Jay Taylor: Turning Hard Times Into Good Times

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French Pension-Reform Plan Stirs Union Ire

The French government said it plans to increase the retirement age, setting up a battle with unions who want the French to continue retiring earlier than most other Europeans.

The government said it plans to introduce a bill to raise the retirement age from the current minimum of 60—though it didn't say to what age—and create a new tax on high earners, to try to fix the nation's debt-choked pension system.

Unions have scheduled a nationwide demonstration on May 27 to protest the proposed overhaul. (more)

Top Holders of US Debt

Dow Theorist Richard Russell: Sell Everything, You Won't Recognize America By The End Of The Year

WHOA!

Richard Russell, the famous writer of the Dow Theory Letters, has a chilling line in today's note:

Do your friends a favor. Tell them to "batten down the hatches" because there's a HARD RAIN coming. Tell them to get out of debt and sell anything they can sell (and don't need) in order to get liquid. Tell them that Richard Russell says that by the end of this year they won't recognize the country. They'll retort, "How the dickens does Russell know -- who told him?" Tell them the stock market told him.

That's pretty intense! (more)

Global investors flock to US debt at record speed

The net increase was almost a $100bn rise on February – when foreign purchases of long-term securities stood at $47.1bn – and was a new record, according to US ­Treasury figures.

The marked increase in securities purchases – which saw China become a net-buyer of US assets for the first time in six months – is evidence that the rest of the world ­continues to view the US as a relative safe haven.

New data from the US Treasury show that private purchasers led the increase, buying $125bn of US bonds and other assets in March, while foreign governments bought $32.7bn worth.(more)

Conspiracy of Banks Rigging States Came With Crash

A telephone call between a financial adviser in Beverly Hills and a trader in New York was all it took to fleece taxpayers on a water-and-sewer financing deal in West Virginia. The secret conversation was part of a conspiracy stretching across the U.S. by Wall Street banks in the $2.8 trillion municipal bond market.

The call came less than two hours before bids were due for contracts to manage $90 million raised with the sale of West Virginia bonds. On one end of the line was Steven Goldberg, a trader with Financial Security Assurance Holdings Ltd. On the other was Zevi Wolmark, of advisory firm CDR Financial Products Inc. Goldberg arranged to pay a kickback to CDR to land the deal, according to government records filed in connection with a U.S. Justice Department indictment of CDR and Wolmark. (more)

Govt Can Seize Your Property, Sell for Personal Gain

In America, we're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.

Life, liberty and property can't be taken from you unless you're convicted of a crime.

Your life and liberty may still be safe, but have you ever gone to a government surplus auction? Consumer reporters like me tell people, correctly, that they are great places to find bargains. People can buy bikes for $10, cars for $500.

But where did the government get that stuff? (more)