Chicago - Mass protests and an intense security lockdown will greet leaders of 50 countries gathering in Chicago this weekend for the Nato summit, with organisers ever mindful of violence at recent global events.
In meetings with Iranian officials in Vienna this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) apparently intends to hold up agreement on a plan for Iran’s full cooperation in clarifying allegations of covert nuclear weapons work by insisting that it must first let the nuclear agency visit Parchin military base.
PIMCO's Bill Gross says the debt-fueled global economy faces a big shift, in a new FT column. The always poetic Gross makes this argument with two metaphors
Moody's Investors Service kicked off its long-awaited downgrades of European and global banks by docking the credit ratings of 26 Italian lenders, a move that could ratchet up the continent's banking woes at a critical time for the currency union.
The downgrades, which cite the banks' vulnerability to mounting loan defaults and potential funding problems, were expected, but they nonetheless add to concerns by making it more expensive for the banks to finance themselves via the capital markets.
Just hours after a top JPMorgan Chase executive retired in the wake of a stunning $2 billion trading loss, President Obama told the hosts of ABC’s “The View” that the bank’s risky bets exemplified the need for Wall Street reform.
“JPMorgan is one of the best-managed banks there is. Jamie Dimon, the head of it, is one of the smartest bankers we got and they still lost $2 billion and counting,” the president said. “We don’t know all the details. It’s going to be investigated, but this is why we passed Wall Street reform.
Greece has a 436 million euro principal repayment due Tuesday. So far, the country has not decided what to do.
Under normal Greek-debt contracts, if Greece doesn’t pay, it would have only a seven-day grace period. But experts who have pored over all of this have found that one of the key paragraphs from the normally boiler-point language is missing.
The Standard & Poor's 500 broad stock index could fall as much as 20 percent this summer due to present-day fears of upcoming market volatility, according to Citigroup analyst Tom Fitzpatrick.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX), which gauges expectations for roiling markets, has been on the rise lately thanks to a worsening European debt crisis, a cooling Asian economy and building economic headwinds at home.
The index is behaving today in a manner similar to previous S&P 500 sell-offs.
Raising the spectre of a Greek exit, the German chancellor said “solidarity for the euro” was threatened by the ongoing political crisis in Athens.
Stock markets around the world fell sharply with fears mounting that a euro break-up could lead to renewed financial turmoil. The FTSE-100 index of Britain’s major companies fell by two per cent to 5465, with bank shares hit particularly hard.
What was considered unthinkable a few months ago has now become probable. All over the globe there are headlines proclaiming that a Greek exit from the euro is now a real possibility. Read more...
From the monetary fortress of the European Central Bank to the pro-European duchy of Luxembourg, policy makers are beginning to air their doubts that Greece can stay in the euro.
Post-election tumult in Athens has put the once-taboo subject of an exit from the 17-country currency union on the agenda, lifting the veil on possible scenario planning afoot behind the scenes.
The Federal Reserve, through its extensive network of consultants, visiting scholars, alumni and staff economists, so thoroughly dominates the field of economics that real criticism of the central bank has become a career liability for members of the profession, an investigation by the Huffington Post has found.
With the recent sentencing of Tarek Mehanna to 17.5 years in supermax prison partially for translating al-Qaeda materials and expressing anti-American views on the internet and the passing of H.R. 347 (a bill that outlaws protests in instances where some government officials are nearby, whether or not you even know it), the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution is slowly losing a battle with a federal government that has completely lost touch with the fundamental rights this great country was founded on.
With the recent sentencing of Tarek Mehanna to 17.5 years in supermax prison partially for translating al-Qaeda materials and expressing anti-American views on the internet and the passing of H.R. 347 (a bill that outlaws protests in instances where some government officials are nearby, whether or not you even know it), the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution is slowly losing a battle with a federal government that has completely lost touch with the fundamental rights this great country was founded on.
Shareholder meetings can be routine, unless you are Bank of America, in which case it may be declared an “extraordinary event.” That is what the city of Charlotte, N.C., called the bank’s shareholder meeting this week. Bank of America is currently the second-largest bank in the U.S. (after JPMorgan Chase), claiming more than $2 trillion in assets. It also is the “too big to fail” poster child of Occupy Wall Street, a speculative banking monstrosity that profits from, among other things, the ongoing foreclosure crisis and the exploitation of dirty coal.
A new stock is being produced by Slide Solutions as a product named the SSAR-15. The product, a bump fire stock, is being sold over the internet and at local gun stores which easily converts special models of the AR to a fully automatic weapon. Information has been received that a Louisiana gun store in Lafayette has ten of them in stock and are selling them for around $380.00 a piece.
The man worked for the US and Saudi intelligence services, The New York Times quoted US and Yemeni officials as saying. The man was reported to have left Yemen, where he had been recruited by the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda to carry out the suicide bombing. He not only assisted the CIA in foiling the plot, but also provided critical information to conduct a drone strike that allowed the agency to assassinate Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso, the branch’s external operations director and a suspect in the bombing of the American destroyer Cole in 2000.
Officials did not disclose the double agent’s identity, nationality, or the intelligence service that had recruited him, though they did say that it was not the CIA. The details of the plot were kept secret until after the agent and his family had been moved to safe locations.
Before we can answer that question, it’s important to first establish the “ground rules of the age” that have existed since time immemorial on planet Earth.
For those uninitiated into this realm of inquiry, consider this a baptism by fire. For those who have seriously considered this weighty matter, we ask that you suspend all that you think you know … just for this short read. If you do, you might be very surprised, yet satisfied, with the conclusion of this essay.
I/R operations facilitate the ability to conduct rapid and decisive combat operations; deter, mitigate, and defeat threats to populations that may result in conflict; reverse conditions of human suffering; and build the capacity of a foreign government to effectively care for and govern its population.
(U//FOUO) Thank you for your letter of 29 March 2012 expressing concerns about the cyber threats facing our nation. I share your view that the United States will inevitably face a large-scale cyber attack, and I take very seriously the issues you outlined.
“The best defense against an expansion of Iranian influence in Latin America – and against the destructive aspirations of international criminals in the region – is for the United States to double down on a policy of direct engagement,” U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said at the State Department.
In spite of all the rhetoric, Greece will make the May payments. Whoever is in charge will get calls from Merkel, Lagarde, and Draghi warning them of the global carnage that would ensue if they miss those payments.
U.S. and Yemeni officials have confirmed that the supposed would-be underwear bomber at the heart of an al-Qaeda airliner plot revealed this week was actually an informant working for the CIA and Saudi intelligence all along.
In the fifty years he's studied the markets, Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel thinks stocks are the most attractive now than they've ever been. Jim Rogers, however, does not agree.
"The economy is going to be bad within the foreseeable future, and the markets look ahead. I don't see this as a great time to buy stocks at all," Rogers tells us. "For him to say that, we'd have to see the stock market doubling or something from here."
Rogers goes on to say that he's feeling extremely pessimistic about the financial industry for the next 20 years.
Radical leftist Alexis Tsipras meets the leaders of Greece's mainstream parties on Wednesday, with little chance of clinching a deal on a coalition government after he set tearing up an EU/IMF bailout deal as a condition.
A new election seems increasingly likely within weeks after two days of failed efforts to reach an agreement among parties deeply divided over whether to stick to a program that saved Greece from bankruptcy but caused steep economic hardship.
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Spanish government bonds came under renewed pressure Wednesday, sending the 10-year yield ES:10YR_ESP +3.46% back above the 6% threshold. The yield on 10-year bonds rose 0.20 percentage point to 6.04%, according to electronic trading platform Tradeweb, while yields on safe-haven German bunds DE:10YR_GER -1.71% continued to set record lows.
JERUSALEM (AP) -- The first rifts in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's expanded coalition emerged just a day after the Israeli leader brought the main opposition party into his government, with religious and secular parties exchanging threats Wednesday over draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Both U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) and the National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) are taking measures to mitigate the threat and build the capability to respond in cyberspace as directed by the President.
So much for the First Amendment in the United States of America!! Freedom of Speech, and the Freedom of the Press are both on their final legs, as Big Brother is set to bring the hammer down on any form of information not distributed by the propagandist.
As reported here and here several weeks ago, we reported that Romney would certainly be disqualified or discredited as a Presidential candidate for the 2012 election due to fraud and other crimes against the American Taxpayer and the US Government.
As far back as 2009, nearly concurrent with the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scandal, the GOP knew, beyond any doubt, that Mitt Romney was seriously involved with a Ponzi scheme, to the tune of $8.5 BILLION dollars.
The French have now elected a socialist government. This event should be instructive to us.
France currently has a government that absorbs more than 50 percent of its economy. They have a cradle-to-grave employment system, where once you have a job it is virtually impossible to lose it no matter your level of performance.
The retirement system for many union and government employees allows a person to retire at age 55 at close to full pay. For a while they had in place a 35-hour work week law, which is still followed by many businesses and government entities.
Why debt-based money must necessarily fail, destroying your wealth and liberty
It is a well-known axiom that money is half of every economic transaction. And yet, to borrow from Ludwig von Mises, all rational behavior is economic, since all action requires the utilization of resources, even if only in the sense of one’s time or opportunity cost. So a natural conclusion follows that the existence and integrity of money is paramount to the operation, if not long-term survival, of any society that benefits from division of labor, and nearly indispensible to any individual in such a society who engages in rational action of any type.
LONDON — Britain must stick to its tough austerity measures despite doubts elsewhere in Europe if that’s the best remedy for the continent’s stalled economies, Prime Minister David Cameron insisted Tuesday.
Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg were making a rare joint appearance in Essex, southern England, to gather support for their coalition government amid growing unease over Britain’s economic path.
The French and the Greeks have followed voters in a series of other European countries in rejecting a pro-austerity government. The Greeks just denied their ruling parties a majority vote in the parliamentary elections, throwing into question the country's commitment to structural and fiscal reform. And the French elected Francois Hollande, who will be France's first Socialist president in 17 years.
WHO can really be surprised that French and Greek voters punished incumbents in presidential and parliamentary elections Sunday?
Defeated French President Nicolas Sarkozy is the 11th European leader to lose his job since the 2008 credit crisis introduced an era of instability, bailouts and austerity. Greeks, who have been hardest hit by mismanagement, deserted the mainstream parties that presided over the mess and fled to radical outfits that want to leave the euro and default on the debt.
Attempts to form a new government in Athens collapsed yesterday after the leader of the centre-right New Democracy party announced that he was unable to form a coalition in the crisis-hit country.
"We did whatever was possible," Antonis Samaras told Greeks in a national address, saying he had reached out to every party with the exception of the far-right Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn), which was catapulted into parliament in Sunday's election.
A new report from the Associated Press reveals that the CIA thwarted another attempted “underwear bomber,” in the model of failed 2009 bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The story was apparently uncovered last week, but the AP kept it a secret at the administration’s behest until today.
After this latest incident, there have been 12 NATO soldiers killed in 19 such attacks in the first five months of this year, compared with 35 killed in 21 different attacks throughout all of last year.
After a huge weekend in Europe, which saw the socialists win in France, and fringe elements take a major slice of the Greek parliament, markets are down across the board.
Though actually the numbers are less worse than they could be.
GOP presidential contender Ron Paul has shocked mainstream media outlets and the GOP with some upset victories in recent weeks. Ron Paul supporters have managed to win a majority of delegates in states like Nevada, Maine, Iowa, Louisiana, and Massachusetts at district caucuses.
The Obama administration has been pushing for a deal to build missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe through the NATO alliance, over the strong objections of the Russians. Washington claims its purpose would be to protect from any Iranian missile threat. But Moscow believes it would undermine their nuclear deterrent.
it is just getting sad now. In April the number of people not in the labor force rose by a whopping 522,000 from 87,897,000 to
88,419,000. This is the highest on record. The flip side, and the reason why the unemployment dropped to 8.1% is that the labor force participation rate just dipped to a new 30 year low of 64.3%.
KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Taliban suicide bombing in a Pakistani market close to the Afghan border killed 20 people Friday, officials said, a day after the U.S. released letters seized from Osama bin Laden's compound that criticized Pakistani militants for killing too many civilians.
Five of the dead in the blast in the Bajur tribal area were local members of the security forces, including one who had received an award for bravery in fighting Islamist militants, government administrator Abdul Haseeb said. The others were passers-by. At least 40 people were wounded.
If the campaign is about bin Laden, identity politics and silly controversies about dogs, an Obama victory is a lot more likely. To seize control of the campaign, instead of merely being reactive, Romney has to put Obama on the defensive about his own record.
General Motors Chairman Daniel Akerson tells Newsmax that both President Obama and former President George W. Bush should share credit for the successful bailout of the auto industry.
We Are Not Powerless: Resisting Financial Feudalism
It's comforting to think "I can't do anything to resist the Central State and its financial Plutocracy," but it's not true. There are many of acts of resistance you can pursue in your daily life; here are 12 perfectly legal ones.
The U.S. could suffer another credit downgrade, similar to the Standard & Poor's decision to strip the country of its coveted AAA rating in 2011, says Bill Gross, founder of Pimco, manager of the world's largest bond fund.
Since 2011, reports of arsonists and gunmen amongst Syria's opposition have been included in reports regarding the unrest in Syria, albeit buried under sensational headlines of the Syrian government's "brutality." More recently, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has conceded that indeed the Syrian opposition "Free Syrian Army" is conducting widespread, systematic abuses including the kidnapping, torture, and murder of both security forces and civilians.
That March factory orders declined 1.5% was not very surprising: the market was expecting a decline of 1.6%. However, this is not good news as the prior February increase of 1.3% was revised lower to 1.1%, netting out as a negative two month change. Where this number was troubling is that this 2.6% swing brought the index to its biggest decline since March 2009 when the pumping of trillions started.
Both the U.S. Treasury bond and the dollar are headed for collapse thanks to the Federal Reserve's policy of keeping interest rates near zero for years, says Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital.
Could disclosure be imminent?
Within the United Nations is a governing body that has been preparing for possible contact with an extra-terrestrial race.
The UN’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (CPUOS) was created in 1959. Their purpose is to facilitate matters of international concern within outer space, as well as deal with any legal issues that may arise from space exploration.
A few weeks ago I flew to Chicago, hopped into a rent-a-car, and navigated my way on the tangle of interstate highways to the now mostly former industrial region in the northwest corner of Indiana just off lowest Lake Michigan between the towns of Whiting and Gary.
FRANKFURT – On a recent trip to Germany, I was struck by two distinct narratives. One narrative features a robust German economy with low unemployment, strong finances, and the right competitive position to exploit the most dynamic segments of global demand. The other narrative describes an economy that is encumbered by never-ending European debt crises whose perpetrators seek to shift their responsibility – and their financing needs – onto Germany’s pristine balance sheet.
The phrase “New World Order” is so loaded with explosive assumptions and perceptions that its very usage has become a kind of journalistic landmine. Many analysts (some in the mainstream) have attempted to write about and discuss this very real sociopolitical ideology in a plain and exploratory manner, using a fair hand and supporting data, only to be attacked, ridiculed, or completely ignored before they get a chance to put forward their work. The reason is quite simple; much of the general public has been mentally inoculated against the very whisper of the terminology. That is to say, they have been conditioned to exhibit a negative reaction to such discussion instinctively without even knowing why.
CHICAGO (CBS) — A new report reveals plans to keep residents and dignitaries safe during the NATO Summit include a no-fly zone, with a shoot-to-kill mandate for those who break the ban.
As CBS 2’s Susanna Song reports, the government is warning small plane pilots that if they enter the no-fly zone during the summit, they may be shot down.
As things were getting a little tense over in Oakland, Alameda Sheriff's Department decided to bring out, what we believe is Blackwater Grizzly MRAP armored vehicle.
Occupy Wall Street has been mostly silent since Zuccotti Park was cleared last December, and they planned it that way.
The point was to wait out the colder months until the day that the movement could rise up again with numbers enough to impress the world. That day is supposed to be today.
Fresh off of an interview yesterday in which he shrugged off civilian killings in the US drone war, top White House adviser John O. Brennan was ordered to provide more “openness” on the program at a speech today in Washington. Read more...
As reported last week, President Obama has created a new government agency tasked with identifying and combatting war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other such atrocities.
Appropriately, this new committee is called the White House Atrocities Prevention Board (APB) and it will be headed by President Obama’s National Security Advisor, Samantha Power Read more...
Republicans in the United States House of Representatives have been investing the debauched Fast and Furious scandal for over a year and have uncovered a plethora of unsettling details. Some of the revelations from the scandal have been incriminating for Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department. As a result, senior congressional aides have indicated that House Republicans will be pursuing a contempt citation against Holder, accusing him and the entire Justice Department of obstructing the investigation. Read more...
Amid the banking industry's relentless belt-tightening, even Bank of America Corp.'s moneymakers aren't safe.
The Charlotte, N.C., company is planning about 2,000 staff cuts in its investment banking, commercial banking and non-U.S. wealth-management units, said people familiar with the situation. Those operations were vastly expanded with Bank of America's 2009 purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co.
Texas Congressman and Obstetrician Ron Paul “dominated” the Louisiana presidential caucuses April 28, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Paul supporters also out-organized the presumed GOP presidential nominee in caucuses in former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's home state of Massachusetts, and Paul supporters took over the Alaska Republican Party the same day.
At the end of this year, the Bush tax cuts are set to expire while automatic fiscal spending cuts are set to kick in, a combination known as a "fiscal cliff" that will do worse than suck an expected several hundred billion dollars out of the economy initially, says Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
The combination of tax hikes and spending cuts will yank $7 trillion out of the economy within a decade and throw the economy back into recession.
WASHINGTON — A Sikh advocacy group launched a free mobile application Monday that allows travelers to complain immediately to the government if they feel they've been treated unfairly by airport screeners. Read more...
Envelopes containing suspicious powder were sent through the mail to at least seven locations in Manhattan, primarily Wells Fargo banks, police officials said.
"This is a reminder that you are not in control," said a message that arrived with the envelopes. "Just in case you needed some incentive to stop working we have a little surprise for you. Think fast you have seconds."
As baby boomers bloomed from Child of the Fifties to Love Child of the Sixties the peer pressure motto of “Question Authority” took on a multi-level meaning.
Australian troops to leave Afghanistan a year earlier than planned, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said ... Australia expects to pull most of its troops out of Afghanistan nearly a year earlier than planned, the prime minister announced Tuesday, saying Australian soldiers have nearly completed their mission to transfer security responsibilities to Afghan forces in the decade-long war.
(Reuters) - Economic experts watching Spain don't know how much money will be needed or precisely when, but some are near certain that Madrid will eventually seek a multi-billion euro bailout for its banks, and perhaps even for the state itself..
(Reuters) - Fears of a resurgence in the euro zone debt crisis boosted demand for safe-haven German bonds on Wednesday, while the Bank of England and a European Central Bank official signaled more monetary policy easing to support growth was unlikely.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Halliburton Co. says its first-quarter profit increased 22.7 percent as the oil industry aggressively searched for new oil fields in North America.
BRUSSELS (AP) -- The United States and its NATO allies are readying plans to pull away from the front lines in Afghanistan next year as President Barack Obama and fellow leaders try to show that the unpopular war is ending.
GENEVA (AP) -- The Swiss government has extended its financial sanctions against Iran by freezing the assets of 11 more companies and people but decided not to take any action against Tehran's central bank, officials said Wednesday
The International Monetary Fund appeared to be inching toward a deal on increasing its financial firepower on Tuesday, with Japan, Sweden and Denmark committing a total of $77 billion to help contain the euro zone's debt crisis.
The pledges were made ahead of meetings of global finance chiefs in Washington this week that will focus on additional funds for the IMF, an issue that has taken on fresh urgency, given a jump in borrowing costs in Spain and Italy this week.
Life is unfair, as John F. Kennedy famously observed. That might not have been the most memorable thing he ever said, but it’s probably the most quoted, and when better to repeat it than on the last day for Americans to file their federal income tax returns.
The government's controversial plans to allow intelligence agencies to monitor the internet use and digital communications of every person in the UK suffered a fresh blow on Tuesday when the inventor of the world wide web warned that the measures were dangerous and should be dropped.
Japan said it will provide $60 billion to the International Monetary Fund’s effort to expand its resources and shield the global economy against any deepening of Europe’s debt crisis.
Finance Minister Jun Azumi unveiled the commitment in speaking to reporters in Tokyo today before semiannual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington April 20-22. Azumi said he hopes for an early agreement among Group of 20 members, who will also gather in Washington, on contributions to the IMF.
Over the last month we have reported on the numerous and increasingly alarming purchases of hollow point ammuntion by the Department of Homeland Security.
While many have claimed that it is completely normal for domestic government agencies to order over 750 million rounds of .40 caliber hollow point ammo, the fact remains that these purchases have been anything but normal and signal a full scale militarization of various government agencies that could one day take on the American people.
Olfactory training of bees has been used to locate mines and weapons of mass destruction. The Hybrid Insect Micro Electromechanical Systems (HI-MEMS) program is aimed at developing technology to provide control over insect locomotion, just as reins are needed for effective control over horse locomotion.
Brin claims the threat to the freedom of the Internet comes from “a combination of governments increasingly trying to control access and communication by their citizens, the entertainment industry’s attempts to crack down on piracy, and the rise of ‘restrictive’ walled gardens such as Facebook and Apple, which tightly control what software can be released on their platforms.”
The Guardian report continued, “The 38-year-old billionaire, whose family fled anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union, was widely regarded as having been the driving force behind Google’s partial pullout from China in 2010 over concerns about censorship and cyber-attacks. He said five years ago he did not believe China or any country could effectively restrict the Internet for long, but now says he has been proven wrong.”
“I thought there was no way to put the genie back in the bottle, but now it seems in certain areas the genie has been put back in the bottle,” he said.
Investors have been up in arms lately about Spain's burgeoning economic crisis.
The country's financial system has struggled under the weight of the a troubled real estate sector. While the government has backed efforts to consolidate Spain's many banks, it has yet to lead a universal bank bailout that would siphon taxpayer money into a financial sector backstop.
Billionaire George Soros warned on Monday that the euro crisis is growing deeper, tearing at the fabric of European Union cohesion, because policymakers are prescribing the wrong remedies.
"I'm afraid that the euro crisis is getting worse. It's not over yet, and it is going in the wrong direction," Soros said in discussion with Denmark's economics minister hosted by the daily newspaper Politiken.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said he advised President Obama against taking up health care reform following a special election in 2010 that changed Democrats' fortunes in the Senate, saying that he should have instead turned his focus to financial reform..
Longtime political strategist David Axelrod, who helped advise President Obama's presidential run in 2008 and is serving as communications director for Obama's re-election campaign, has paid $1.7 million for a four-bedroom, 3,320-square-foot condo unit in a high-rise condo along Michigan Avenue.
