The "up-to-the-minute Market Data" thread

But yeah, like you, I'm tired of it never coming and the banksters always finding a new scam to continue the ponzi and make it bigger.

You articulated my point better than I.

Thank you.

Illinois, the land of the corrupt.

Where Your State And Local Taxes Are Going

Wondering what your taxes pay for?

If you live in Illinois, you might want to look at this....

I'm sure you'll find that the $250k+ wages are reasonable for public school teachers, right? Or the half-million+ wages are reasonable for university employees? Ever wonder why college tuitions are so high? Half-million dollar+ salaries might have something to do with that, eh?

Hmmmm....

Pigs at the trough folks, and you're being extorted to pay for it. Property taxes, income taxes, taxes taxes and more taxes. All "for the childern", you see, even though teaching and administering a school should be a middle-class job (which means it pays a middle-class wage, and that, incidentally, is $50,000/year.)

Oh, it doesn't stop with "middle class" teachers either. No no, we also have "middle class" cops and firefighters, who make well over $150,000 too. Naw, there's nothing wrong with that.

When you're done throwing up at the active duty salaries, you might look at "retired". There you will find people making more than $30,000 a month in retirement pension "benefits" -- promises your wonderful state and local governments made and now are fulfilling -- and guess who's getting the bill? You are.

Then there are the State Worker's Compensation Claims. Some are probably legitimate. But I gotta admit, getting $300,000 worth of taxpayer funds due to "overexertion by lifting objects" sounds pretty good to me. Where do I sign up to soak the taxpayer with this one?

And now you know why Illinois is bankrupt.

January 1, 2013 : say bye bye to all deductions.

CBO Solution to Budget Crisis - Everyone Bend Over!

But what deal could there be? The problem is enormous. The budget “hole” will be at least a trillion in 2012. It will get bigger every year. The Republicans have said “no more taxes.” The Democrats have said, “We need to spend more”. These seem like irreconcilable differences.

Fortunately, the Congressional Budget Office has come up with a solution. It’s a neat one at that. Neither overt new taxes nor cutbacks in spending would be required. This magic would be accomplished with a very big stealth tax. The CBO looked at eliminating all tax deductions.

But before you dismiss it, consider what will be happening in the weeks between November 10 and December 31. America will be on the edge of a cliff. The option described by the CBO is the only thing that is both politically feasible and large enough to fill a very big bucket.

Very likely scenario IMO... if you are in the US, prepare for such a thing... if you can.

In The Meantime, Greece Is Under Strike Lockdown Protesting Austerity

"According to data from the GSEE, participation in refineries, shipyards, and transport ships, reached 100%, banks, PPC, OTE and EYDAP, 80%, ports and construction 70% while 60% moved to participate in metal workers. About 15,000 workers and members of leftist organizations took part in the strike gathering held at 11 am in Syntagma Square. Despite the constant rain, the protesters staged a symbolic encirclement of Parliament until late afternoon." "One in two people and one in three women are unemployed, 12% of our citizens living with zero income and 50% below the poverty line,"

That's a lot of poor people...

Can you imagine in the US, if 160 million people were below the poverty line? Well if the current course of action ain't changed, it will happen.

And that gal is really a riot...

MERKEL SAYS 'WE NEED GREAT BRITAIN IN THE EUROPEAN UNION' - BLOOMBERG

And now her fascist side is showing :

MERKEL SAYS EUROPEAN NATIONS WILL NEED TO CEDE MORE POWER TO EU.

I also have been watching the mess in Greece. It is something new everyday.
Friday:

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos may quit if the three parties that support his government don't back a new financing plan, Greece's Skai TV reported Friday on its website, without citing sources, according to Bloomberg.

Sunday:

Greece's finance minister said negotiations for the bailout deal his country needs to avoid defaulting on its debts must be completed by late Sunday, but that a breakthrough is being held up by demands from debt inspectors for more austerity measures. Evangelos Venizelos said Saturday the negotiations in Athens with rescue creditors for a new euro130 billion ($171 billion) bailout deal are at "a very crucial stage." Read more: www.foxnews.com...

Today:

"The negotiations with the troika on the new programme are continuing and it is obvious that very great pressure is being exercised on Greece, on the Greek people" Venizelos said. He added that citizens were faced with the “dramatic and acute quandary” because the country’s salvation, its continued presence in the euro, the debt restructuring deal, the finalisation of the new loan agreement and the disbursement of the money “entail a huge social cost and sacrifices". "No one wants to restrict salaries and pensions or living standards. But on the other hand, a failure of the [troika] negotiations, a failure of the programme, or a Greek default would entail even greater sacrifices," he said.

www.athensnews.gr...

As Vitchilo pointed out above the people are already suffering there and it is getting worse daily as this plays out. I ask myself once again what is the right solution, what is the correct path, what will be the bottom line?

Martin Armstrong:

MF GLOBAL

The MF Global story may have fallen off the front pages but it is clear that the Judge Martin Glenn is not about to hold the feet of any of the bankers to the fire. Instead, the $1.2 billion in missing client funds is simply going to vanish in thin air like a magic trick. Moody’s has suggested that will be the case and those who were not even trading are taking the losses.

The House Financial Services Committee will continue grilling the ratings agencies, but this is just a show. There will be no indictments and no demands for the bankers to return the stolen money. New York simply does not obey the law. Even in the case of Princeton Economics, a managed a public fund for Deutsche Bank was seized by O’Melveny & Myers who made every investor in the fund prove it was their money in order to claim their own property. That was totally illegal. They are supposed to TRACE funds and demand their return if tainted. O’Melveny & Myers illegally seized everything and shifted the burden to clients to prove it was their money. It was the classic presumption of guilt. New York protects New York banks – period! It will neither honor the laws of the United States nor those that govern international property rights.

For this reason, you simply have to be insane to have funds in New York, or at any fund who keeps their cash in New York. MF Global has shown that all the regulations & laws mean NOTHING and the USA has been reduced to a third world country untrustworthy of one’s capital. Money that was taken from client accounts AS A MATTER OF LAW must be returned by those to whom it was paid for MF Global’s losses.

www.martinarmstrong.org...

Well, yeah, I'm pretty sure Israel needs war right now, as well as Iran...

tehrantimes.com...

General Strike Paralyzes Israel

Israeli trade and labor unions have launched a general strike over the rights of contract workers, shutting down city councils, schools, trains, banks, post offices, airports and the stock market.

The trade unions demand that the finance ministry improve the employment conditions of contract workers, including social workers and cleaners.

The unions started the strike on Wednesday after late-night talks between trade union umbrella group Histadrut and the finance ministry broke down.

Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv also shut down to leave thousands of travelers stranded.

Hospitals were operating with limited capacity due to the strike action that was organized by Histadrut. University staffers and social workers also joined the one-day walkout that came into effect at 6:00 a.m. (0400 GMT) Wednesday.

Reports say half a million Israeli public and private sector workers participated in the general strike. The unions accused the administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to improve the rights of contract workers.

Netanyahu warned that a strike would be counterproductive and that it “will not solve the problem of contract workers.”

“The Israeli economy is in a delicate situation and now is not the time to risk the stability that we have achieved,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Same old "delicate situation" which demands workers to sacrifice themselves for patriotic reasons, right?

This :

TROIKA DRAFT GREEK ACCORD SAYS 2012 GDP TO SHRINK AS MUCH AS 5%

GREECE TO CUT MEDICINE SPENDING TO 1.5% OF GDP FROM 1.9% OF GDP

GREECE PLEDGES TO MERGE ALL AUXILIARY PENSION FUNDS

GREECE TO PLEDGE 20% CUT IN MINIMUM WAGE IN TROIKA DRAFT

TROIKA DRAFT GREEK ACCORD RENEWS PLEDGE TO CUT 150,000 EMPLOYEE - or the US equivalent of nearly 5 million workers...

Automatic transformation of employment contracts from limited time to indefinite (allowing for easier layoffs)

is not enough for ze Germans politicians apparently.

Germany to Greece : my boots, LICK THEM.

German FinMin: Greek deal on spending cuts appears to not yet fulfill bailout conditions

Debt we can believe in?

Obama Revises CBO Deficit Forecast, Predicts 110% Debt-To-GDP By End Of 2013, Worse Deficit In 2012 Than 2011

WSJ reports that "President Barack Obama's budget request to Congress on Monday will forecast a deficit of $1.33 trillion in fiscal year 2012 and will include hundreds of billions of dollars of proposed infrastructure spending, according to draft documents viewed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. The projected deficit is higher than the $1.296 trillion deficit in 2011 and also slightly higher than a roughly $1.15 trillion projection released by the Congressional Budget Office last week. The budget, according to the documents, will forecast a $901 billion deficit for fiscal 2013, which would be equivalent to 5.5% of gross domestic product. That is up from the administration's September forecast of a deficit of $833 billion, or 5.1% of GDP."

In other words while we already know that the total debt by the end of 2012 will be about $16.4 trillion (and likely more, we just use the next debt target, pardon debt ceiling as a referenece point), this means that by the end of 2013, total US debt will be at least $17.4 trillion. Assuming that US 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion grows by the consensus forecast 2% in 2012 and 3% in 2013, it means that by the end of next year GDP will be $15.8 trillion, or a debt-to-GDP ratio of 110%. Half way from where we are now, to where Italy was yesterday. And of course, both the real final deficit and Debt to GDP will be far, far worse, but that's irrelevant.

Of course :

Last but not least, it also means that the Treasury debt ceiling will now with almost absolutely certainty, be breached before the election, meaning as Obama is electioneering, the Treasury will be plunder government pension funds to stay under the ceiling for as long as possible.

So the Greek parliament just backstabbed the Greek people... as planned.

Now I'm gonna go sleep and hope to wake up to a coup d'état.

Europe is all green in the red light of Athens

reply to post by Vitchilo


Actually vitchilo, we are already in the same poverty status as Greece as we are a bigger country the only reason we don get to be in the same mess as the poor Greek are is due to the fact that the poor in America are divided in three categories, the homeless (government keeps those figures well hidden), the welfare recipients and those elderly living on SS as their only income.

reply to post by marg6043


You are totally right. Hell it's been a while since the MSM (and not even American MSM at that) did a report on the tent cities...

Now with Obama doing a deal with the banks, the foreclosure mayhem is gonna kick it up a notch and a whole lot more people will get kicked out illegally.

The latest GOP scheme...
GOP leaders : we back extension of tax cuts without cutting spending... +160 billion to deficit
Yay.

reply to post by Vitchilo


Nothing surprises me anymore coming from the corrupted corporate government we have Vitchilo, they get to make the laws, we the people just keep bending and screaming for more.

I guess this is the sad way to look at what America and the American people have become.

But reading any of the reports coming out of the USA, you'd understand that employment is booming and prosperity abounds. In fact, some randy little economists and analysts see the US labor market surging like 2006! GDP is set to grow strongly (even though everyone's elses around the world is slowing or contracting and China's imports dropped) and other indicators are showing a robust and strengthening US economy. *Shrug*

reply to post by surrealist


Meanwhile, in my neck of the woods the last fight to balance the city budget is in full gear, the city top officials are firing people left and right, with less than a year to reach retirement benefits.

This is the way the city I live in is dealing with cutting retirement benefits for their employees.

no matter if you have been working for the city for almost 30 years.

Is been protest around my neck of the woods for the last week in lieu of what is been done, paralizing the city council as the members walk out in protests.

I imagine this practices are ongoing all over the nations within the states.

But you will not find this in any media outlet unelss is local.

reply to post by marg6043


That's right, but don't worry, there's plenty of jobs out there for all those sacked workers. They can utilise their well-developed problem solving skills, leveraging strong analytical and conceptual expertize to inform and develop the art of flipping burgers at McDonalds.

reply to post by surrealist


Actually with all the cuts in their salaries I would not be surprised that they will be making more at least, at the local Walmart.



Lately you see a lot of what should be retire and elderly filling out bags at the grocery stores this days.

Well here we go... major KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM in Europe...

Moody's Downgrades Italy, Spain, Portugal And Others; Puts UK, France On Outlook Negative - Full Statement

- Austria: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative

- France: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative

- Italy: downgraded to A3 from A2, negative outlook

- Malta: downgraded to A3 from A2, negative outlook

- Portugal: downgraded to Ba3 from Ba2, negative outlook

- Slovakia: downgraded to A2 from A1, negative outlook

- Slovenia: downgraded to A2 from A1, negative outlook

- Spain: downgraded to A3 from A1, negative outlook

- United Kingdom: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative

La la la !!! Finally the UK is AT LEAST on negative outlook... when it should be downgraded outright.

Moody, (owned by Warren Buffet) as always will NOT downgrade the US, which he considers AAAA...

But this ain't even the ``best`` news... This is :
Europe: We've Done All We Can, Now It's America's Turn To Help

FRIEDEN EUROPEANS CAN'T DO MUCH FOR GREECE BEYOND AGREEMENT - BBG
FRIEDEN: GREECE NEEDS STRUCTURAL REFORMS, SHORT-TERM FINANCING - BBG
FRIEDEN: GREECE HAS HISTORY OF PROBLEMS IMPLEMENTING DECISIONS - BBG
FRIEDEN: GREECE SHOULDN'T BE IN EURO-ZONE IF CONDITIONS NOT MET - BBG

And... drumroll please:

FRIEDEN SAYS HE WISHES U.S. MORE INVOLVED IN STRENGTHENING IMF - BBG

Europe? Kabooooooom!

reply to post by Vitchilo


Soo, more American tax payers dollars needed to help bailout the EU banks to avoid US bank collapse, hell this year is going to be a peachy year.

I can not wait when the pressure of the EU banking troubles starts to become a danger to the US banking corruption.

But like I said a while back, and actually many times, the financial mess started in the US, like a domino effect it spread from country to country link to the US corruption (that means most of the big banks in the world), now the merry go around is coming back home baby.