March 3 (Bloomberg) -- House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke to investigate allegations of Fed involvement in the Watergate scandal and Iraqi weapons purchases in the 1970s and 1980s.

Representative Ron Paul asked questions about “inappropriate political interference” and “hidden transfers of resources” during a Feb. 24 hearing with Bernanke, and the allegations “must be fully investigated,” Frank said in a letter today to Bernanke and obtained by Bloomberg News.

The head of Germany's debt agency has warned that Greek withdrawal from the euro would have calamitous effects and destroy Europe's monetary union.
"If one member of the eurozone were to step out for any reason, this would be a collapse of the entire system," said Carl Heinz Daube, director of the Finanzagentur. "It would mean that after ten years, the euro experiment has ended."

And with that Japan joins the competitive devaluation currency race, in which both the SNB and Federal Reserve have a substantial head start (the euro and the fat Brussels bureaucrats are in a ouzo daze, with no clue what the hell is going on). Speaking before lawmakers BOJ governor Masaaki Shirakawa, who recently said Japan was powerless to fight deflation on its own, has changed his tune, and today said that Japan will print the kitchen sink if it has to to beat "stubborn deflation."

In a speech before the Lower House Budget Committee Shirakawa said that not only will Japan continue monetizing its debt (at least unlike Bernanke, he admits it), but that they will happily accelerate this action if it means killing the Yen and creating a glimmer of hope for inflation. Carry traders everywhere rejoice.

In a speech before the UK Treasury Select Committee the Chairman of Goldman Sachs Bank, Gerald Corrigan, who also happens to be a former New York Fed President noted that it is not Goldman who is at fault in the whole Greek swap fiasco but Eurostat, "which was consulted on the transaction at the time it was entered into and which offered no objection." What is troubling is Corrigan's revelation that "Goldman Sachs was by no means the only bank involved with countries in these types of transactions... These transactions were not limited to Goldman Sachs and Greece." Just whose debt numbers will be put under the microscope next?

Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner in Berkshire Hathaway, warns in a new column that the U.S. economic empire is crumbling before our eyes, thanks to federal debt and poor planning.

Leading scientists in Britain and America have warned that recent controversies over research into climate change are damaging the public's faith in science.
"There has been a widespread deterioration in the public's attitude to science not only in the US but in many other countries in the past three months," Cicerone told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in San Diego. "As to how long it will last, there is no way of knowing. It can only do harm, however."

"Znate šta? Sve to uopće nije bitno. Ništa od ovog takozvanog novca zaista uopće nije od nikakvog značaja.

Sve je to samo iluzija", dodao je Guverner Federalnih Rezervi Ben Bernanke vadeći novčanice iz svog novčanika i mašući njima ispred očiju svih onih koji su se nalazili blizu njega. "Samo ih pogledajte, besmisleni papirići s odštampanim brojevima po sebi. Bezvrijedni".

"You know what? It doesn't matter. None of this—this so-called 'money'—really matters at all. It's just an illusion," a wide-eyed Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke added as he removed bills from his wallet and slowly spread them out before him. "Just look at it: Meaningless pieces of paper with numbers printed on them. Worthless." According to witnesses, Finance Committee members sat in thunderstruck silence for several moments until Sen. Orrin Hatch finally shouted out, "Oh my God, he's right. It's all a mirage. All of it—the money, our whole economy—it's all a lie!"


For decades municipal bonds have been considered one of the safest income plays on the planet. These bonds are not backed by the Federal government (with its printing presses). We all know about California's problems. California represents 13% of total U.S. GDP, is the seventh largest economy in the world and has well over $500 billion in total debt outstanding (largely muni paper). The fact of the matter is that we are on the verge of a muni bond crisis.


In order to stay afloat the US Government has been refinancing debt that comes due, simply stated, it issues new debt for debt that matures. A record drop in  foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury bills in December sent a reminder that the government might have to pay higher interest rates on its debt to continue to attract investors. The Treasury Department said foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury bills fell by a record $53 billion in December. That topped the previous record drop of $44.5 billion in April 2009. Now you can see the problem.


The estimated liability in the global derivatives market is 1000 trillion dollars.

Come costruire un mondo migliore, o almeno creare una alternativa reale alla situazione attuale? Semplicemente, con una idea migliore di quella esistente. Qualche giorno fa, esattamente il 20 Gennaio 2010, l'idea di creare un' alternativa alla realtà nella quale viviamo è stata concretizzata con l'iscrizione dell'Associazione Crom Scambio Alternativo nel Registro delle associazioni della Repubblica di Croazia con il numero 18002072. In questo contesto ci rivolgiamo a tutte le persone, società, organizzazioni e agli altri a prendere in considerazione la partecipazione a questo progetto di costruzione della società sostenibile, perché solo insieme attraverso una cooperazione reciproca possiamo costruire un'economia sostenibile basata sulla democrazia e giustizia finanziaria nel cuore della quale batte la sovranità monetaria e l'indipendenza finanziaria di tutti i membri della comunità come condizione di base della esistenza di società civile e democratica di qualsiasi genere.

Svijet naravno oficijalno izlazi iz krize, ali što nam je bolje, to nas više ostaje bez posla, a nakon bankrota kompanija, evo stižu bankroti gradova, regija  i država. Vjerovatno ste čuli za ono što se desilo u Grčkoj, vjerovatno i budno pratite razvoj događaja. Izranjanjem malverzacija kojima je Grčka uz pomoć velikih banaka poput Goldman Sachs kroz financijske instrumente derivate malo postponirala oficijalno proglašenje bankrota; na površinu, posvuda su se počele pojavljivati prognoze kako je ovo početak kraja tek rođene zajedničke valute euro.

 
Neke su zemlje poput Njemačke objavile i rezultate anketa koji pokazuju da je stanovništvo za povratak starih nacionalnih valuta, najvjerovatnije zbog toga što je u medijima izašlo da i se i druge zemlje ne nalaze u ništa boljoj poziciji od Grčke, koja je tako sada samo prva na listi.