(Video) Rick Santelli Mega Rant: Defends the Tea Party

Google Trends Signaling Sheeple are Awakening

In the face of a historic credit downgrading of the world's largest economy for the first time in history and an 10%+ correction in the equity markets, it would appear the sheeple have been paying attention (Despite: NFL strike closing out and Jersey Shore Season 4 Italy Premiering)

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 

Libyan War About Oil and Controlling China

As the 'Arab Spring' continues unabated, the Libyan War, in which Obama promised would be "Days, not weeks", seems to be about more than just keeping the peace.

According to Dr. Paul Craig Roberts via PressTv

The crisis in Libya is mostly a “CIA operation and the US government is trying to get China out of Libya because China has extensive energy investments in Libya,” former Assistant Secretary to US Treasury Dr. Paul Craig Roberts told Press TV.

 “The US is very disturbed by the recent reports from the International Monetary Fund that China will surpass the US as the number one economic power within 5 years,” Roberts added. 

Indeed.  Just as of last year China surpassed the United States in energy consumption

Geo-politically speaking, Libya is rather a small exporter of oil to the US. But as we examine Libyan exports the picture becomes increasingly clear.

 

 

Putin Slams US As "Parasite" on Global Economy

Via AP

"They are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy," Putin told the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi while touring its lakeside summer camp some five hours drive north of Moscow. 

"They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar," Putin said at the open-air meeting with admiring young Russians in what looked like early campaigning before parliamentary and presidential polls. 

US President Barack Obama earlier announced a last-ditch deal to cut about $2.4 trillion from the U.S. deficit over a decade, avoid a crushing debt default and stave off the risk that the nation's AAA credit rating would be downgraded. 

The deal initially soothed anxieties and led Russian stocks to jump to three-month highs, but jitters remained over the possibility of a credit downgrade.
"Thank god," Putin said, "that they had enough common sense and responsibility to make a balanced decision." 

But Putin, who has often criticized the United States' foreign exchange policy, noted that Russia holds a large amount of U.S. bonds and treasuries. 

"If over there (in America) there is a systemic malfunction,
this will affect everyone," Putin told the young Russians.