Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
"Pakistan unwound," in one of three uninvited, non- anticipated events that pushed a dire world economic situation into a maelstrom of geopolitical morass.
Basically, it is the last thing wanted at exactly the worst time possible.
Remember I am the messenger simply saying protect yourself, now in whatever form you can.
It has all hit the fan and there is no reverse.
Pakistan Govt, Islamists Sign Deal To Enforce Sharia-Minister
Last update: 2/16/2009 4:48:37 AM
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP)–The Pakistan government and Islamic hard-liners on Monday signed an agreement to enforce Islamic Sharia law in the northwestern Swat valley, a provincial minister told reporters.
"Today an agreement has been signed between the government of NWFP (North West Frontier Province) and Maulana Soofi Mohammed," provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told reporters.
"All laws against Sharia will be abolished, and Sharia will be enforced under this justice system," he added.
The agreement will cover Pakistan’s northwest Malakand area, which is one of the districts of NWFP and of which the troubled Swat valley is a part.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Only pocket change for Madoff.
California Struggles to Close a Projected $41 Billion Deficit
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: February 16, 2009
LOS ANGELES — The state of California — its deficits ballooning, its lawmakers intransigent and its governor apparently free of allies or influence — appears headed off the fiscal rails.
Since the fall, when lawmakers began trying to attack the gaps in the $143 billion budget that their earlier plan had not addressed, the state has fallen into deeper financial straits, with more bad news coming daily from Sacramento. The state, nearly out of cash, has laid off scores of workers and put hundreds more on unpaid furloughs. It has stopped paying counties and issuing income tax refunds and halted thousands of infrastructure projects.
After negotiating nonstop from Saturday afternoon until late Sunday night on a series of budget bills that would have closed a projected $41 billion deficit, state lawmakers failed to get enough votes to close the deal and adjourned. They returned to the capital late Monday morning only to adjourn until the afternoon, though it was far from clear whether they would be able to reach a deal.
California has also lost access to much of the credit markets, nearly unheard of among state municipal bond issuers. Recently, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the state’s bond rating to the lowest in the nation.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
This one moves slower and so far silently out of media focus, yet possesses within its totally impossible structure the seeds of the worst disaster of the entire economy, without historic precedent.
Government pension agency braces for recession
Little-known agency that insures pensions of 44 million workers braces for recession fallout
Deb Riechmann, Associated Press Writer
Monday February 16, 2009, 12:12 pm EST
WASHINGTON (AP) — The deepening recession spells trouble for a little-known government corporation that insures the pensions of 44 million workers and retirees.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. already has an $11 billion deficit that seems sure to grow larger as Corporate America suffers through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
With companies reporting shortfalls in their pension funds, it’s all but certain that the PBGC will be forced to take over the pension plans of a rising number of bankrupt businesses.
That means more red ink at the corporation before things possibly can improve.
The future financial health of the agency is hard to forecast. It is hinged on interest rates, the length of the recession and the PBGC’s own luck in playing the market, where it has billions invested.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Question: Hurry? Why?
Answer: Because it has all hit the fan! There is no reverse setting.
Geithner Pressed By G-7 to Move Faster on Bank Bailout (Update1)
By Simon Kennedy and Rebecca Christie
Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) — Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven nations joined the chorus of U.S. investors and lawmakers pushing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to move faster to fix the banking system.
Stung by domestic criticism for failing to provide details last week on just how he plans to clean up banks’ toxic assets and revive lending, Geithner was told by foreign policy makers at weekend talks in Rome that speed was of the essence.
“A concrete U.S. plan would have positive spillover effects on markets and economies elsewhere,” said Marco Annunziata, chief economist at UniCredit MIB in London. “They are also probably hoping Geithner unveils the magic formula, which they could then also adopt.”
The G-7 finance ministers and central bankers want Geithner, 47, to tackle a U.S. credit crisis that lies at the heart of the worst global recession since World War II. Bank stocks, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Financials Index, have fallen 30 percent this year and ended last week lower than before Geithner presented his rescue plan on Feb. 10.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The newest, best business in town is running a country with a Taliban presence.
Pakistan to Seek Additional $4.5 Billion IMF Loan (Update4)
By Khaleeq Ahmed and Khalid Qayum
Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) — Pakistan will seek a further $4.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, warning that the country’s fight against terrorists is hurting the economy.
“We will ask the board of directors for the amount as the war on terror has caused serious economic problems,” Shaukat Tarin, the finance adviser to the prime minister, said yesterday in a telephone interview from Islamabad. The additional funds would boost the country’s total borrowing from the IMF to more than $12 billion, he said.
President Asif Ali Zardari is facing pressure from the U.S. to step up the fight against Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents along the border with Afghanistan. The government forecasts the economy will grow at its slowest pace in seven years after raising interest rates as part of IMF conditions for a $7.6 billion loan in November.
“The government should seek aid from the U.S. and not loan from the IMF as compensation for fighting terrorists,” said Muzzammil Aslam, an economist at KASB Securities Ltd. in Karachi. “The IMF loan can only be used for balance of payments and building foreign reserves. Before asking for more loans, the government needs to say how it will pay back.”
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Do you recall a year or two ago I suggested you see the movie, "Enemy of the State"? The technology was real.
When outdoors, always look down unless you do not mind being on someone’s front page.
Click on this link and play with it….
Now think what is really out their tech-wise.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Power in the hands of an office of Administration is rarely, if ever, released.
In Spy Case, Obama’s Justice Department Holds Fast to State Secrets Privilege — Update
By David Kravets February 13, 2009 | 1:29:51
The Obama administration is invoking the state secrets privilege for the second time this week, this time in a closely watched spy case weighing whether a U.S. president may bypass Congress and establish a program of eavesdropping on Americans without warrants.
The move, which the judge in the case rejected Friday afternoon, came days after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the department was reviewing all the litigation it inherited from the Bush administration in which the privilege was invoked.
Also this week, the Justice Department invoked the privilege before a federal appeals court to scuttle a case brought by five U.S. prisoners who claim the CIA was behind their kidnapping, which brought them overseas where they claim they were tortured.
The litigation tactics underscore that, while the Obama administration has denounced many of the policies of the Bush administration, it has so far not changed litigation tactics in defending lawsuits challenging those policies.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Murder and mayhem in markets causes murders and mayhem for real people. It is very personal when you are the injured.
First pension scheme files Madoff claim
Financial News (subscription) – London,England,UK
Separately, almost a quarter of institutional investors in hedge funds have less confidence in hedge funds as a result of market turbulence over the past 12 …
