Sunday, 12 June 2011

WHO ARE THE BILDERBERGS?

All information on this website is for educational purposes only and is not intended to provide financial advise. Any statements about profits or income, expressed or implied, does not represent a guarantee. Your actual trading may result in losses as no trading system is guaranteed. You accept full responsibilities for your actions, trades, profit or loss, and agree to hold MinKL Invest harmless in any and all ways.

Tables Turn: Homeowner Seizes Property from Bank of America

A Terrible Time for the U.S. Dollar?

War Costs Soar, and Yet More War Than We Bargained For

War Costs Soar, and Yet More War Than We Bargained For
By Anthony Gregory | Thursday June 9, 2011 at 1:06 PM PDT

Those hoping Obama would have been even slightly less belligerent than the last president must be truly disappointed now. I know I am.

First, we learn the Libya war, where airstrikes have again intensified, is costing more than previously estimated. Not really much of a surprise. But the earlier Pentagon projection of $40 million a month was off by at least $20 million. As the conflict rages, with the threat posed against civilians by the regime continuing without much apparent change, despite the bombings, it is hard to see where the endgame is supposed to be. Meanwhile, the rebels circumstantially on the side of the U.S. government and NATO are being implicated in their own attacks on civilians. No surprise there, either. When is the last time the U.S. allied with a foreign force that wasn’t brutal against innocent people? I’m not sure of the answer, if there is one. And now NATO is threatening these “freedom fighters” with violence should they not relent in their atrocities. Ah. A civil war where there are no good guys—how very unpredictable—except of course for the U.S. government, whose bombs only kill in the quest for peace and justice, and whose death count must be measures against the goal of making the world safe for democracy.

Then there is the covert war in Yemen, where the Obama administration has increased U.S. involvement considerably. A couple dozen in Pakistan were reportedly slaughtered in drone attacks just today. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is meanwhile calling for a more permanent presence in Afghanistan than most Americans were likely bargaining for.

Well, this is the price for ridding the world of evil. Unless, of course, that evil is happening under the auspices of a U.S.-friendly regime—such as the state of Bahrain, which continues to be in the good graces of Washington despite its brutal crackdowns against dissidents and medical workers, its torture, its abuse of women and girls, and its destruction of dozens of Shiite mosques. Saddam Hussein was also brutal against the Shiites, we’ll recall, but he was different—by the time the U.S. waged war to topple his regime, he was no longer a friend of the U.S. government.

JS Kim on the Max Keiser Report, June 3, Part 1

Red Alert: China’s ‘Rare’ Commodity Monopoly - Books

red-alert-china-rare-commodity-monopoly-threatens-u-120216542.html

Red Alert: China’s ‘Rare’ Commodity Monopoly Threatens U.S., Leeb Says

By Aaron Task | Daily Ticker – Thu, Jun 9, 2011 8:02 AM EDT

There's nothing new about pundits and authors warning about the thread posed by China's rapid rise. In his upcoming book, Red Alert, Stephen Leeb tackles this hot-button issue from a slightly different viewpoint.

"Everything about China we have to pay attention to…but what really concerns me is their accumulation of all these commodities," Leeb tells me in the accompanying video.

When you think of "commodities" you probably think about oil, gas, gold, corn, soybeans, and maybe copper or zinc. China has been on a global buying spree to gain access to many commodities, but Leeb's focus is on so-called heavy rare earth materials, which China already owns in abundance.

"OPEC's control of oil [is] dwarfed by China's control of rare earths, which are probably just as vital as oil," Leeb says. "It's something we have to wake up to and wake up to very quickly."

Back in 2005, the importance of rare earths became evident when Congress blocked China's attempt to buy Molycorp's Mountain Pass mine from Unocal, its owner at the time. China's control of rare earth minerals made headlines again last September when the Communist nation imposed anunofficial ban on related exports to Japan.

But for the most part, rare earths are a backburner issue (at best) for most Americans, policymakers included. This is a big mistake, according to Leeb, who notes rare earth materials are used in high-tech weaponry and are "vital" to renewable energy production, notably wind turbines and hybrid cars.

"If you want to create a society reliant on renewable energy, you need a major transition that's going to rely on critical commodities [like] heavy rare earths," he says. "Silver too is totally vital."

Yes, while most of us think of silver as an alternative currency, Leeb notes it has major industrial uses, both conventional and in the development of solar panels. As a result, he is extremely bullish on silver, for the long term. (See: Why Higher Oil Prices Are Good for Silver)

"I think silver is heading for $100 [and possibly] much, much higher numbers," he says. "It could become so valuable that like gold in the Depression," the government will confiscate individuals' silver holdings.

For the moment, however, Leeb is far more concerned about what our government is failing to do to respond to China's challenge.

"There's no point in demonizing China for pursuing its own economic interests," he writes in the preface to Red Alert. "But as a disciplined, fast-growing economic juggernaut, China poses a massive challenge to the United States and represents a major threat to our economic well-being. And we have only a limited window of time in which to respond to this challenge in any meaningful way."

Failure to respond will result in "severe dislocations and an irreparable drop in our national income [and] our children will experience a decidedly lower standard of living," he warns.

Aaron Task is the host of The Daily Ticker. You can follow him on Twitter at @atask or email him at altask@yahoo.com

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/red-alert-china-rare-commodity-monopoly-threatens-u-120216542.html

All information on this website is for educational purposes only and is not intended to provide financial advise. Any statements about profits or income, expressed or implied, does not represent a guarantee. Your actual trading may result in losses as no trading system is guaranteed. You accept full responsibilities for your actions, trades, profit or loss, and agree to hold MinKL Invest harmless in any and all ways.

Wall Street Is About To....

10 Signs That Wall Street Is About To Go Into Panic Mode

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/10-signs-that-wall-street-is-about-to-go-into-panic-mode

Can you smell the fear? Right now world financial markets are visibly nervous and many are worried that Wall Street is about to go into panic mode. It really is eerie how 2011 is shaping up to be so similar to 2008. Major Wall Street banks are laying off workers in droves, oil prices are at very high levels, pessimism is permeating the financial markets, debt ratings are being downgraded all over the place and consumer confidence is stunningly low. Sadly, none of the fundamental things that were wrong with the financial markets back in 2008 have been fixed. In fact, many believe that Wall Street is even more vulnerable now. A ton of bad economic numbers have come pouring in lately and that has put investors in a really sour mood. All it would probably take is for one really significant "trigger event" to take place for Wall Street to go into full-fledged panic mode.

Let us hope and pray that we do not see another Wall Street disaster this year. But right now things do not look promising. Japan has been absolutely devastated, Europe is struggling with the Greek debt crisis and the U.S. economy resembles a dead horse at this point. Meanwhile, world financial markets are getting more bad news on an almost daily basis. Many investors are holding their breath and hoping that a worst case scenario does not play out.

The following are 10 signs that Wall Street is about to go into panic mode....

#1 According to The New York Post, nearly all of the major Wall Street banks are planning huge layoffs....

"Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley currently are among those financial institutions either weighing staff cuts or actually paring payroll"

#2 A new CNBC article claims that a "negative feedback loop" has "taken control" on Wall Street. Essentially what is happening is that bad economic news is creating an "environment of pessimism" which creates even more bad economic news, etc. etc.

#3 OPEC has announced that oil production levels will not be raised. This is likely to spook the financial markets and cause the price of oil to go up even higher in the coming weeks. The last time U.S. energy expenditures were over 9 percent of GDPwas back in 2008 and at that point the economy rapidly plunged into a very deep recession. For the first time since 2008 we have reached the 9 percent figure again, and many on Wall Street fear that this could lead to bad things.

#4 QE2 will be wrapping up at the end of June, and many on Wall Street had been counting on yet another round of quantitative easing. Over the past couple of days, however, it has started to become clear that is just not going to happen - at least for now. In fact, Pimco's co-chief investment officer, Bill Gross, is telling investors that for the Fed it will "be difficult to initiate a QE3". But without artificial stimulation the U.S. economy may start really struggling again, and Wall Street knows this.

#5 Moody's recently warned that it may downgrade the debt ratings of Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. Bank stocks were on the cutting edge of the financial collapse of 2008, and it looks like that may happen again this time.

#6 Faith in the U.S. dollar continues to decline. Back on April 18th, Standard & Poor’s changed its outlook on U.S. government debt from "stable" to "negative" and warned that the U.S. could soon lose its AAA rating. China has been very busydumping short-term U.S. government debt and there does not seem to be a lot of people (other than the Federal Reserve) that are eager to buy U.S. Treasuries right now.

#7 U.S. consumer confidence is already lower than it was back in September 2008 when Lehman Brothers collapsed. Consumer spending makes up approximately 70 percent of the U.S. economy and Wall Street is watching this number closely.

#8 A whole slew of bad economic news has been pouring in lately. Mike Riddell, a fund manager at M&G Investments in London, recently pointed out to CNBCsome of the data points that have been particularly alarming....

"US house prices have fallen by more than 5 percent year on year, pending home sales have collapsed and existing home sales disappointed, the trend of improving jobless claims has arrested, first quarter GDP wasn’t revised upwards by the 0.4 percent forecast, durables goods orders shrank, manufacturing surveys from Philadelphia Fed, Richmond Fed and Chicago Fed were all very disappointing."

#9 A whole lot of folks in the financial industry have been warning about the next financial collapse lately. For example, economist Nouriel Roubini recently made the following statement....

"I think right now we’re on the tipping point of a market correction. Data from the U.S., from Europe, from Japan, from China are suggesting an economic slowdown."

#10 According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 48% of Americans believe that it is either "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that the United States will experience a "depression" within the next 12 months. Needless to say, Wall Street is highly influenced by the overall mood of the nation.

Once again, let's hope that financial disaster can be averted for as long as possible. The last thing the United States needs right now is another major crisis.

America has been hit by a whole series of natural disasters in 2011. We have seen unprecedented tornadoes, historic flooding along the Mississippi River, and horrible wildfires in Texas and in Arizona.

Thousands upon thousands of American families are deeply suffering tonight.

Dave Daubenmire recently visited Joplin, Missouri and what he witnessed there was absolutely heartbreaking. Thousands of families there have lost absolutelyeverything.

But for most Americans, the impact of a particular tragedy fades after the 48-hour news cycle has passed. If the television doesn't tell us that something is important then most of us are not likely to think about it much.

Most Americans think pretty much only of themselves. The vast majority of us are just so busy pursuing our own version of "the American Dream" that we don't have much time for much else. The love of most Americans has grown cold and most of them are primarily interested in how they can make their own lives better.

But whoever "dies with the most toys" does not win the game of life. Rather, we should all be seeking to show as much love to others as we possibly can.

The next time the financial markets crash and Wall Street goes into panic mode, there will probably be another string of suicides as a lot of wealthy people watch their wealth evaporate.

Don't let your life be defined by how much money is in your bank account or by how much stuff you own. Life is about so much more than that.

So what do all the rest of you think about all this? Is Wall Street about to go into panic mode? Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion below....

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/10-signs-that-wall-street-is-about-to-go-into-panic-mode

All information on this website is for educational purposes only and is not intended to provide financial advise. Any statements about profits or income, expressed or implied, does not represent a guarantee. Your actual trading may result in losses as no trading system is guaranteed. You accept full responsibilities for your actions, trades, profit or loss, and agree to hold MinKL Invest harmless in any and all ways.

As Fed—and Markets—Pull Back, What Can Investors Do? - CNBC

As Fed—and Markets—Pull Back, What Can Investors Do? - CNBC
Published: Friday, 10 Jun 2011 | 4:03 PM ET

By: Jeff Cox
CNBC.com Staff Writer

Now that QE2 is nearly history, QE1 a distant memory and QE3 increasingly unlikely, markets are charting what looks like a QE retreat.

Thomas Lohnes | AFP | Getty Images

Investors appear to be settling into a reality that the Federal Reserve is done with its quantitative easing—or QE—programs, a position cemented earlier this week in remarks from central bank Chairman Ben Bernanke.

That has turned into a significant development for the markets; the S&P 500 [.SPX 1270.98 -18.02 (-1.4%) ] has dropped 2 percent this weekand is in the midst of a nearly 7 percent slide that began off the post-financial crisis highs of May 2.

While much of the loss in investor confidence can be traced to a decline in several key economic indicators, the loss of Fed asset-buying support has been the theme in the most recent leg down.

Jeff Cox
Staff Writer
CNBC.com

So with a slide Friday capping an ugly five-week stretch, the main question that seemed to loom was how bad the damage would get, and what investors should do as the market lets go of the Fed's head and moves forward.

"If you look at what values have been rising over the course of the quantitative easing program, it has been merely commodities and equities, nothing else," says Brian LaRose, strategist at United-ICAP in Jersey City, N.J. "Reality is starting to take hold."

LaRose believes that the end of easing will pop a bubble in stocks and commodities such as gold and oil, leading to a safe-haven surge in the US dollar. The greenback has lost nearly 10 percent of its value against the world's currencies since Bernanke signaled QE2 in a speech at Jackson Hole, Wyo., late in August 2010.

"The reality of the economic landscape is things have not gotten better. Home prices are still falling, people are still under water, people are not going back to work," says Brian LaRose, strategist at United-ICAP in Jersey City, N.J. "That's what drives this economy—consumer spending and housing. If you can't get those core ingredients, you have a recipe for a disaster and not for recovery."

"We have mountainous inflation efforts in place with historically low yields and strong demand for bonds. That's like a rubber band that's going to snap at some point and somebody's going to get hurt.”

Bill Larkin
Portfolio manager
Cabot Money Management

For More GoTo:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/43355592

Powerful Converge at Bilderberg

http://m.cnbc.com/us_news/43325286?refresh=true

Rich, Famous and Powerful Converge at Bilderberg

CNBC.com | June 09, 2011 | 04:29 AM EDT

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, naturally, isn't attending this year, and his likely successor Christine Lagarde is in China, but the Bilderberg Conference which kicks off in the Swiss resort of St. Moritz on Thursday retains its conspiratorial chic and pulling power.

The attendee list of Bilderberg is still pretty much the only thing that is not a closely guarded secret, as 120 of the world's richest and most powerful people meet behind closed doors, this time at the Suvretta House hotel in Switzerland, a venue which not only boasts a "fairytale castle" design, but also its own "Teddy World."

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne are known to have attended in the past, although it seems unlikely that either will attend this week.

A spokesperson at the U.K. Treasury press office said it "didn't know" whether or not Osborne would go this year, but promised to call CNBC.com back. They did not. Given the secretive spirit of Bilderberg, that could well be taken as a confirmation.

The first Bilderberg meeting in 1954 was an attempt to stamp out post-war anti-Americanism in Europe, bringing together senior U.S. and European figures to meet and discuss the international challenges of the day.

Since then, the rich and powerful have continued to meet. The 2010 event, in Sitges, Spain, included on its agenda "The Growing Influence of Cyber Technology," "Security in a Proliferated World," "Promises of Medical Science," and "Can We Feed the World." according to its official website.

Its secrecy only serves to add fuel to the innumerate conspiracy theories that circulate around the event, with Internet message boards often channelling Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown and putting the "club" in the same bracket as the Freemasons and "Illuminati."

The 120 participants attend in a private capacity and, officially, they do not forge agreements over global economic policy.

For More GoTo:
http://m.cnbc.com/us_news/43325286?refresh=true

All information on this website is for educational purposes only and is not intended to provide financial advise. Any statements about profits or income, expressed or implied, does not represent a guarantee. Your actual trading may result in losses as no trading system is guaranteed. You accept full responsibilities for your actions, trades, profit or loss, and agree to hold MinKL Invest harmless in any and all ways.

The True Story of the Bilderberg Group - Books

The True Story of the Bilderberg Group

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If you want to know who really runs the world and the lengths to which they will go to establish their globalist hegemony, you must read Estulin's well-documented The True Story of The Bilderberg Group." —carolynbaker.net

"Judging from the list of frontrunners of each party, Daniel Estulin . . . may be on to something." —worldnetdaily.com

"For some 15 years, Estulin has been a thorn in the sides of the Bilderbergers, relentlessly hunting down their secret meeting places, gaining inside sources who divulge what goes on behind closed doors, even photographing attendees and publicly disclosing it all. Now he has put it all in a book that every person who values freedom and democracy should read." —Onlinejournal.com

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Delving into a world once shrouded in complete mystery and impenetrable security, this investigative report provides a fascinating account of the annual meetings of the world’s most powerful people—the Bilderberg Group. Since its inception in 1954 at the Bilderberg Hotel in the small Dutch town of Oosterbeek, the Bilderberg Group has been comprised of European prime ministers, American presidents, and the wealthiest CEOs of the world, all coming together to discuss the economic and political future of humanity. The working press has never been allowed to attend, nor have statements ever been released on the attendees' conclusions or discussions, which have ramifications on the citizens of the world. Using methods that resemble the spy tactics of the Cold War—and in several instances putting his own life on the line—the author did what no one else has managed to achieve: he learned what was being said behind the closed doors of the opulent hotels and has made it available to the public. This second edition includes an entirely new chapter and updated information on topics such as an earlier attempt to break up Canada and the portents of a North American union.

About the Author

Daniel Estulin is an award-winning investigative journalist and has been researching the Bilderberg Group for more than 14 years. He is the host of two radio shows in Spain.

Stock Prices Have Fallen For Six Weeks In A Row - BlackListedNews.com

http://www.blacklistednews.com/?news_id=14234

Stock Prices Have Fallen For Six Weeks In A Row

June 11, 2011

By Michael Snyder - BLN Contributing Writer

Well, it’s official. U.S. stock prices have fallen for six weeks in a row. So will next week make it seven? The last time stocks declined for seven weeks in a row was back in May 2001 when the “dot-com” bubble was bursting. At this point, the Dow has declined by approximately 5 percent since the beginning of June. Things don’t look good. So exactly what is going on here? Well, it is undeniable that the recent mini-bubble in stocks has been too good to be true. The S&P 500 had surged nearly 30 percent since last September. Much of this has been fueled by the Federal Reserve’s latest round of quantitative easing, but now that is coming to an end in a few weeks and investors are a bit spooked. Meanwhile, wars and revolutions are sweeping the Middle East, Japan is dealing with the damage caused by the tsunami and by Fukushima, Europe is trying to figure out how to bail out Greece again and the U.S. debt crisis is continually getting worse. In addition, wave after wave of bad economic news is certainly not helping the mood on Wall Street. In many ways, a “perfect storm” is developing and many are now extremely concerned about what the rest of 2011 is going to bring for Wall Street.

QE2 is slated to conclude at the end of June, and many investors are deeply disappointed that it does not appear that we are not going to see QE3 right away. Many fear that the end of quantitative easing will pop the current mini-bubble in stocks and commodities. At the moment, financial markets are more jittery than they have been in a long time.

Frank Davis, director of sales and trading with LEK Securities, says that there isa lot of pessimism on Wall Street right now….

“There’s a lot of emotion in this market at the moment, and the conversations among traders are nearly all leaning toward the bear side”

So what are some of the signs that this downturn on Wall Street may turn into a full-blown crash?

Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, junk bonds are being sold off at an alarming rate right now. Does the following quote from the Journal remind anyone of 2008 at least a little bit?….

A steep decline in prices of bonds backed by subprime mortgages has spread through the riskiest segments of the credit markets, ending rallies in high-yield corporate bonds and commercial real-estate debt.

Also, many of the big Wall Street banks are already laying off workers. In a previous article I wrote about the potential for Wall Street to go into “panic mode“, I noted that Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are all laying people off or are considering staff cuts.

The truth is that the big banks on Wall Street are not nearly as stable as most people think that they are. Moody’s recently warned that it may downgrade the debt ratings of Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo.

Another major story on Wall Street right now is oil. OPEC recently announced that oil production levels will not be raised, even though the price of oil has been hovering around $100 a barrel.

World oil supplies are very tight right now. In fact, the globe actually consumed5 million barrels per day more oil than it produced during 2010. This was possible because the difference was apparently made up by drawing down reserves.

But if oil supplies are this tight already, what is going to happen if a major war (as opposed to all of the minor wars that are already happening) erupts in the Middle East?

The world is sitting on the edge of a financial disaster.

It is important to keep in mind that Europe is also in far worse financial condition than it was just prior to the financial collapse of 2008.

It is being reported that German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is convinced that a “full-blown” financial meltdown by Greece is a very real possibility. The cost of insuring Greek debt has soared to a brand new record high, and officials all over Europe are in panic mode.

But financial problems are not just happening in Greece. The largest bank in France has just cut in half the amount of cash that customers can withdraw from ATMs each week.

Most Americans don’t spend much time thinking about the financial condition of Europe, but the truth is that what happens in Europe is going to play a major role in the months and years ahead.

Of course most Americans already know that the U.S. government is a financial mess.

As the “debt ceiling deadline” of August 2nd draws closer, the U.S. governmenthas been raiding retirement funds in order to stay under the debt limit.

Many investors are quite nervous about what may happen if the U.S. government actually does start defaulting on debt on August 2nd.

Others claim that the U.S. government is already in default.

The only Chinese agency that gives credit ratings on sovereign debt says that the U.S. government “has already been defaulting” and the Chinese government has been repeatedly warning that the U.S. needs to get its finances in order.

In any event, this debt ceiling drama will get resolved one way or another.

The bigger question is this….

How is the U.S. government going to respond when the next financial crash happens?

Back in 2008, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government took unprecedented steps to prop up Wall Street.

But can they really do that again if we see another major crash in 2011 or 2012?

Many believe that things will be totally different this time around. Just check out what Jim Rogers recently told CNBC….

“The debts that are in this country are skyrocketing,” he said. “In the last three years the government has spent staggering amounts of money and the Federal Reserve is taking on staggering amounts of debt.
“When the problems arise next time…what are they going to do? They can’t quadruple the debt again. They cannot print that much more money. It’s gonna be worse the next time around.”

Jim Rogers is right about that.

The next time we see a collapse on the scale of 2008 it is going to be a much bigger mess.

Global financial markets are extremely vulnerable right now and there are a whole host of potential “tipping points” which could push them over the edge.

The Federal Reserve and the U.S. government more or less used up all of their ammunition on the 2008 crisis.

If we see another collapse in 2011 or 2012 there is not going to be much of a safety net available.

The entire world financial system is simply swamped with way too much debt. The world has never seen anything even remotely close to the gigantic mountains of debt that have been accumulated around the world today.

The current global financial system is not sustainable. More crashes are inevitable. A lot of people are going to get steamrolled.

Hopefully you will not be one of them.

MinKL Invest

Pages

Sunday, 12 June 2011

WHO ARE THE BILDERBERGS?

Tables Turn: Homeowner Seizes Property from Bank of America

A Terrible Time for the U.S. Dollar?

War Costs Soar, and Yet More War Than We Bargained For

JS Kim on the Max Keiser Report, June 3, Part 1

Red Alert: China’s ‘Rare’ Commodity Monopoly - Books

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/red-alert-china-rare-commodity-monopoly-threatens-u-120216542.html

Red Alert: China’s ‘Rare’ Commodity Monopoly Threatens U.S., Leeb Says

Wall Street Is About To....

10 Signs That Wall Street Is About To Go Into Panic Mode

As Fed—and Markets—Pull Back, What Can Investors Do? - CNBC

Powerful Converge at Bilderberg

The True Story of the Bilderberg Group - Books

The True Story of the Bilderberg Group

Editorial Reviews

Review

Product Description

About the Author

Stock Prices Have Fallen For Six Weeks In A Row - BlackListedNews.com

Stock Prices Have Fallen For Six Weeks In A Row

June 11, 2011

WORLD

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Sunday, 12 June 2011

Red Alert: China’s ‘Rare’ Commodity Monopoly Threatens U.S., Leeb Says

Related Quotes:

10 Signs That Wall Street Is About To Go Into Panic Mode

The True Story of the Bilderberg Group

Editorial Reviews

Review

Product Description

About the Author

Stock Prices Have Fallen For Six Weeks In A Row

June 11, 2011