The Bank for International Settlements showed concern over the weekend that financial markets are becoming addicted to monetary and fiscal stimulus, stripping governments of the political will to move toward increased austerity. With stock markets rallying thanks to stimulus from the central banks of the US, Europe and Japan, volatility has fallen and corporate bond spreads are tighter. But, “the outlook of the real economy has not improved, mainly because of monetary and fiscal accomodative policies,” according to the BIS. read more…
Smart phones and social media have created the next step in technological collective consciousness. More so than ever the individual is connected to friends, family and acquaintances 24/7. A constant stream of information informs us and is, ultimately, meant to guide, making more like the greater group.
The Borg is known from Star Trek, and is essentially a synonym of “hive mind” or “collective consciousness.” The Borg Collective is a civilization with a group mind. Each individual is not truly an individual, for they are linked to the collective by a sophisticated network. Today, this is known as the Internet, which ensures each “individual” is under constant supervision and guidance. In fiction, this collective consciousness, known as the borg, allows the individual to “share the same thoughts,” and adapt quickly to defensive tactics used against them. We are today cybernetic organisms, to a degree, thanks to our droid phones and so on. The ultimate goal of borg society is achieving perfection and “resistance is futile.” read more…
Remember when Lord Blankfein said his firm was “doing God’s work”? Well, here comes some more of that. Deutsche Bank’s global head of FX strategy, Bilal Hafeez, spoke as the annual Deutsche Bank Mittelstand FX conference in Hamburg, Germany, where he focused on the euro zone’s economics woes and the need for the currency bloc to move forward with further integration in order to be economically sound. Hafeez begin his speech with some thoughts on parenting and a child’s years as a “terrible teen.” He argues that the European Union has entered into its “terrible teens.” Born in 1999, the Euro Zone is currently fourteen years old. read more…
War on Cypriot Savers A Warning For Depositors In Greece, Italy & World As Russian Oligarchs Bailed Out
The Cyprus bailout is different than other international aid packages, as it forces depositors to cough up some dough. Euro partners and the IMF have set the new tone, as Communist President of Cyprus admits this is a “painful” step. The Cyprus bailout will likely lead not only to deposits being taken out in Cyprus, even though the nation’s government has already taken measure to ensure everyone pays their fair share, but also in other troubled economies like Italy and Greece. read more…
A brave teacher in the public school system of Temecula, California is directing a play for this year’s Spring production that is sure to rile an audience member or two. This video is what students at Chaparral started their days with the week prior to auditions:
Only, this wasn’t a commercial for the navy. Some tech savvy students in the film room helped create an alternative version used to recruit peers to audition for the play, titled New World Order.
60% of US Bankruptcies Due To Medical Bills, While 78% Of Those Bankruptcies HAVE Insurance Coverage
1.5 millions US citizens will declare bankruptcy, and a new study suggests that over 60 percent of those individuals will be brought under due to medical bills. Medical bill bankruptcies increased by nearly 50 percent in a six-year period, from 46 percent in 2001 on up to 62 percent in 2007. Most filers hailed from the middle class, and were “well-educated homeowners,” according to a report that will be published in the August issue of the American Journal of Medicine, according to CNN. And, what’s more insane, three-quarters of the people with a medically-related bankruptcy had health insurance.
“Unless you’re a Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, you’re one illness away from financial ruin in this country,” according to lead author Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., from Harvard. “If an illness is long enough and expensive enough, private insurance offers very little protection against medical bankruptcy, and that’s the major finding in our study.” read more…
Was The US In A Gold Standard Under Alan Greenspan, And Is Alan Greenspan Now For A Return To The Gold Standard?
Forbes contributor Nathan Lewis recently discusses circumstances around and utterances of Alan Greenspan in his article “If Alan Greenspan Wants To End The Fed, Times Must Be Changing.” He writes that, in the 1980s and 1990s:
The notion…was that the Fed was, in effect, mimicking a gold standard anyway. The end effect of Volcker and Greenspan’s management was that the value of the dollar was stable vs. gold around $350/oz. during those decades. The argument was that this goal could be achieved in a far better way by simply linking the dollar’s value to gold directly, as was the case with the $35/oz. Bretton Woods parity of the 1950s and 1960s.
Also points out Span of Greens last talk at the House Financial Affairs Committee in July 2005:
“And, indeed, since the late ’70s, central bankers generally have behaved as though we were on the gold standard.”
The article goes on:
Originally Appeared @ Gold Silver Bitcoin
The markets are in the midst of what will be remembered as a renaissance from paper-crack gamblers, especially the variety who only made money when the indexes, like the DOW, were up day-in and day-out. And they have been. If you are a devout paper addict, you’ve been doing great for the past month. Yet, despite the all-time highs and record winning streaks, people aren’t interested in the stock market. Just as everyone knows each politician is compromised or corrupted, so too will the markets give way to dizzying flash crashes or tumult in the Euro zone and eventually North America. All this in the wake of the 2008 banker bailout has driven the retail client out of stocks. Most of the people with money these days are heading out of paper, into real estate again or precious metals and other safehaven plays. Nobody trusts the stock market, for it is rigged and in the favor of the monied.
read more…
Jeff Berwick in his TDV newsletter from last night commented on Bitcoin. He briefly went over the many ways in which Bitcoin has evolved over the past several months alongside some of his observations, such as that the search term “Bitcoin” has surpassed “US Government.” according to Google Trends.
First LIBOR, Then Gold/Silver: Why The Bankers Are Letting Manipulation Out Of The Bag
This dwarfs by orders of magnitude any financial scam in the history of markets. – Andrew Lo, MIT Professor of Finance on Libor
Libor and the gold/silver fixing scandals are not separate. Instead, they are both mere parts of a much larger, grimmer global picture. As The Guardian wrote yesterday, “London’s financial sector was last night bracing itself for another official investigation into alleged price-fixing following reports that a US regulator is considering launching an inquiry into the City’s gold and silver markets.” The Guardian was referring to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission questioning whether the daily setting of gold and silver prices in London is open to manipulation. Why now? Simply to desensitize the people of the world to the rampant illusion that is their society. read more…
