Students must be in the van of applying the Law on Education in Venezuela

Caracas, Aug 17 – “The Organic Law on Education must be fulfilled. It should not come to a standstill, students shall be in the vanguard of applying the Law (…) We will make the Law be fulfilled,” reaffirmed on Sunday the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez Frias.

During his Sunday program, Alo Presidente, number 337, from Falcon state, the Venezuelan President urged all Venezuelans to know, defend and fulfill the new legal instrument.

Mercosur Parliament to pronounce against coup in Honduras

Caracas, Aug 17 The Parliament of the Common Market of the South (Parlasur) is to hold on Monday an extraordinary session for Paraguay to hand Mercosur’s chairmanship to Uruguay and to vote a statement on Honduras situation, among other issues.

During the session, Deputy Juan Jose Dominguez is to take the chair for six months, substituting this way the Paraguayan Ignacio Mendoza.

U.S. military bases threat peace and unity of South American peoples

Caracas, Aug 16. This Sunday, the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, analyzed in his weekly article “Chavez’s Lines” the Latin American panorama after the last meeting carried out by the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and with the absence of the Colombian President, Alvaro Uribe.

Chavez criticizes the so called “mute diplomacy” exercised by Uribe, who carried out a selective tour by South America and he left aside the opportunity of facing all the presidents of the region.

Popular forces announce new anti-coup actions in Honduras

Tegucigalpa, Aug 16..- The National Front of Resistance against the Coup in Honduras agreed on Sunday to continue with the peaceful resistance actions carried out so far to achieve the return of the constitutional order in the country.

The decision was adopted during a national assembly of the groups that comprise the Front, informed its Coordinator, Juan Barahona.

Stock Market Rally Celebrations Come to an Abrupt Halt

During the week marking the second anniversary of the start of the credit crunch, stocks, copper, nickel, zinc and sugar recorded fresh 2009 highs. But the celebrations came to an abrupt end as caution crept back into investors’ vocabulary on Friday when it dawned upon pundits that markets were running away from economic reality. On top of that, Chinese equities – a leading stock market on the way up – saw a reversal of fortune and declined to a five-week low.

This is where the Ecclesiastes-based lyrics of the Byrds’s classic, Turn, Turn, Turn, started resounding in my head: “To everything (turn, turn, turn), There is a season (turn, turn, turn), And a time for every purpose, under heaven, A time to gain, a time to lose …” (Click here for audio.)

Source: Mike Keefe (hat tip: The Big Picture)

Paul Kasriel, chief economist of Northern Trust, reports that the meeting statement of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), released on Wednesday, was a bit more optimistic about the near-term economic environment, changing its language from “the pace of economic contraction is slowing” at the June 24 meeting to “economic activity is leveling out”. However, the communiqué also said that household spending would be constrained by “sluggish income growth”, in addition to the other constraining factors mentioned in the June 24 statement – “ongoing job losses, lower household wealth, and tight credit”.

“Given our current view that the recovery is going to be subdued and uneven over the next several quarters, we do not expect any federal funds rate increases from the FOMC until June 2010, at the earliest,” said Kasriel.

U.S. Dollar Pressure. The Countdown Toward Breakdown

U.S. Dollar Pressure (Countdown) Toward Breakdown
Currencies / US Dollar

The Paradigm Shift continues to displace the power centers and introduce new ones. Those bright souls who ignore the shift will be well prepared for systems that soon do not stand. The Americans are the last to know, oblivious to the global shift in progress. They continue to seek a return to normalcy, when old conditions are as gone as a baby’s innocence during teen years. The crux of the matter is that the United States is no longer in control of its fate. Meetings with creditor nation leaders result in new orders given, and new policy directives enacted.

Comparisons are made to China, but they too are a distraction. China can embark on its own path, can stimulate with huge sums of money, since they have actual savings. The US has massive debts, as insolvency has infiltrated to destroy systems pertaining to banking, home mortgages, federal operations, and industry. The nation is as hollowed out as its leaders are compromised. The major theme of this decade is USGovt leaders working hidden agendas for personal and family gain within a syndicate in full view to see.

Gold and Why Gold Now?

Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
Aug 17, 2009 – 01:40 AM

By: Darryl_R_Schoon

Understanding these times is its own reward. If, however, you understand the role of gold in these times, a reward of another magnitude awaits you.

Economic cycles of expansion and contraction are the inevitable result of central bank credit flows. So, too, are deflationary depressions and hyperinflations. Though far less frequent, the destruction caused by deflationary depressions and hyperinflations more than make up for their infrequency; and, today, after perhaps the longest absence of each in recent history, we are now about to experience both—perhaps this time in tandem.

This will not be just a deflationary depression, it will be deflationary depression accompanied by a monetary crisis of epic proportions.

Financial Armageddon Part Two

Securitization Is Too Big To Fail So The Racketeering Must Stop!
Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2009
Aug 15, 2009 – 06:12 PM

By: Andrew_Butter

Armageddon Part One is over. The question, like a hurricane, is whether the US is now in the eye of the storm or is it plain sailing from here on? The “navigators” are mumbling something about “all clear”, but then that’s what they mumbled last time.

Follow the money… how much money got “pumped” into the US economy after the start of the credit crunch compared to before? It’s a little confusing:

According to his testimony to the House Financial Services Committee on 21st July by Mark Zandi the head of Moody’s, (http://www.freelunch.com/mark-zandi/documents/House-Financial-Services-Financial-System-Regulatory-Reform-Written-Testimony-072109.pdf) so far the Fed has pumped $2.7 trillion into the “legacy” banks; and Congress, (via the Treasury) pumped, $1 trillion directly into the veins of the economy, via the stimulus packages. Presumably those are the correct numbers; certainly no one jumped up and said he had his arithmetic wrong
The testimony also has a summary timeline of issuance of securitized bonds, (source Thompson Reuters).
A recent report from Thompson Reuters (http://seekingalpha.com/article/155203-historical-and-forecast-loan-data) gives a chart of debt created by the “legacy” banking system, of the traditional “Originate to Hold” variety.
Then there is the increase of National Debt, which is easy (although different sources have slightly different numbers), presumably that was achieved by sales of Treasuries (I gave up trying to figure that out from the Treasury Website).
As a check there are the estimates of the total debt in USA which I referenced from Morgan Stanley. Theoretically (b+c+d) should add up to (e), it does more or less; I imagine any discrepancies are due to roll-overs which I didn’t find data about.
Put that all together, tells a story:

Big picture what appears to have happened is that the Treasury has taken over the heavy lifting that securitization used to do in terms of providing the “credit-driver” of the US economy. That is not healthy, and it may turn out to be unsustainable.

Looking at more or less the same data another way, this is an estimate of what happened in the eighteen months from January 2008 and the previous eighteen months:

Bit confused by what looks like a $700 billion increase in High Grade Corporate Bond Issuance, but the data doesn’t account for rolling-over so the net might be less.

Be that as it may; the important point is that the $2.7 trillion of “bail-out” money doesn’t get into the economy until the banks start to lend it. So far they are not doing that. They say that’s because no one wants to borrow; the borrowers say that’s because the terms offered by the banks amount to legalized loan sharking.

Whatever, it’s not getting lent.

By that logic, the amount of credit plus “one-off-stimulus” that got injected into the main artery of the economy is 22% down on the preceding eighteen-month period. Taking into account that a proportion of the stimulus packages didn’t actually get shelled out so far, add in an allowance for rolling-over, the actual decline year on year could well be in excess of 30%.

That’s not going to produce hyperinflation in a hurry.

A Review of Markets:The US Economy?

“The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.” — Thomas Paine

The 10-year note auction yielded 3.73%. The bid to cover was 2.49 to 1 versus the average of the last ten auctions of 2.48 to 1. Indirect participation was 45.7% versus an average of 30%; we believe this is because foreign central banks are buying in behalf of the Fed via money they swapped with them.

Dubai, New Destination on Trafficking

BUCHAREST, Jun 29 (IPS) – On May 26, the U.S.-based Center for Investigative Reporting published ‘The Price of Sex’, a vast multi-media project by photojournalist Mimi Chakarova who spent nearly seven years doggedly unraveling the web of sex trafficking.