Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- April 10, 2011

The following is a link to high resolution photos of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant taken by an aerial drone on March 20, 2011 - http://cryptome.org/eyeball/daiichi-npp/daiichi-photos.htm - You can even download a zip file that will allow you to enlarge the pictures in much greater detail.


Ron Paul to probe US Mint Coin shortage - Kitco - By Daniela Cambone - April 2, 2011 - Paul wants competition in currencies, and to do so, he said the tax on coins needs to be done away with. “Money shouldn’t be taxed with sales taxes or capital gains taxes, that would be my goal,” he said.... In March, Paul introduced H.R. 1098, the Free Competition in Currency Act of 2011, which would repeal legal tender laws in order to prohibit taxation on gold, silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium bullion. The bill has been referred to the House Committees on Financial Services, Ways and Means, and Judiciary.... A staunch critic of the Federal Reserve, Paul said that instead of arguing his case for the Fed to close down tomorrow, he’s arguing the fact it should not hold a monopoly. “They have a monopoly on a type of money that isn’t even constitutional,” he said.... “We would use no force, nobody has to use gold and silver coins,” said Paul. Rather, he said the Fed does use force. “They are a cartel and they make us use Federal Reserve notes,” he said.


Foreclosure crisis: Fed-up judges crack down on disorder in the courts - Palm Beach Post - By Christine Stapleton and Kimberly Miller - April 4, 2011 - Angry and exasperated by faulty foreclosure documents, judges throughout Florida are hitting back by increasingly dismissing cases and boldly accusing lawyers of "fraud upon the court."... "This case should have never been filed," said Lando, who referred to the firm's work on the case as "shoddy" and "grossly incompetent." She called Ben-Ezra a "robot" who filed whatever the banks sent him, and held him in contempt of court. She then gave the homeowner the home - free and clear - and barred the lender from refiling the foreclosure.... Ongoing scrutiny by the FBI, the Florida attorney general, the Florida Bar, the media and defense attorneys has uncovered countless examples of forged signatures, post-dated documents, robo-signing and lost paperwork.... The combined impact will clearly be to change practices and to reduce the amount of corner-cutting the banks and their lawyers are engaged in," White said. "It could mean foreclosures get slower. It could also encourage banks to pursue alternatives to foreclosure."


March Madness: U.S. Gov't Spent More Than Eight Times Its Monthly Revenue - CNSnews.com - By Terence P. Jeffrey - April 4, 2011 - During the month, according to the Treasury, the federal government grossed $194 billion in tax revenue and paid out $65.898 billion in tax refunds (including $62.011 to individuals and $3.887 to businesses) thus netting $128.179 billion in tax revenue for March. At the same time, the Treasury paid out a total of $1.1187 trillion. When the $65.898 billion in tax refunds is deducted from that, the Treasury paid a net of $1.0528 trillion in federal expenses for March. That $1.0528 trillion in spending for March equaled 8.2 times the $128.179 in net federal tax revenue for the month.

The federal government’s cash-flow situation was summed up pungently in Senate Budget Committee testimony by Erskine Bowles, who served as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and is now the co-chair of President Barack Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility... “I'm really concerned,” Bowles told the committee last month. “I think we face the most predictable economic crisis in history. A lot of us sitting in this room didn't see this last crisis as it came upon us. But this one is really easy to see. The fiscal path we are on today is simply not sustainable.


U.S. Corn Supply Shrinking as Meat, Ethanol Demand Send Crop Price Higher - Whitney McFerron and Jeff Wilson - Apr 7, 2011 - Corn stockpiles in the U.S., the world’s largest grower, are plunging to a 15-year low and may be smaller than the government forecast last month as rising demand from makers of feed and ethanol drive prices higher... About 40 percent of the crop is used to make ethanol as the government subsidizes the fuel additive and retail gasoline nears $4 a gallon. Corn futures have more than doubled in the past year to the highest since July 2008, as rising pork and beef prices encouraged demand from livestock producers and as U.S. export-sales expanded at the fastest pace in three years.


Is America Becoming The Land Of The Part-Time Job?: Most Of The Jobs That Are Being Created Are Part-Time Jobs And Some Companies Are Going To A “Part-Time Only Policy” - Before It's News - Thursday, April 07, 2011 - But isn't the employment situation supposed to be getting better? No, it really is not. Yes, the U.S. economy added 216,000 jobs in March. However, the truth is that approximately 290,000 part-time jobs were created and about 80,000 full-time jobs were actually lost. This is all part of a long-term trend in America. Good jobs are rapidly disappearing and they are being replaced by low paying service jobs that do not pay a living wage. In many American households today, both parents have multiple jobs. Yet a large percentage of those same households can't even pay the mortgage and are drowning in debt.


Tax the Super Rich now or face a revolution - Market Watch - Paul B. Farrell - March 29, 2011 - Here’s how one savvy insider who knows described this Super-Rich Delusion: “The top 1% live privileged lives, aren’t worried about much. Families vacation at the best resorts. Their big concerns are finding the best Pilates teacher, best masseuse, best surgeons, best private schools. They aren’t concerned with the underlying deterioration of America or the world, except in the abstract, because they aren’t directly affected by it. That’s not to say they aren’t sympathetic, aware, or don’t talk about the issues you bring up. They are largely concerned with protecting and enhancing their socio-economic positions, ensuring their families live well. And nothing you write about will change things.”... Warning, in 2011 that attitude is delusional, deadly, yet pervasive in America... They believe they’ll continue living just fine in a depression. But you won’t. Nor will your retirement. Neither will the rest of America. And still the Super Rich don’t care, “except in the abstract, because they aren’t directly affected.”


Gerald Celente on the beginning of the First Great War of the 21st Century