Trends Journal - Biden Admission: Obama Plan Doomed

KINGSTON, NY, 8 July 2009 -- Vice President Joseph Biden's admission that the Obama Administration's economic recovery plan was predicated on egregiously inaccurate forecasts consigns the entire effort to failure, predicts Gerald Celente.

"The plan is based upon false premises," said Celente, Director of The Trends Research Institute, referring to White House projections used to sell the stimulus package to the nation. To make their case, Washington warned that without the Obama stimulus, unemployment, then at 7.2 percent, would rise above 8 percent in 2009 and peak at 9 percent in 2010. (more)

Why I Would Manipulate Silver, IF.....

Goldman Sachs has admitted that they have a computer program that can be used to manipulate markets.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a_6d.tyNe1KQ

“The bank has raised the possibility that there is a danger that somebody who knew how to use this program could use it to manipulate markets in unfair ways,”

For over ten years, www.GATA.org has gathered information and admissions from central bankers and major bullion banks that the price of gold on the world market is manipulated lower than it should be. Well, one more admission is close enough for me to be counted as one more proof. (more)

True unemployment rate already at 20%

Really, how hard is it to find a job? Was June's horrid numbers, in which 467,000 people lost their jobs compared to 345,000 in May, a one-time fluke? Or does it mean that all those Wall Street economists who believe the economic recovery is starting are dead wrong?

Not to scare you, but the situation is actually worse than it seems. Over the years, the government has changed the way it counts the unemployed. An example of this is the criticized Birth-Death Model which was added in 2000. The model is designed to account for the birth and death of businesses and the resultant lag in survey data. Unfortunately, the model doesn't work that well during economic contractions (like we have now) and consistently overstates the number of jobs being created each month. (more)

Peter Schiff :Head & Shoulders Top....

Smart Money, August 2009

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Former IMF Adviser: As Bad As Great Depression

Contrary to what many economists think, the economic crisis is the worst since the Great Depression, and the downturn has been even more severe in many other parts of the world than in the United States, said Barry Eichengreen, a former senior policy adviser at the International Monetary Fund.

The crisis has highlighted the growing importance of major emerging-market economies, such as Brazil and China, Eichengreen told Bloomberg Markets.

What’s more, the resilience and stockpiles of currency reserves of these economies will make them a “force to be reckoned with” in any debate over global finance, he said. (more)

Wall Street Journal, July 9, 2009

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American Banking System is a Branch of the Federal Government

You probably know the old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." I heard it first 30 years ago from an economics professor - my mentor, in fact. He was lecturing about the problems Austrian economic models predict when banking is controlled by government.

There are, I know, politicians and pundits who blame the financial crisis on a "lack of regulation." Frankly, anybody who says that has failed the IQ test, or perhaps the ethics test. For all practical purposes, the American banking system is a branch of the federal government. It has been for decades. (more)

The Coming U.S. (and Canadian?) Loan Crisis

The number of U.S. consumer loans in default has hit a record high, reports the American Bankers Association. The ABA just polished off its first-quarter delinquency report (little late on that one, fellas) and revealed some disturbing results: Of all the consumer loans in America, 3.23% are more than 30 days in arrears. That’s the highest level since at least 1970, when the ABA started keeping track. (more)