HUMOR

McAlvany Weekly Commentary, May 5, 2010

An I For An I – Nuclear IRAN & Nuclear ISRAEL. An Interview with Dr. Jerome Corsi

Posted on 05 May 2010. Tags: Dr. Jerome Corsi, Nuclear IRAN, Nuclear ISRAEL

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China May Reverse Property Crackdown, Macquarie Says

China is likely to reverse policies cracking down on the property market because they will put the nation’s 8 percent economic growth target for this year at risk, Macquarie Securities Ltd. said.

“Ironically, it is the very effectiveness of the property market measures that undermine their credibility,” Hong Kong- based economist Paul Cavey said in an e-mailed report today. “Current policies toward property can’t be sustained.”

Measures could be reversed in the fourth quarter, when the government has evidence that the market has cooled, Cavey said. Chinese officials intensified their campaign against property speculation after record price gains in March, helping to drive a decline of 10 percent in the Shanghai Composite Index in the past month. (more)

Hourly Action In Gold From Trader Dan

There was continued pressure on equities overnight and into today’s session as fears spread that the situation in Greece is going to spread further into the Euro Zone. Portugal, Spain, and Italy are now the prime candidates. Some are going as far as saying that the Euro zone is going to break up. Such thinking will bring safe haven buying into gold especially in Europe which is exactly what we saw. Gold in euro terms remains very strong coming in at the PM fix above the 906 level. Clearly, investors on the Continent are very worried about the health of the Euro and are buying large amounts of gold. This safe haven buying is also going to continue to support Dollar priced gold which is why the gold bears at the Comex cannot crack the market lower as they have done in the past even as the entirety of the commodity sector is getting sold off by hedge funds and the US Dollar is floating ever higher.

About mid-morning the US equity markets staged a bit of a recovery upwards which brought about a round of short covering as well as some fresh buying in the commodity sector. That allowed gold, which had already begun coming off its worst levels and moving back towards unchanged to come firmly into the plus column. (more)

Economist: Eliminate Checking Accounts to End Bank Risks

What’s the best way to prevent banks from taking reckless risks with customers’ money?

Do away with savings and checking accounts, says Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff.

In his new book, “Jimmy Stewart Is Dead: Ending the World’s Ongoing Financial Plague With Limited Purpose Banking,” Kotlikoff says checking accounts should be replaced with
all-cash mutual funds.

And savings accounts should be supplanted by mutual funds making short-term, conservative investments. (more)

UK budget deficit 'to surpass Greece's as worst in EU'

Whoever wins the election must make sorting out the public finances the top priority, the European commission warned on the eve of the poll, as it predicted the British budget deficit would swell this year to become the biggest in the European Union, overtaking even Greece.

The commission's spring economic forecasts put the UK deficit for this calendar year at 12% of GDP, the highest of all 27 EU nations and worse than the Treasury's own forecasts.

The country's budget shortfall was the third largest in the EU last year but will overtake both Greece and Ireland this year, according to the forecasts. Greece's measures to tackle its public finances problems are projected to cut its deficit to 9.3% of GDP. (more)

The Fed Must Be Audited: The Fraudulent Practices of the Federal Reserve

In March 2004, when Alan Greenspan was Fed chairman, he suppressed the opinions of those Fed officials who knew that there was a housing bubble.

Congressman Alan Grayson points out that - because the Fed unilaterally decided to hand out half a trillion to foreigners without any Congressional oversight, and that Bernanke testified that he didn't know who got the loot - the Fed must be subject to an audit.

Yves Smith and Tom Adams - in analyzing the Fed's lack of full disclosures regarding its extraordinary rescue operations - conclude: (more)

Peter Schiff: Default Vs. Inflation

Greek debt crisis stalls loonie's expected flight to parity, for now

The loonie's assault on parity with the U.S. dollar appears to have stalled — for now — amid a flight to safety from the spreading Greek contagion.

With the sovereign debt crisis threatening to metastasize across southern Europe, the Canadian currency is once again finding it difficult to stay aloft as investors flee to traditional safe-haven currencies, particularly the greenback.

The loonie fell for the second straight day Wednesday — at one time plunging close to a cent to a two-month bottom of 96.58 cents US — before recovering somewhat to 97.12 cents. (more)

Chart of the Day