"Freedom is not an entitlement, it is a responsibility, that must be guarded at all costs from all those that desire to strip it from you."
–Ayn Rand
Dear CIGAs,
People have given up their lives, their fortunes and future for our freedom. Honor their sacrifice by taking a stand, please. I have.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Since the latter is totally impossible politically, the former must be a statement of prediction concerning the future of the Western world.
Bernanke: ‘Things Will Come Apart’ If Entitlements Are Not Reformed and Spending Controlled
Thursday, June 10, 2010
By Matt Cover, Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered a frank assessment to Congress on the fate of the economy if entitlement programs are not restructured. On Wednesday, Bernanke warned that “things will come apart” if Congress allows the federal entitlement programs and the deficit spending they cause to continue on their unsustainable path.
Speaking at a hearing of the House Budget Committee, Bernanke offered his dire prediction after being asked what would happen if Congress did not take action to head off the impending crisis brought on by unsustainable entitlement spending, led primarily by Medicare.
“The entitlement programs are not self-funded,” Bernanke said, “they are unfunded liabilities. They are the single biggest component of spending going forward.”
Bernanke said that there were several ways Congress could fix these problems, which amount to approximately $53 trillion in unfunded liabilities, but that eventually Congress must address the issue.
“There are various ways you could address this – you can restructure entitlement programs [or] you can cut other things – but at some point you need to address the overall budgetary situation. If you don’t, you’ll get a picture like this one [pointing to a graph showing a steep rise in interest rates and debt] where interest rates are rising and debt outstanding is growing exponentially.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Russia could have saved themselves billions by simply reading a free community service, JSMineset.com.
The Canadian dollar has always been our choice of North American fiat currencies and the Swiss for Europe’s paper. We have been consistent and not tried to catch every move in currency as some broke nitwits did.
To be consistent and correct is one hell of a challenge.
Russia Prepares to Buy Canada, Australia Dollars for First Time
By Paul Abelsky and Maria Levitov
June 16 (Bloomberg) — Russia may add the Australian and Canadian dollars to its international reserves for the first time after fluctuations in the U.S. dollar and euro.
“Adding the Australian dollar is being discussed,” Alexei Ulyukayev, the central bank’s first deputy chairman, said in an interview at an event hosted by Bloomberg in Moscow. “There are pros and cons. We have added the Canadian dollar but haven’t yet begun operations” with the currency.
Russia’s reserves are made up of 47 percent U.S. dollars, 41 percent euros, 10 percent British pounds and 2 percent Japanese yen, Ulyukyaev said in November. That’s a shift from 2006, when the central bank said it held 50 percent of its reserves in dollars, 40 percent in euros and the remaining 10 percent in yen and pounds. Russia’s international reserves, the world’s third biggest, reached $458.2 billion on May 14.
President Dmitry Medvedev last year suggested Russia would reduce its use of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency after the greenback lost 34 percent of its value against the euro in 2 ½ years. The euro fell to a four-year low of $1.1877 on June 7 and has dropped 22 percent since Nov. 25 on investor concern policy makers may fail to contain Europe’s debt crisis.
The Canadian and Australian dollars have been among the best performers in the past 12 months as investors speculated a recovering global economy would increase demand for the countries’ raw materials. The Canadian dollar has gained 10 percent against the U.S. currency and 23 percent versus the euro during that period. The Australian dollar is up 8.6 percent and 21 percent, respectively.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Meanwhile Financial TV blares out the crap concerning the economic recovery.
Now all the trouble is in the EU and everything is just dandy here albeit a few hiccups.
Economy may never recover from banking crisis, warns OBR
Francis Elliott, Gráinne Gilmore
The economy, more damaged by the banking crisis than previously admitted, will grow more weakly and may never fully recover, the new Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said yesterday.
The conclusion adds billions of pounds to the total that George Osborne must find if he is to restore the public finances to health.
Public sector workers were warned yesterday that taxpayers could no longer afford their “unreformed, gold-plated pension pots” as the Lib-Con coalition Government used the first OBR forecasts to step up efforts to prepare voters for next week’s Budget.
Growth is forecast at 2.6 per cent next year and 2.8 per cent in 2012, far below Alistair Darling’s predictions for 3.25 and 3.5 per cent respectively. This leaves Britain’s structural deficit — which is impervious to the economic cycle — bigger than feared over the next five years. It will hit 8.8 per cent of GDP, or £123.7 billion this year, compared with Mr Darling’s forecast of 8.4 per cent of GDP. By 2014-15 it will have fallen only to 2.8 per cent of GDP, the budget office said, rather than the 2.5 per cent anticipated by Labour.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
It would be much easier if the international investment bank that sold all this fraudulent "Reduce the budget OTC derivatives" just gave us a list of their clients.
EU investigates Greek-style budget fraud in Bulgaria
Published: 10 June 2010 | Updated: 14 June 2010
New Greek-style budgetary fraud is possibly looming in Europe, as the European Commission announced it was sending an exploratory mission to Bulgaria to assess the reliability of the country’s statistics, which were significantly revised in a short period of time "from a balanced budget to a deficit".
Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn announced on Tuesday (8 June) at a press conference following the Ecofin Council in Luxembourg that the Commission has "doubts" about the Bulgarian budgetary statistics and that a "methodological mission" will be sent to Sofia shortly to assess the situation.
The Commission’s concerns are related to two aspects. First, Brussels regrets having "only belatedly been informed by the Bulgarian authorities about sizeable revisions in the budgetary outlook," Rehn’s spokesperson told journalists in Brussels yesterday (9 June).
This already "constitutes a violation of treaty obligations". Second, "the Commission (still) lacks information on why Bulgaria has revised its planned 2010 budget from a balanced budget to a deficit estimated at 3.8% of GDP within just a few weeks, even though the macro-economic scenario remained unchanged, or was even improved during that time," explained Rehn’s spokesperson, Amadeu Altafaj Tardio.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The downward spiral will continue in the financial and business world as a direct effect of the failure to intervene at the cause of the problem.
Intervention was directed by the Western world at financial entity bailouts and not points of improvement for Main Street. China focused on business and not assistance only to the fat cats.
As a result, this business recovery will turn out to be a present of FASB and not in any way a true economic phenomena.
Banks get derivatives reprieve.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln offered to modify her plan to limit swap trading by banks in return for assurances that at least some parts of her proposal will be included in the final financial reform bill. The new proposal would allow banks to trade and deal derivatives through separately capitalized affiliates, rather than spin off their derivatives businesses entirely. The proposal isn’t entirely bank-friendly, however, as banks would still have to set aside billions of dollars to protect against losses in these affiliates.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The Spanish statement does not matter at all.
If OTC credit default derivatives continue to pressure Spanish debt it will collapse.
The future of Spain lies with CDSs, the IMF and rating agencies.
Credit crisis hits Spain.
Spain admitted that its banks are struggling as a result of Europe’s financial crisis, with foreign banks unwilling to lend to some Spanish ones. Germany said the EU is ready to step in if Spain needs a Greece-style rescue but Spain denied the need for additional financing and said it’s not on the brink of crisis.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
To explore or attempt to mine here you need to take lithium.
U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan
A bleak Ghazni Province seems to offer little, but a Pentagon study says it may have among the world’s largest deposits of lithium.
By JAMES RISEN
Published: June 13, 2010
WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials
