Obama may bulldoze US cities

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/5516536/US-cities-may-have-to-be-bulldozed-in-order-to-survive.html US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive

Germans to install gold vending machines

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/06/germans-to-install-gold-vending.html

From the Financial Times:

Germans will soon be able to sate their appetite for the yellow metal as easily as buying a chocolate bar after plans were announced on Tuesday to install gold vending machines in airports and railway stations across the country.

The venture by the TG-Gold-Super-Markt company, based near Stuttgart, aims to build on soaring retail interest...

A prototype vending machine on display in Frankfurt Airport on Tuesday appeared to be a converted version of the dispensers typically used to sell snacks. For €30 airport shoppers could buy a 1g wafer of gold, with a larger 10g bar priced on Tuesday at €245 and gold coins also on sale.

When the Financial Times bought the cheapest product it was dispensed in an oblong metal box labelled "My Golden Treasure", with a certificate of authenticity signed by Mr Geissler but no receipt and the wrong change. Mr Geissler said he hoped to have a more advanced prototype available this month.

Gold prices from the machines – about 30 per cent higher than market prices for the cheapest product – will be updated every few minutes.

A camera on the machine monitors transactions for money laundering controls...

Interest in gold has soared during the financial crisis and Germany was last year the "star performer" in retail physical investment in gold – coins and bars – according to GFMS, the London-based precious metals consultancy. Retail demand reached an estimated 108 tonnes in 2008, up from 36 tonnes in 2007 and 28 tonnes in 2006.

Jens Willenbockel, an investment banker who saw the machine while passing through the airport, said he believed there could be a market. "Because of the crisis there is a lot of awareness of gold," he said. "It is also a great gift for children – for them getting gold is like a fairytale."

Russian confidence in the dollar drives EUR/USD down 500 pips

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=arSByVtDsdh0
By Lukanyo Mnyanda and Wes Goodman

June 15 (Bloomberg) -- Treasuries rose for a third day after Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said his nation has confidence in the dollar and there are no immediate plans to switch to a new reserve currency.

Elite E Services announces Hot Links Feed

Elite E Services announces Hot Links Feed:

http://feeds.delicious.com/v2/rss/eliteeservices?count=15

Feed Homepage:

http://delicious.com/eliteeservices

Links will be posted on EES Blog (see on the right):

http://eliteeservices.blogspot.com

To follow the RSS directly, use IE or Outlook (import RSS)

By clicking 'subscribe to this feed' it will be saved and updated live in IE. Also, Vista users can use the RSS feed as a gadget on their desktop.

The feed will be used to post links for articles and news as a replacement for EES Private FX chat which was recently shut down.

www.eliteforexblog.com

Peak Soil Investment: This Quiet Land Grab is Just Beginning

http://wallstreetpit.com/5019-peak-soil-investment-this-quiet-land-grab-is-just-beginning Peak Soil Investment: This Quiet Land Grab is Just Beginning
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/5525933/Crops-under-stress-as-temperatures-fall.html Crops under stress as temperatures fall

Senators held stock in bailed-out banks

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/senators-held-stock-in-bailed-out-banks-2009-06-12.html Senators who oversee the $700 billion Wall Street rescue package held stocks in many of the banks bailed out towards the end of last year, according to financial disclosure reports released Friday.

According to the reports detailing senators' finances in 2008, nearly half of the members of the Senate Banking Committee had holdings in financial institutions that have taken funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The panel has jurisdiction over the bailout fund and other relief efforts directed by federal regulators to save the nation's financial system.

For example, Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), a Banking panel member, has assets in several banks that have taken bailout funds. Along with Goldman Sachs, the senator has several assets in Bank of America funds, worth at least $115,00. Bank of America has received $45 billion in government funds.

$134 billion bust on Italian Border

$134 billion (95.8 billion euros).

Italian customs officers on the Swiss border often stop smugglers -- but not of this scale. Two Japanese citizens have been detained by Italian police in Chiasso on the Swiss-Italian border after being found with $134 billion of US bonds hidden in the base of their suitcase, according to a press statement by the Italian Guardia di Finanza.


AP
Guardia di Finanza: Bonanza find.
The two men, reported to be more than 50 years old, were traveling by train from Italy to Switzerland on June 3. Financial police at a control on the border found the documents tucked inside a closed section at the bottom of their suitcase, separate from their personal items. According to their statement, the men's luggage included 249 government bonds worth $500 million and 10 so-called Kennedy bonds, each worth a billion dollars.

But details of the case remain unclear: The Japanese embassy in Rome confirmed the arrest of the two men but the news agency Bloomberg reported on Friday that it was not yet established whether they were Japanese citizens.

It yet to be seen whether this is the biggest smuggling scandal in history -- or a massive fraud. Italian officials said they were still checking the authenticity of the bonds.

Feds freeze bank accounts of online poker players

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=7808131 "I can't believe the government is reaching into people's bank accounts like this," he said. "For a lot of serious players this is their lifeblood. This is how they make ends meet."

Fed hires veteran lobbyist

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE55460K20090605 By Mark Felsenthal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is on track to hire a veteran lobbyist to help manage its relations with Congress at a time of heightened attention to its role in national affairs, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.

The Fed plans to hire Linda Robertson, who previously worked for now-defunct energy company Enron, as well as the Clinton administration.

She is currently head of government, community and public relations at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the hiring process was not complete.

The Fed believes it will be useful to add to its resources at a time when there is great public and congressional interest in the institution, the source said.

The U.S. central bank has been at the forefront of government actions to limit damage from the financial crisis that began in August 2007 and the impact of the deep recession that began in December of that year.

Members of Congress have chafed at the Fed's bold use of its emergency powers and in particular its multibillion-dollar bailouts of investment bank Bear Stearns and insurer American International Group.

Critics also bristle at the Fed's practice of maintaining the confidentiality of the companies that borrow directly from the central bank on the grounds that divulging their names would risk runs on those institutions.

Many lawmakers and private analysts also fault the Fed for failing to stop risky lending and flawed market practices that laid the groundwork for the crisis.

A non-binding budget bill approved by Congress in April opened the door for lawmakers to seek disclosure of the names of firms that receive emergency Fed loans and paves the way for a possible study of the Federal Reserve System's structure of 12 regional banks and a Washington-based board.

Some officials believe lawmakers would like to go so far as to demand that the presidents of these regional banks -- or at least the head of the powerful New York Fed -- be subject to congressional approval. Currently, directors at these regional banks pick their presidents, subject to the approval of the Fed's Washington board.

Robertson was vice president for government affairs at now-defunct energy company Enron Corp from November 2000 until she closed its Washington office in early 2002. Enron collapsed in scandal in 2001 and her work there may raise some eyebrows.

Before that, she was an assistant Treasury secretary for legislative and public affairs under then-President Bill Clinton.

Dennis O'Shea, a spokesman for Johns Hopkins, said Robertson was not available to comment.

(Editing by Dan Grebler)

Green Shoots turn into Yellow Weeds - Roubini

POST IT -- Recent data suggest that the rate of contraction in the world economy may be slowing. But hopes that “green shoots” of recovery may be springing up have been dashed by plenty of yellow weeds. Recent data on employment, retail sales, industrial production, and housing in the United States remain very weak; Europe’s first quarter GDP growth data is dismal; Japan’s economy is still comatose; and even China – which is recovering – has very weak exports. Thus, the consensus view that the global economy will soon bottom out has proven – once again – to be overly optimistic... http://www.rgemonitor.com/roubini-monitor/257017/green_shoots_or_yellow_weeds_latest_project_syndicate_op-ed

Gain (Forex.com) charged with fraud, false reporting or deception (market making)?

http://forexmagnates.com/gain-forexcom-charged-with-fraud-false-reporting-or-deception-market-making/
Gain (Forex.com) charged with fraud, false reporting or deception (market making)?

Germany leads shift in global view

The next German government is almost certain to crack down on spending and drastically raise taxes after the lower house of parliament yesterday adopted measures that come close to banning budget deficits beyond 2016. ... http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/424a1d04-4c4e-11de-a6c5-00144feabdc0.html

The present Korean crisis is a by-product of the complex of instincts, prejudices and vested interests best identified by a single name: George W. Bush. ... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6382516.ece

Ironically, there is one European example worth following, and it comes from France. But so far Obama will not acknowledge it. That's nuclear power. The French embraced nuclear power several decades ago. It now produces nearly 80 percent of the country's electricity. France even exports to neighbors. As a result, France is insulated from the energy shocks manufactured by Kremlin autocrats threatening to cut off gas shipments in the dead of winter. France is as close to energy independent as any nation in Western Europe.

 

Ironically, there is one European example worth following, and it comes from France. But so far Obama will not acknowledge it. That's nuclear power. The French embraced nuclear power several decades ago. It now produces nearly 80 percent of the country's electricity. France even exports to neighbors. As a result, France is insulated from the energy shocks manufactured by Kremlin autocrats threatening to cut off gas shipments in the dead of winter. France is as close to energy independent as any nation in Western Europe.

 

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/printpage/?url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/05/29/obamas_european_energy_vacation_96730.html

Even if the courts were to reject the plans for G.M. and Chrysler, the administration's actions in trying to force the deals may damage the credit markets for years to come. The treatment of the bondholders is a warning to investors that the federal government won't hesitate to push them aside in a crisis.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/30/opinion/30glassman.html?em

States do not provide people with anything. States merely function as means. Governments consist of people who enact and collect the funds needed to fund the execution of laws. The money comes, at least in fiscally responsible nations, from the nations' peoples. When social programs are created to care for those in need, it is not the state that provides the programs, it is the society. ... http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article10986.html

Most people will not change. Too radical. Not going with the flow. Not betting against the herd.

 

The best examples in the 20th century were Jews in Germany in 1933. They stayed. This included Jewish bankers, all of whom could have left. They thought they could deal with Hitler. They did not read Mein Kampf. They did not take it seriously. ...    http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article10987.html

US Total debt pushes 64 Trillion

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-05-28-debt_N.htm
Taxpayers are on the hook for an extra $55,000 a household to cover rising federal commitments made just in the past year for retirement benefits, the national debt and other government promises, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

The 12% rise in red ink in 2008 stems from an explosion of federal borrowing during the recession, plus an aging population driving up the costs of Medicare and Social Security.

That's the biggest leap in the long-term burden on taxpayers since a Medicare prescription drug benefit was added in 2003.

The latest increase raises federal obligations to a record $546,668 per household in 2008, according to the USA TODAY analysis. That's quadruple what the average U.S. household owes for all mortgages, car loans, credit cards and other debt combined.

"We have a huge implicit mortgage on every household in America — except, unlike a real mortgage, it's not backed up by a house," says David Walker, former U.S. comptroller general, the government's top auditor.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: United States House of Representatives | Baby Boomer | Tax

USA TODAY used federal data to compute all government liabilities, from Treasury bonds to Medicare to military pensions.

Bottom line: The government took on $6.8 trillion in new obligations in 2008, pushing the total owed to a record $63.8 trillion.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=akW9GQw.X9KM&refer=worldwide
For the first time since another Democrat occupied the White House, investors from Beijing to Zurich are challenging a president's attempts to revive the economy with record deficit spending. Fifteen years after forcing Bill Clinton to abandon his own stimulus plans, the so-called bond vigilantes are punishing Barack Obama for quadrupling the budget shortfall to $1.85 trillion. By driving up yields on U.S. debt, they are also threatening to derail Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's efforts to cut borrowing costs for businesses and consumers.

The 1.4-percentage-point rise in 10-year Treasury yields this year pushed interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages to above 5 percent for the first time since before Bernanke announced on March 18 that the central bank would start printing money to buy financial assets. Treasuries have lost 5.1 percent in their worst annual start since Merrill Lynch & Co. began its Treasury Master Index in 1977.

"The bond-market vigilantes are up in arms over the outlook for the federal deficit," said Edward Yardeni, who coined the term in 1984 to describe investors who protest monetary or fiscal policies they consider inflationary by selling bonds. He now heads Yardeni Research Inc. in Great Neck, New York. "Ten trillion dollars over the next 10 years is just an indication that Washington is really out of control and that there is no fiscal discipline whatsoever."

Pentagon will clear global banking transactions

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/us/politics/29cyber.html?_r=1 Mr. Obama, officials said, will announce the creation of a White House office — reporting to both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council — that will coordinate a multibillion-dollar effort to restrict access to government computers and protect systems that run the stock exchanges, clear global banking transactions and manage the air traffic control system.

Gary Gensler for CFTC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gensler

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=whats_the_problem_with_gary_gensler
As Congress returns from its spring recess this week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) -- which is poised to gain new authority over the risky financial instruments known as derivatives -- remains without a permanent chair.

The controversy plaguing the White House's choice to lead the CFTC, Gary Gensler, began last month when Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont blocked a floor vote on the nomination and suggested Gensler was not the "independent leader" needed to "create a new culture in the financial marketplace." Gensler's biggest sin, for Sanders, was helping to pass the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA) of 2000, a bill that kept the derivatives market out of regulators' reach.

Gensler has offered a mea culpa to smooth his path to confirmation by vowing to steer the CFTC toward meaningful regulation of derivatives. Unfortunately, the political jockeying over his past has obscured the key question: What is the best way to regulate the sprawling derivatives market?

After retiring at age 39 from Goldman Sachs, the derivatives-mad firm that has profited nicely from the government's multiple financial bailouts, Gensler came to the Clinton Treasury Department. There he worked on CFMA, the bill that allowed the derivatives market to metastasize into a hotbed of financial risk with an estimated value -- before last fall's financial crash -- exceeding the world's real financial holdings.