverage surrounding the country’s cash shortage and the fact that Athens somehow seems to scrape together the funds to make payments both to lenders and to public sector employees against impossible odds, it’s tempting to think that as dire as the situation most certainly is, the country might still be able to ride out the storm without suffering a major “accident.” Having said that, some rather alarming events have unfolded over the past week or so, including a government decree mandating the transfer of excess cash reserves from municipalities to the central bank. As it turns out, that didn’t go over well with local officials and as we reported on Tuesday, the government finally hit the brick wall, coming up some €400 million short on payments to pensioners.

Here’s what we said then:

According to Bloomberg, the Greek government is €400 million short of the amount needed for payment of pensions and salaries this month, citing a Kathimerini report.

Surprisingly, this takes place even as Greece’s IKA, OGA pension funds have been informed by the government that amount needed for payment of pensions will be deposited today, while the Greece’s OAEE pension fund has said payment of pensions won’t be a problem.

In other words, someone is not telling the truth: either there is enough money or there isn’t. And if the latter case is valid, then either the government or the pensions are now openly lying to the population.

Fast forward to Thursday and we learn that sure enough, the government ran out of money earlier this week. Here’s FT:

Read moreGreece ‘Scrambles’ To Make Full Monthly Pension Payments: ‘Still Missing Several Hundred Million Euros’

Texas Governor Calls Up State Guard To Counter Jade Helm “Federal Invasion” Fears

JadeHelmMap

Texas Governor Calls Up State Guard To Counter Jade Helm “Federal Invasion” Fears (ZeroHedge, April 30, 2015):

We’ve mentioned the upcoming Jade Helm military exercises on a few occasions lately (here and here). In short, Jade Helm is an eight-week joint military and Interagency Unconventional Warfare exercise conducted throughout Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado. Here’s the official press release:

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, March 24, 2015) – Members of U.S. Army Special Operations Command will train with other U.S Armed Forces units July 15 through Sept. 15 in a multi-state exercise called Jade Helm 15.

USASOC periodically conducts training exercises such as these to practice core special warfare tasks, which help protect the nation against foreign enemies. It is imperative that Special Operations Soldiers receive the best training, equipment and resources possible.

While multi-state training exercises such as these are not unique to the military, the size and scope of Jade Helm sets this one apart. To stay ahead of the environmental challenges faced overseas, Jade Helm will take place across seven states. However, Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) will only train in five states: Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. The diverse terrain in these states replicates areas Special Operations Soldiers regularly find themselves operating in overseas. 

Read moreTexas Governor Calls Up State Guard To Counter Jade Helm “Federal Invasion” Fears

Nuclear whistleblowing: Man who revealed Israel’s nuclear secrets detained in Jerusalem for talking to foreigners

Nuclear whistleblowingMan who revealed Israel’s nuclear secrets detained in Jerusalem for talking to foreigners (Homeland Security Newswire, April 30, 2015):

Nearly thirty years ago, in the fall of 1986, MordechaiVanunu, a low-level technician at Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor, left Israel for a trip to the Far East. He settled in Australia, converted to Christianity, and sometime in August that year began to talk with Peter Hounam, a London Sunday Times reporter, about what he saw at Dimona. He spent eighteen years in jail, eleven of these years in solitary confinement, and was released, under severe restrictions, in 2004. Last Thursday he was detained in Jerusalem for violating one of his release conditions: he talked with two foreigners, that is, non-Israelis, for more than half-an-hour.

Nearly thirty years ago, in the fall of 1986, MordechaiVanunu, a low-level technician at Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor, left Israel for a trip to the Far East. He settled in Australia, converted to Christianity, and sometime in August that year began to talk with Peter Hounam, a London Sunday Times reporter, about what he saw at Dimona.

The Sunday Times flew him to Lindon for more in-depth interviews, in which Vanunu described how Israel has mastered lithium-6 separation process, which is required for the production of tritium. Tritium is an essential ingredient of fusion-boosted fission bombs.

Read moreNuclear whistleblowing: Man who revealed Israel’s nuclear secrets detained in Jerusalem for talking to foreigners

Billionaire Hypocrisy: George Soros May Owe $7 Billion In Taxes

George Soros As The Fighting Uruk-hai With Jacob Rothschild As Saruman

Billionaire Hypocrisy: George Soros May Owe $7 Billion In Taxes (ZeroHedge, April 30, 2015):

“You support President Obama’s proposal to increase taxes on the wealthy?” That was the question put to George Soros on CNN some three years ago. Here was his answer:

“Yes, very much… the super bubble really resulted in creating a great increase in inequality, and now we have the after effect where you have slow growth, but if you could have better distribution of income, then the average American would actually be better off.”

There’s no question that “everyday Americans” (as a reminder, those are the people Hillary Clinton wants to help by running for president… well, those people and perhaps a few foreign governments and any investment bank who is willing to pay her husband six figures for a speech) would be better off if they got a larger piece of the pie, but as we’ve seen over the past several months, that’s not likely to happen as wage growth declines for the 80% of American workers classified by the BLS as “non-supervisory” even as the country’s supervisors see their pay increase, and as Fed policy continues to inflate the assets most likely to be concentrated in the hands of the wealthy. As this sad reality continues to play itself out destroying the American Middle Class in the process, we wondered if Soros was doing his best to ameliorate the situation by redistributing more of his vast wealth to the very same “average Americans” about which he expressed so much concern in 2012. The short answer: no.

Via Bloomberg:

Read moreBillionaire Hypocrisy: George Soros May Owe $7 Billion In Taxes

Over 50,000 families shipped out of London in the past three years due to welfare cuts and soaring rents

Related article:

Homelessness In London Soars By 79% Since 2010


Over 50,000 families shipped out of London in the past three years due to welfare cuts and soaring rents

Over 50,000 families shipped out of London in the past three years due to welfare cuts and soaring rents (Independent, April 29, 2015):

Exclusive: Councils are currently moving homeless mothers and children out of their boroughs at a rate of close to 500 families a week

More than 50,000 families have been silently shipped out of London boroughs in the past three years, an investigation by The Independent can reveal.

Leaked documents obtained by this newspaper expose the true scale of the “social cleansing” taking place across the capital as a result of welfare cuts and soaring rents. The figures show an unprecedented number of families who cannot afford to find homes in their local area being uprooted from their neighbourhoods and dumped further and further away from the capital, cut off from their relatives and support networks.

Read moreOver 50,000 families shipped out of London in the past three years due to welfare cuts and soaring rents

And Guess Who Predicted The Failure Of QE: Yellen … AND Bernanke!

Guess Who Predicted The Failure Of QE (ZeroHedge, April 30, 2015):

Janet Yellen:

As Japan found during its quantitative easing program, increasing the size of the monetary base above levels needed to provide ample liquidity to the banking system had no discernible economic effects aside from those associated with communicating the Bank of Japan’s commitment to the zero interest rate policy.

I think my views on this mirror those that you expressed in your opening comments, Mr. Chairman.”

– FOMC Minutes from Dec 2008

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How did that work out?

Read moreAnd Guess Who Predicted The Failure Of QE: Yellen … AND Bernanke!

The Swiss National Bank Is Long $100 Billion In Stocks, Reports Record Loss

SNB-Schweizerische-Nationalbank

The Swiss National Bank Is Long $100 Billion In Stocks, Reports Record Loss (ZeroHedge, April 30, 2015):

When the Swiss National Bank revealed its long awaited Q1 financials earlier today, everyone was eagerly looking at the number showing just how massive the quarterly P&L loss would be to the central bank following its shocking decision from January 15 to remove its EURCHF 1.20 floor, which sent the CHF soaring and by implication caused huge losses to the mostly EUR-denominated SNB assets.

The loss was indeed, massive, coming in at CHF 29.3 billion, or $32 billion.

This was the biggest quarterly loss for the Swiss central bank to date, dwarfing that of CHF18.5 billion incurred in the second quarter of 2013, when the price of gold plummeted, and certainly one of the biggest central bank losses in history, if of course, the others tracked their P&L the way the SNB does.

Read moreThe Swiss National Bank Is Long $100 Billion In Stocks, Reports Record Loss

European Unemployment By Country: Youth Unemployment In Greece, Spain Remains Over 50%

–  European Unemployment By Country: Youth Unemployment In Greece, Spain Remains Over 50% (ZeroHedge, April 30, 2015):

But the scariest data, once again, is revealed in the table of European youth unemployment. Here we see that both Spain and Greece now share the same youth unemployment figure of 50.1%, while Italy has reversed its recent improving trend, and is now at 43.1% and rising.

youth unemployment_0

For anyone asking why Europe’s politicians are terrified at the anti “austerity” wave that is just over the horizon, the table above should have all the answers.

Dollar Suffers Worst Month In 4 Years – Ends Record Streak Of Gains

Dollar Suffers Worst Month In 4 Years – Ends Record Streak Of Gains (ZeroHedge, April 30, 2015):

After an unprecedented 9 months in a row of gains, for a greater-than-27% gain, The US Dollar slumped in April. Down 3.5%, this is the biggest monthly drop for the greenback since April 2011 (near the end of QE2).

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As we noted yesterday, this could be a major problem as a USD-reversal is likely to drive the great unwind of consensus positioning…

Read moreDollar Suffers Worst Month In 4 Years – Ends Record Streak Of Gains

NY Fed Head Of Banking Supervision, And Person Who Handed Over Billions In AIG Profits To Goldman, Resigns

From the article:

Just three questions here about Sarah Dahlgren’s “resignation”:

1. Why is she resigning now: is there a crackdown on just how corrupt the Goldman Sachs branch office at Liberty 33 truly is? Acutally, just kidding. Ignore this for obvious reasons.

2. What will her salary at Goldman Sachs be once she joins the 200 West firm?

3. Which Goldman partner will replace her?


NY Fed Head Of Banking Supervision, And Person Who Handed Over Billions In AIG Profits To Goldman, Resigns (ZeroHedge, April 30, 2015):

The name Sarah Dalgren is well-known to long-term Zero Hedge readers: back in January 2010 we revealed that, just before the Great US banking system backdoor bailout by way of getting a par return on AIG CDS, back in August 2008 Goldman was willing to tear up AIG Derivative Contracts, and had in fact offered to take a haircut. It was the Fed who turned Goldman’s offer down! And the person who made the decision would become the Fed’s head of Special Investments [AIG] Management Group: Sarah Dahlgren.

We said that Dahlgren “not only did not save US taxpayers’ money, but in fact ended up costing money, when they funded the marginal difference between par (the make whole price given to all AIG counterparties after AIG was told to back off in its negotiations) and whatever discount would have been applicable to the contract tear down that had been proposed by Goldman a mere month earlier. This, more so than anything presented up to now, is the true scandal behind the New York Fed’s involvement.

Read moreNY Fed Head Of Banking Supervision, And Person Who Handed Over Billions In AIG Profits To Goldman, Resigns

Apple Watch Needs To See Your Blood Before It Works!

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Apple watch needs to see your blood before it works! (Jim Stone, April 29, 2015):

Here’s something interesting and creepy beyond belief – the Apple watch needs to see your blood and know it is being worn before it can receive calls and notifications, OR before it can be used to do any online transaction.

On the back of the Apple watch there is a light that has to penetrate your skin and see your blood before the watch will accept the fact that it is being worn. This is part of the heart monitor function. At first I thought this had to be a hoax, but the apple blogs confirm it is real. Apple refuses to comment.

Because of this, people who have tattoos on their wrist cannot use the apple watch to do much of anything, not even make calls or receive notifications because tattoos block the watch from seeing their blood. They can’t make online purchases or do anything that requires security because the apple watch wants to see your blood to prove it is you wearing it, and if it cannot it will not enable even basic features.  

Read moreApple Watch Needs To See Your Blood Before It Works!

The Global Warming Scam Imploding . . . “Top Scientists Start To Examine Fiddled Global Warming Figures” (Telegraph)

Commentary by Jim Stone:

Global warming scam imploding . . .

The following graphs are not from a single ground station, they are from a satellite relay station in Puerto Casado, where satellites relayed composite global data back to Earth (for the later portion of the graphs). The left of the graph has the average global temperature in degrees celsius.

This is what Al Dork tried to push:

Top scientists start to examine fiddled global warming figures

And this is what really happened:

Top scientists start to examine fiddled global warming figures-2

Both graphs quoted the same data. However, the top graph is a lie, which intentionally misrepresented the data. You were not delusional. It really has been cold.

al gore



The Yavari Valley rainforest, Peru

Top scientists start to examine fiddled global warming figures (Telegraph, April 25, 2015):

The Global Warming Policy Foundation has enlisted an international team of five distinguished scientists to carry out a full inquiry

Last month, we are told, the world enjoyed “its hottest March since records began in 1880”. This year, according to “US government scientists”, already bids to outrank 2014 as “the hottest ever”. The figures from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were based, like all the other three official surface temperature records on which the world’s scientists and politicians rely, on data compiled from a network of weather stations by NOAA’s Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN).

Read moreThe Global Warming Scam Imploding . . . “Top Scientists Start To Examine Fiddled Global Warming Figures” (Telegraph)

2015 Silver Forecast: One of the Best Long-Term Opportunities (Video)

Related info:

Why Is JPMorgan Accumulating The Biggest Stockpile Of Physical Silver In History?


silver-coins

2015 Silver Forecast: One of the Best Long-Term Opportunities (Video) (SchiffGold, April 29, 2015):

John Whitefoot, an Analyst with Lombardi, shares his 2015 silver forecast. Unlike many investors, Whitefoot expects silver prices to rally, catching markets by surprise. He points to three important factors:

  • The S&P 500 is overvalued by 65%, indicating the stock market is in a bubble that will pop soon.
  • Silver has industrial demand that allows it to thrive during periods of economic growth.
  • Supply problems paired with huge demand will drive prices higher.
  • Perhaps the only point our Chairman Peter Schiff would disagree with is that the US economy is going to continue to improve in the coming years. Nevertheless, the case for silver prices rising significantly this year and into the future remains. Many of Whitefoot’s arguments are also explained in detail in our free special report – The Powerful Case for Silver. Download it here.

    Peter Schiff on CNBC: FOMC Is Bluffing; Prepare For QE4 And No Rate Hike (Video)

    FOMC Is Bluffing; Prepare for QE4 and No Rate Hike (Video) (SchiffGold, April 28, 2015):

    The Federal Reserve has a two-day meeting this week. CNBC World asked Peter Schiff what he expects the results of the meeting will be. Peter argued that the Fed will continue to bluff about raising interest rates. He believes a fourth round of quantitative easing is more likely in the next year.
    Follow along with this transcript:

    Peter: The bigger problem for the US market is the softening US data that came out today. And now the weakening US dollar, which I think is about to get a lot weaker as people get their arms around the real predicament that the US economy is in.

    Read morePeter Schiff on CNBC: FOMC Is Bluffing; Prepare For QE4 And No Rate Hike (Video)

    April 30 Walpurgis Night – Beltane (Video)

    Just looked on YouTube if anybody posted a video on Beltane/Walpurgis Night, so I can post this witch again …

    Hillary-Witch

    * * *

    Prince William and Kate marry on April 29th, 2011:

    Prince William and Kate Middleton royal wedding date coincides with Hitler’s wedding anniversary – and more events in history that happened on April 29th (Mirror)

    April 29th, the Eve of the 66th full year since Hitler’s death.

    April 30th, the HONEY-MOON begins on the anniversary of Hitler’s death:

    Wikipedia: Adolf Hitler killed himself by gunshot on 30 April 1945 in his Führerbunker in Berlin.

    May 1st, MAYDAY the ritual celebration of Beltane.

    April 30, 2012: First Anniversary of Osama bin Laden Death

    * * *

    Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu: “If We Get Caught … “

    Flashback:

    On record: Benjamin Netanyahu: ‘America is something that can easily be moved.’ ‘The world won’t say a thing.’ ‘The world will say we’re defending.’ (Video)


    netyahoojihad
    Source: Jim Stone

    * * *

    Just who really is Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu? (State of the Nation, April 14, 2015):

    “If we get caught they will just replace us with persons of the same cloth.  So it doesn’t matter what you do.  America is a Golden Calf and we will suck it dry, chop it up, and sell it off piece by piece until there is nothing left but the World’s biggest welfare state that we will create and control.  Why?  Because it’s God’s will and America is big enough to take the hit so we can do it again, again and again.  This is what we do to countries that we hate. We destroy them very slowly and make them suffer for refusing to be our slaves.”

    Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu

    (Benjamin Netanyahu was in a meeting at Finks bar in Jerusalem, a well-known Mossad watering-hole. Here is what he said as taken directly from the transcript of the recording, which was witnessed and which has been 100% fully authenticated.)

    * * *

    Netanyahu-666

    ‘Chernobyl All Over Again’ – There Are Around 400 Hectares Of Woodland On Fire In The Exclusion Zone Sround Chernobyl

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    –  Massive Forest Fire Heads Toward Chernobyl (ZeroHedge, April 29, 2015):

    Have you ever wondered what would happen if a raging forest fire swept across an area severely contaminated by radioactive waste? We can’t say that we have either, but we may be about to find out because there are around 400 hectares of woodland on fire in the exclusion zone around Chernobyl. While the Ukrainian government claims the fire is “contained,” some say the mass burning of plants which may have absorbed significant levels of contaminants over the nearly three decades since the Chernobyl nuclear accident has the potential to “resuspend” harmful agents in the surrounding air. Here’s ecologist Christopher Busby who spoke to RT:

    And here’s Reuters with the “official” word from Ukraine:

    Read more‘Chernobyl All Over Again’ – There Are Around 400 Hectares Of Woodland On Fire In The Exclusion Zone Sround Chernobyl

    The Great Unwind Begins: US Dollar Plunges To 2-Month Lows

    The Great Unwind Begins: US Dollar Plunges To 2-Month Lows (ZeroHedge, April 29, 2015):

    Just when you thought it was safe to pile all your money (at maximum leverage) into USD-denominated assets, the greenback plunges… The last 4 days have seen the 2nd biggest drop in 6 years. This has very significant consequences for a world that has become entirely consensus-based across at least 5 major themes… This poses a problem for talking-heads: if USD strength as indicative of US economic strength… what does a plunging USD imply?

    The Strong Dollar regime has changed…

    USD-Index

    This suggests the huge consensus trades surrounding the inexorable USD strengthening are all in trouble also…

    Read moreThe Great Unwind Begins: US Dollar Plunges To 2-Month Lows

    Gundlach Considers 100X Leveraged Bet Against German Bunds

    Gundlach Considers 100X Leveraged Bet Against German Bunds (ZeroHedge, April 29, 2015):

    A little over a week ago, the “old” Bond King Bill Gross called the 10-year German Bund the “short of a lifetime.” Shortly thereafter, David Einhorn challenged Mario Draghi to explain what he imagines would constitute signs of a bubble in the sovereign debt market that aren’t “already evident.” While there’s little question that the ECB has succeeded (whether through QE itself or whether by triggering a bid for EGBs from market participants intent on front-running future central bank purchases) in artificially suppressing yields across the Bund curve, we suggested that because the Bundesbank will face a shortage of supply as it attempts to hit its monthly purchase targets under the capital key, those selling in the secondary market will be able to demand prices commensurate with the depo rate yield floor until the entire curve converges on -0.20%:

    Far from being the short of a lifetime right now, Bunds are in fact quite the opposite, and their progression to the hard -0.20% floor across the curve is just a matter of time before everyone decides to frontrun the ECB’s purchases over the next year. Because if the ECB will have no choice but to buy even more Bunds from the private market, then the sellers can demand any prices for these Bunds, up to and including the ECB’s hard (for now) floor of -0.20%!

    Once the entire German curve is trading at -0.20% then Bill Gross will be spot on, and Bunds will indeed be the short of a lifetime.

    Read moreGundlach Considers 100X Leveraged Bet Against German Bunds

    Obama Threatens China With … Nuclear Weapons

    H/t reader squodgy:

    “Not another one!!!!”

    obama-world-war-ww3-coming-soon


    –  Obama Threatens China with Nuclear Weapons (The Real Agenda News, April 29, 2015):

    Washington intends using nuclear and conventional weapons to defend Japan if necessary.

    No nation in world history ever threatened humanity’s survival more than America.

    None operates more recklessly. Lunatics in charge wage endless wars of aggression against nonbelligerent countries.

    Peace and stability are verboten. Direct and proxy wars rage. More are planned.

    Read moreObama Threatens China With … Nuclear Weapons