Bank of America: We're All Set to Fail

h/t Zerohedge

It smelling a lot like 2008 all over again. Recent weeks with a major sell-off in the markets, financials getting (BofA, Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citi, etc) whacked by 5% or more, treasuries selling hard... the only difference would be gold is now a flight to safety. Will Bank of America, now being recognized as the insolvent zombie that it is, set off Great Depression 2.0?

Via Forbes

Bank of America, the nation’s biggest bank, can’t seem to shake off the legacy of its mortgage-related sins, namely the purchase of Countrywide Financial, the poster-boy of reckless subprime lending.

Investors pushed down Bank of America’s stock by more than 13% on Monday morning, marking the third straight trading day that the bank has suffered a major share drop. The stock has now tumbled by 47% in 2011.

Alan Greenspan on US Downgrade: No Problem, "We can always print money"

via CNBC

"The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default" said Greenspan on NBC's Meet the Press

"What I think the S&P thing did was to hit a nerve that there's something basically bad going on, and it's hit the self-esteem of the United States, the psyche" said Greenspan 

The US Dollar is Collapsing

Marc Faber: End of QE 2. Global Economic Analysis

Marc Faber is an investment analyst and entrepreneur. Faber has a reputation for being a contrarian investor and has been called "Doctor Doom" for a number of years. Amongst his many correct economic predictions, most recently ,on March 9, 2009, Faber correctly predicted a U.S. stock market bottom

Gold & Silver Legal Tender Coming to Utah

Digital Journal- Salt Lake City

The state of Utah is on the verge implementing its own proto-Gold Standard. The House and Senate have voted in favor of HB317, which would make gold and silver coins legal tender. Governor Gary Herbert has until the end of the month to veto the bill.

“The gold standard would keep you from printing money and destroying the middle class,” said Republican Congressman and potential 2012 Presidential candidate Ron Paul. “Every country where you have runaway inflation, there's no middle class. Mexico, there's no middle class, you have a huge poor class, and a lot of wealthy people. Today we have a growing poor class, and we have more billionaires than ever before. So we're moving into third world status...”

Double-Dip in Home Prices Getting Worse

Business Insider

Data through January 2011, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller1 Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, show further deceleration in the annual growth rates in 13 of the 20 MSAs and the 10- and 20-City Composites compared to the December 2010 report. The 10-City Composite was down 2.0% and the 20-City Composite fell 3.1% from their January 2010 levels. San Diego and Washington D.C. were the only two markets to record positive year-over-year changes. However, San Diego was up a scant 0.1%, while Washington DC posted a healthier +3.6% annual growth rate. The same 11 cities that had posted recent index level lows in December 2010, posted new lows in January.

Alan Greenspan Complete CNBS Interview 03.11.11

In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation There is no safe store of value. If there were, the government would have to make its holding illegal, as was done in the case of gold. If everyone decided, for example, to convert all his bank deposits to silver or copper or any other good, and thereafter declined to accept checks as payment for goods, bank deposits would lose their purchasing power and government-created bank credit would be worthless as a claim on goods. The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves. [1] - Alan Greenspan (1967)

Interview Part 1, Interview Part 2, Interview Part 3, Interview Part 4, Interview Part 5  

 (embedded below)

G. Edward Griffin on Free Markets

The author discusses

According to G. Edward Griffin, alternative markets ARE free markets. Alternative markets are an alternative to what? Controlled markets that prevent prosperity.

Free markets are ruled by consumer demand and producer supply. Major markets today are NOT free markets. They are ruled by small groups that have been given the power to intervene in the free exchange of supply and demand. Those who wield this power usually claim that they are acting on behalf of the greater good of society but, the reality is that, often, they serve hidden agendas that benefit themselves or those or those they covertly serve. 

Monopolies exist because of governmental regulations and are characterized by a lack of competition in the marketplace. Monopolies can be broken by removing these regulations. Only then will upstart competitors be able to break the monopolies. This is simple, but not easy because most people still suffer under the illusion that government regulation is in the interest of the public.

Is $200 Barrel Oil Coming to the US (5 dollars at the Pump)?

Seeking Alpha- Cullen Roche

Nomura has a very good piece on the current situation in the Middle East and the risk of oil rising to $200. While Libya is a big player in the region, the ultimate scare would come from any disruption in Saudi output. As you can see they are by far the largest player in the region (click to enlarge):

 

One of the concerns today is that spare capacity is fairly high. That means OPEC is unlikely to add supply to the market despite the disruptions. This was confirmed by CNBC yesterday who says that OPEC has no intentions of raising supplies:

Are Rising Oil Prices the sole Responsibility of unrest in Libya?

 

Daily Reckoning

Tunisia? Nah, not so much. Egypt? Meh. Bahrain? Almost. It took Libya to really get a rise out of the markets.

Troopers Would ‘Absolutely’ Use Force on Wisc. Protesters If Ordered

opED News

Amid the largest protests Madison, Wisconsin has seen in decades, newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker last week issued a stark message to public labor unions occupying the capitol building: we have options, and using the National Guard against protesters is among them.

And according to a Wisconsin police union president, whether the police agree or disagree with their governor's politics, they would "absolutely" carry out any order given to them ... even if that order included using force against their fellow Americans gathered in peaceful protest.

Marc Faber 02/22/2011: The Alex Jones Show- The Total Financial Collapse of America is Here!

Editorial: Wake up, Americans. Your Economic Dream is a Nightmare

The Globe and Mail- Jeffrey Simpson

Our southern friends are living the American dream these days, a dream that’s removing them from reality. Their federal legislators, including the President, are imagining a brilliant future that cannot be. None of them, it would appear, wants to awaken Americans from this dream.
The dream? Economic recovery followed by the return of prosperity, built on borrowed money. And not just some borrowed money, but trillions and trillions of borrowed money.

On the Edge with Max Keiser- Interview with Catherine Austin Fitts

Fitts served as managing director and member of the board of directors of the Wall Street investment bank Dillon, Read & Co. Inc., as Assistant Secretary of Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in the first Bush Administration, and was the president of Hamilton Securities Group, Inc., an investment bank and financial software developer. She is now the president of Solari, Inc., and managing member of Solari Investment Advisory Services, LLC.

Benocide: Clothing Prices to Rise 10% Starting in Spring

h/p williambanzai7

Chicago Breaking Business

Clothing prices are expected to rise about 10 percent in coming months, with the biggest increases coming in the second half of the year, said Burt Flickinger III, president of Strategic Resource Group.
Clothing prices have dropped for a decade as tame inflation and cheap overseas labor helped hold down costs. Retailers and clothing makers cut frills and experimented with fabric blends to cut prices during the recession.
But as the world economy recovers and demand for goods rises, a surge in labor and raw materials costs is squeezing retailers and manufacturers who have run out of ways to pare costs

 Every excuse other than the "truth"... Blame the Snow. Lie about a "recovery" to hide the fraud in the system.

In the beginning of November 2010 the Federal Reserve announced a new round of asset purchases (QE 2) to the tune of 600 billion . This is by no other name... MONEY PRINTING.

Here is the response in the markets since the announcement of a new round of asset purchases (Money Printing) by the US central bank...

"Global Economic Recovery"? Surge in "Demand"? 

Eli Whitney would be proud of our central bankers. 

David Stockman on TARP, the Fed, Ron Paul and Reagan [FULL VERSION]