Economy

Hilarious Charts Of The Day: IMF’s ‘Growth Forecasts’ Over Time

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– Hilarious Charts Of The Day: IMF’s “Growth Forecasts” Over Time (ZeroHedge, Oct 8, 2013):

The chart below, showing the historical change in the IMF’s periodic revisions of world growth and revised for today’s just released latest World Economic Outlook, shows that much taxpayer money can be saved if the monetary fund’s staff was replaced with dart-throwing chimps.

That the IMF saw 2013 world growth at 4.1% when the S&P500 was at 1,400 and now that it sees 2013 growth at the lowest ever in the series, 2.9%, when the S&P500 is just a whisker off its all time high is without comment.

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Some other funny charts.

US growth forecasts over time – mind the 2012 GDP-boosting revision:

Read moreHilarious Charts Of The Day: IMF’s ‘Growth Forecasts’ Over Time

Warren Buffett’s Bailout Bonanza

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– Buffett’s Bailout Bonanza (ZeroHedge, Oct 7, 2013):

In the past we have tried to show the growing divide between the haves and the have-nots in the US. Whether through this morning’s “aggregate” Main Street vs Wall Street chart or various anecdotal indicators of diverging confidence. However, no one signifies the beneficiaries of the status-quo-sustaining government bailouts and stimulus better than Warren Buffett (who now, like Obama, sees stocks are full valued). The following chart shows just how well one can do with a few billion in your pocket and an ear for what the Government will do.

Gold: The Real Change To Watch Out For

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World’s biggest gold coin

– The real change to watch out for (Sovereign Man, Oct 4, 2013):

It takes a lot of courage to go against the crowd.

Whether in investing, or acknowledging that your country is heading towards an epic fiscal crisis, it isn’t easy to stand alone… especially when everyone else is betting the other way.

Have you ever noticed, for example, that investors are often only interested in buying some stock or asset when its price is going up?

Read moreGold: The Real Change To Watch Out For

Families Hoard Cash 5 Years After Crisis

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From the article:

“The implications are huge: Shunning debt and spending less can be good for one family’s finances. When hundreds of millions do it together, it can starve the global economy.“

What (kind of) economy (is that)?

In my opinion bonds are a terrible investment.

Got PHYSICAL gold and silver (to protect your assets)?

– AP IMPACT: Families hoard cash 5 yrs after crisis (AP, Oct 6, 2013):

NEW YORK (AP) — Five years after U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, triggering a global financial crisis and shattering confidence worldwide, families in major countries around the world are still hunkered down, too spooked and distrustful to take chances with their money.

An Associated Press analysis of households in the 10 biggest economies shows that families continue to spend cautiously and have pulled hundreds of billions of dollars out of stocks, cut borrowing for the first time in decades and poured money into savings and bonds that offer puny interest payments, often too low to keep up with inflation.

Read moreFamilies Hoard Cash 5 Years After Crisis

Matt Taibbi: Pension-Fund Looters Get Tax Breaks, Too

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Rhode Island State Treasurer Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, has declared war on public pensions

– Pension-Fund Looters Get Tax Breaks, Too (Rolling Stone, Oct 4, 2013):

by Matt Taibbi

A few weeks ago, I wrote a feature on pension reform in states like Rhode Island for Rolling Stone. Since the piece was sharply critical of alternative investments like hedge funds, I expected a heated response, and got one right away. In fact, a series of raving/chest-thumping emails from one Manhattan Institute hedge fund billionaire appeared in my email inbox about four and a half seconds after the piece went live on the Rolling Stone website.

This colorful personage calmed down eventually, though, and I figured a more sophisticated, for-public-consumption response would come from those quarters later on.

It finally showed up this week in GoLocalProv, when Aaron Henn, an “opinion-leading urban affairs analyst” who appears in striking tie-and-folded-arms pose in his column photo, wrote a piece in defense of the Rhode Island Treasurer profiled in the piece called “Matt Taibbi’s Deceptive Hatchet Job on Gina Raimondo.”

Read moreMatt Taibbi: Pension-Fund Looters Get Tax Breaks, Too

U.S. Pushing Trans-Pacific Partnership Agenda Despite Government Shutdown

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– U.S. pushing Trans-Pacific Partnership agenda despite government shutdown (CTV News, Oct 5, 2013):

BALI, Indonesia — Talks on a trans-Pacific trade pact are forging ahead with hopes of meeting a year-end deadline, officials said Saturday, despite U.S. President Barack Obama’s absence due to the government shutdown.

Obama had intended to thrash out issues with leaders of the 11 other trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, member countries on the sidelines of the Asian-Pacific regional summit in Bali on Monday and Tuesday.

Read moreU.S. Pushing Trans-Pacific Partnership Agenda Despite Government Shutdown

Former US Budget Director David Stockman Explains The Keynesian State-Wreck Ahead – Sundown In America

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Flashback:

– David Stockman: The Entire Economy Is A Ponzi Scheme!

– Former OMB Director David Stockman: ‘We’re At The Fiscal Endgame’ (Video)

– Former Budget Director David Stockman: Warns on US ‘Bond Armageddon’; First Default Could Be to IMF

– David Stockman Explains The Keynesian State-Wreck Ahead – Sundown In America (ZeroHedge, Oct 5, 2013):

David Stockman, author of The Great Deformation, summarizes the last quarter century thus: What has been growing is the wealth of the rich, the remit of the state, the girth of Wall Street, the debt burden of the people, the prosperity of the beltway and the sway of the three great branches of government – that is, the warfare state, the welfare state and the central bank… What is flailing is the vast expanse of the Main Street economy where the great majority have experienced stagnant living standards, rising job insecurity, failure to accumulate material savings, rapidly approach old age and the certainty of a Hobbesian future where, inexorably, taxes will rise and social benefits will be cut… He calls this condition “Sundown in America”.

SUNDOWN IN AMERICA: THE KEYNESIAN STATE-WRECK AHEAD

Remarks of David A. Stockman at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University, September  26, 2013

The median U.S. household income in 2012 was $51,000, but that’s nothing to crow about. That same figure was first reached way back in 1989— meaning that the living standard of Main Street America has gone nowhere for the last quarter century. Since there was no prior span in U.S. history when real household incomes remained dead-in-the-water for 25 years, it cannot be gainsaid that the great American prosperity machine has stalled out.

Even worse, the bottom of the socio-economic ladder has actually slipped lower and, by some measures, significantly so. The current poverty rate of 15 percent was only 12.8 percent back in 1989; there are now 48 million people on food stamps compared to 18 million then; and more than 16 million children lived poverty households last year or one-third more than a quarter century back.

Likewise, last year the bottom quintile of households struggled to make ends meet on $11,500 annually —-a level 20 percent lower than the $14,000 of constant dollar income the bottom 20 million households had available on average twenty-five years ago.

Read moreFormer US Budget Director David Stockman Explains The Keynesian State-Wreck Ahead – Sundown In America

U.S. Government Lies About Spying Again and Again … Here’s What’s REALLY Going On

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– Government Lies About Spying Again and Again … Here’s What’s REALLY Going On (ZeroHedge, Oct 4, 2013):

Government Officials Fail Honesty Standards of 12 Year Olds

Government leaders have been caught in lie after lie about spying … but keep on spouting new lies:

The Government Is Spying On Everything

Despite dishonest proclamations to the contrary, the government is – in reality – spying on everything:

Read moreU.S. Government Lies About Spying Again and Again … Here’s What’s REALLY Going On

Max Keiser: ‘US Economy Is Just One Giant Hedge Fund’

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– ‘US economy is just one giant hedge fund’ (RT, Oct 3, 2013):

American lawmakers have colluded with Wall Street executives to build an economy that no longer works in the best interest of, or even needs, the majority of the American public, according to RT financial host Max Keiser.

RT: There’s a lot of hype and some would say overreaction around all of this but the tell-tale sign is the markets. They haven’t reacted negatively. Is there really a crisis here?

Max Keiser: I think we should take the words of Warren Buffet to heart. He basically described the Federal Reserve Bank and the American economy as one giant hedge fund. And he is absolutely correct. The way that Wall Street, Washington, and these large funds approach America is as a trade that is backed by $120,000 or $130,000 of debt and that debt gets traded around every day. And the whole initiative here is to buy hedge funds and try to squeak out profits, and they don’t really care who they hurt in the process. Remember America is run by what I call financial jihadists who are basically suicide bankers. Warren Buffett, of course, is one of these suicide bankers and America, from the outside of course, looks like they’re trying to commit financial suicide. But that’s what a financial jihadist does, or a suicide banker. They blow themselves up for their cause and in this case it’s market fundamentalism, a belief in the profit – not the prophet.

RT: But other tell-tale signs of the economy improving are there, Max. Are we to believe the economic indicators which suggest the US economy is on the up?

Read moreMax Keiser: ‘US Economy Is Just One Giant Hedge Fund’

30 Statistics About Americans Under The Age Of 30 That Will Blow Your Mind

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– 30 Statistics About Americans Under The Age Of 30 That Will Blow Your Mind (Economic Collapse, Oct 3, 2013):

Why are young people in America so frustrated these days?  You are about to find out.  Most young adults started out having faith in the system.  They worked hard, they got good grades, they stayed out of trouble and many of them went on to college.  But when their educations where over, they discovered that the good jobs that they had been promised were not waiting for them at the end of the rainbow.  Even in the midst of this so-called “economic recovery”, the full-time employment rate for Americans under the age of 30 continues to fall.  And incomes for that age group continue to fall as well.  At the same time, young adults are dealing with record levels of student loan debt.  As a result, more young Americans than ever are putting off getting married and having families, and more of them than ever are moving back in with their parents.

It can be absolutely soul crushing when you discover that the “bright future” that the system had been promising you for so many years turns out to be a lie.  A lot of young people ultimately give up on the system and many of them end up just kind of drifting aimlessly through life.  The following is an example from a recent Wall Street Journal article:

Read more30 Statistics About Americans Under The Age Of 30 That Will Blow Your Mind

MasterCard Joining Push For Fingerprint ID Standard

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Related info:

– Hackers Breach iPhone 5S Fingerprint Security

– MasterCard joining push for fingerprint ID standard (USA Today, Oct 2, 2013):

The addition of MasterCard will help FIDO expand its standard to more types of transactions. The company’s experience handling the multitude of existing payments industry standards will also be valuable.

SAN FRANCISCO — MasterCard is joining the FIDO Alliance, signaling that the payment network is getting interested in using fingerprints and other biometric data to identify people for online payments.

MasterCard will be the first major payment network to join FIDO. The Alliance is developing an open industry standard for biometric data such as fingerprints to be used for identification online. The goal is to replace clunky passwords and take friction out of logging on and purchasing using mobile devices.

Apple’s new iPhone 5s smartphone has a fingerprint sensor, but the tech giant is not part of FIDO. However, Google is part of the Alliance, and devices running Google’s Android operating system will have fingerprint sensors by next year.

Read moreMasterCard Joining Push For Fingerprint ID Standard

The Definitive Rich Vs Poor Chart: ‘The Rich Hold Assets, The Poor Have Debt’

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– The Definitive Rich Vs Poor Chart: “The Rich Hold Assets, The Poor Have Debt” (ZeroHedge, Oct 4, 2013):

This chart from Citi’s Matt King pretty much sums it up (and contrary to what Magic Money Tree growers will tell you, debt is not wealth).

Why is it important? Simple – contrary to the Fed’s flawed DSGE models, it is the poor who are more likely to consume. And logically with their purchasing power being funneled to the rich with every $85 billion in monthly debt monetization, they purchase less and less. As the slow but steady contraction in the economy over the past five years has proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

But hey: at least Hamptons’ houses have never been more expensive and the Russell2000 keeps on hitting daily all time highs. Thank you “wealth effect.”

Jim Rogers Warns US Stock Investors ‘Be Careful … You’re In A Fool’s Paradise’

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– Jim Rogers Warns US Stock Investors “Be Careful… You’re In A Fool’s Paradise” (ZeroHedge, Oct 3, 2013):

“It is only a matter of time before the US stock market runs into devastating problems due to the Fed QE program”, Jim Rogers warned during an interview on CNBC Singapore, adding that the prevalance of similar stimulative pograms around the world merely exacerbates the probability and size of a fall. His simple message to US investors – “Be Careful.”

On US Equities:

Read moreJim Rogers Warns US Stock Investors ‘Be Careful … You’re In A Fool’s Paradise’

Matt Taibbi On JPMorgan And The CNBC ‘Presstitutes’ (Video)

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– Video of the Day: Interview with Matt Taibbi About JP Morgan and the CNBC “Presstitutes” (Liberty Blitzkrieg, Oct 2, 2013):

The top definition of presstitute according to Urban Dictionary is:

1. presstitute
A member of the media who will alter their story and reporting based on financial interests or other ties with usually partisan individuals or groups.

It has become abundantly clear in recent years that the mainstream media can not be identified as anything other that a collective of mediocre, corporate/government ass-kissing presstitutes. Different media outlets cater to different special interests, but the end result is all the same. MSNBC for example is essentially a straight up PR outlet for the Democratic Party, while Fox News represents the neo-con arm of the Republican Party and the military-industrial complex generally. CNBC has a special position in the presstitute media hierarchy. They basically defend Wall Street at all costs. The station represents the most important media gatekeeper for the financial oligarch, crony class.The following video is an interview on the daily political talk show Majority Report, hosted by Sam Seder. In this episode, he discusses with Matt Taibbi the recent appearance of Salon’s Alex Pareene on CNBC in which Maria Bartiromo unabashedly presstitutes herself out for Jaime Dimon and JP Morgan in an utterly embarrassing manner.The clip is a little over 16 minutes, but well worth your time. Sam Seder is pretty hilarious and his rapport with Taibbi is excellent.

So here’s my question for Maria. If all that matters is the bottom line “ex-legal problems” then why did the Feds raid the Silk Road rather than allow them to “settle without admitting guilt?” After all they were a “cash generating machine” too. Take that one on Money Honey.

Forget The Debt Ceiling, The Dow Just Breached 15,000 … To The Downside

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– Forget The Debt Ceiling, The Dow Just Breached 15,000 (To The Downside)(ZeroHedge, Oct 3, 2013):

The Dow is down for the 9th day of the last 11 since the exuberant Un-Taper spike in stocks. Crucially though, it appears the government’s efforts to fear-monger equity markets into forcing action by the House Republicans is working. The all-important Dow 15,000 level has been breached to the downside and represents a much more important “economic” breach than the debt ceiling to any and every talking head it would seem…

Why Libya? – There’s NO AL-QAEDA – Warning – U.S TO BOMB Syria – WW3 (Video)

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YouTube Added: 01.10.2013

Description:

This video documents how the U.S created Al”qaeda to foment ww3. And to be an extension of the U.S army, to overthrow the opposition forces, and keep the World bankers in power. World bankers need ww3 to acquire the existing powers they have not yet brought into control. After ww3 they will control us as slaves since there will be no more opposition. We need to stop ww3 and to do this we have to end the federal bank. We can do this by refusing to elect their president puppets into office again. Don’t be fooled again.

Flashback:

– The Real Reason Why They Killed Muammar Gaddafi (Video)

We Are 90 Days Away From The Total Loss Of US Sovereignty

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– We Are 90 Days Away from the Total Loss of US Sovereignty (Activist Post, Oct 1, 2013):

As America races toward her date with destiny, there is yet another “fundamentally transforming” event coming her way and that event is known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Many of us in the alternative media believe that some of the effects of the TPP will be felt before the coming war and martial law crackdown. However, after careful analysis, I am convinced that the brunt of the TPP will be felt after the America we know has been totally taken over in a post-war and post-economic collapse scenario.

At the end of the day, it does not matter when the implementation of the TPP comes, because when it does, America will no longer be recognizable to anyone who has grown up in this once great country.

Read moreWe Are 90 Days Away From The Total Loss Of US Sovereignty

World Bank Whistleblower Reveals How The Global Elite Rule The World (Video)

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Karen Hudes: We’re Running Out of Time! We’re Dealing with Whether We Can Continue as Humanity

YouTube

– World Bank Whistleblower Karen Hudes Reveals How The Global Elite Rule The World (Economic Collapse, Sep 30, 2013):

Karen Hudes is a graduate of Yale Law School and she worked in the legal department of the World Bank for more than 20 years.  In fact, when she was fired for blowing the whistle on corruption inside the World Bank, she held the position of Senior Counsel.  She was in a unique position to see exactly how the global elite rule the world, and the information that she is now revealing to the public is absolutely stunning.  According to Hudes, the elite use a very tight core of financial institutions and mega-corporations to dominate the planet.  The goal is control.  They want all of us enslaved to debt, they want all of our governments enslaved to debt, and they want all of our politicians addicted to the huge financial contributions that they funnel into their campaigns.  Since the elite also own all of the big media companies, the mainstream media never lets us in on the secret that there is something fundamentally wrong with the way that our system works.Remember, this is not some “conspiracy theorist” that is saying these things.  This is a Yale-educated attorney that worked inside the World Bank for more than two decades.  The following summary of her credentials comes directly from her website:

Read moreWorld Bank Whistleblower Reveals How The Global Elite Rule The World (Video)

The Washington Post Now Fully Belongs To Billionaire Jeff Bezos, The Founder And Chairman Of Amazon.com

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– Washington Post finalizes $250 million sale to Bezos (USA Today, Oct 1, 2013):

Washington Post finalizes $250 million sale to Bezos, a deal that was announced in August.

The Washington Post now fully belongs to billionaire Jeff Bezos.

The Washington Post Co., which had owned the paper, said Tuesday that it has finalized selling that part of the company to the founder and chairman of Amazon.com, a deal that was announced in early August and shocked the media industry.

In paying $250 million in cash for the paper, Bezos gains control of the fabled but struggling publication that had been controlled by four generations of the Graham family.

Read moreThe Washington Post Now Fully Belongs To Billionaire Jeff Bezos, The Founder And Chairman Of Amazon.com

Next ‘Subprime Crisis’ Expands As Student Loan Defaults Hit $146 Billion, Highest Default Rate Level Since 1995

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– Next “Subprime Crisis” Expands As Student Loan Defaults Hit $146 Billion, Highest Default Rate Level Since 1995 (ZeroHedge, Oct 1, 2013):

Almost exactly one year ago we wrote “The Next Subprime Crisis Is Here: Over $120 Billion In Federal Student Loans In Default” in which we took the latest (2009 three year cohort) loan default data on Federal Student Loans released by the Department of Education and applied it to the total amount of student loans outstanding, which back then was $914 billion. Yesterday, ED.gov provided its annual update – this time to the 2010 three year and 2011 two year cohorts – and to nobody’s major surprise, learned that things just got even worse. To wit: “The national two-year cohort default rate rose from 9.1 percent for FY 2010 to 10 percent for FY 2011. The three-year cohort default rate rose from 13.4 percent for FY 2009 to 14.7 percent for FY 2010.” Putting this in context, according to Bloombergdefaults have risen to the highest level since 1995. The irony that this is happening in the aftermath of Bernanke’s disastrous ZIRP policy is not lost on anyone.

Quantifying this percentage, recall the NY Fed reported in its second quarter household credit update that the amount of total outstanding student loans has now risen to $994 billion, or $80 billion more in just one year:

… one can calculate that the current amount of non-performing loans originated in 2010 is now a whopping $146 billion (the full total amount of student loans owed is $1.2 trillion when including private loans from the likes of Sallie Mae – this sum surpasses all other kinds of consumer borrowing expect for mortgages). Unfortunately, as the economic situation has only deteriorated since then especially for student-age Americans, the real blended amount of student loans in default is almost certainly substantially higher as of this moment.

The Education Department had this commentary:

Read moreNext ‘Subprime Crisis’ Expands As Student Loan Defaults Hit $146 Billion, Highest Default Rate Level Since 1995

Blackstone’s Private Equity Head Warns: “We Are In The Middle Of An Epic Credit Bubble”

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– Blackstone’s Private Equity Head Warns: “We Are In The Middle Of An Epic Credit Bubble” (ZeroHedge, Sep 30, 2013):

Blackstone Group have arguably been at the center of inflating the new echo bubble in real estate by bidding (all cash) for property across the US. So it is somewhat ironic that just two months after we noted that “the smartest money is selling,” the head of Blackstone’s Private Equity Group had the following words for an audience at a Dow Jones Equity conference in New York:

“We are in the middle of an epic credit bubble, in my opinion, the likes of which I haven’t seen in my career in private equity.”

Joseph Baratta had plenty more to say including “the good times are not going to last forever,” and “we are not leveraging US GDP,” as he expects a ‘mean reversion’ in multiples and “that largesse goes to the seller.”

Via Dow Jones,

The U.S. is “in the middle of an epic credit bubble,” according to Blackstone Group’s global head of private equity, Joseph Baratta , and that bubble is affecting how one of the world’s largest private equity firm’s invests its billions.

Read moreBlackstone’s Private Equity Head Warns: “We Are In The Middle Of An Epic Credit Bubble”

The Evisceration of Yugoslavia Part II: Nazis, Bilderbergers and Clinton Liars

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FYI.

– The Evisceration of Yugoslavia Part II: Nazis, Bilderbergers and Clinton Liars (Veteranws Today, Sep 29, 2013)

Related article:

– The Evisceration of Yugoslavia, Part 1: BNL, Yugo, and Eagleburger (Veteranws Today, Sep 22, 2013)