Jack FarchyFinancial Times
The US dollar will lose its status as the global reserve currency over the next 25 years, according to a survey of central bank reserve managers who collectively control more than $8,000bn.
More than half the managers, who were polled by UBS, predicted that the dollar would be replaced by a portfolio of currencies within the next 25 years.
That marks a departure from previous years, when the central bank reserve managers have said the dollar would retain its status as the sole reserve currency.
UBS surveyed more than 80 central bank reserve managers, sovereign wealth funds and multilateral institutions with more than $8,000bn in assets at its annual seminar for sovereign institutions last week. The results were not weighted for assets under management.
Full article here
Friday, July 15, 2011
Welcome to the Recession, June 28 2011
Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
There may be those among the less than brainwashed lemmingerati out there who have noticed what, as we have pointed out for the past month when reporting on the various manufacturing and regional Fed indices, has been an epic collapse in the appropriate data series. As John Lohman so kindly demonstrates, the two month implosion has been beyond epic, and while certainly the biggest drop in the past decade, may also be the all time worst ever. To the point of this post: the last time we had an economic contraction of this magnitude was back in February of 2008, which was two months into the most acute recession in post-depression history. We are confident that once the groupthink wraps its head around the fact that the auto production based renaissance is not coming, and the economy officially tumbles into the commode of Ben Bernanke’s fiat dungeon, the NBER will determine (with an appropriate 12-18 month delay), that the current recession started in April of 2011.
Zero Hedge
There may be those among the less than brainwashed lemmingerati out there who have noticed what, as we have pointed out for the past month when reporting on the various manufacturing and regional Fed indices, has been an epic collapse in the appropriate data series. As John Lohman so kindly demonstrates, the two month implosion has been beyond epic, and while certainly the biggest drop in the past decade, may also be the all time worst ever. To the point of this post: the last time we had an economic contraction of this magnitude was back in February of 2008, which was two months into the most acute recession in post-depression history. We are confident that once the groupthink wraps its head around the fact that the auto production based renaissance is not coming, and the economy officially tumbles into the commode of Ben Bernanke’s fiat dungeon, the NBER will determine (with an appropriate 12-18 month delay), that the current recession started in April of 2011.
Sarkozy Says Banks Accept Greek Debt Rollover, June 28 2011
George Georgiopoulos and Emmanuel Jarry
Reuters
French banks have agreed to roll over holdings of Greek debt for 30 years, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday, as the Greek government fought to persuade backbench rebels to back a crucial austerity plan to avert bankruptcy.
With financial markets watching the Greek crisis anxiously, Sarkozy told a news conference in Paris that the French authorities had reached an agreement with the banks on a voluntary rollover of maturing bonds.
“We concluded that by stretching out the loans over 30 years, putting (interest rates) at the level of European loans, plus a premium indexed to future Greek growth, that would be a system that each country could find attractive,” he said.
Banking sources confirmed that was part of an outline deal under which banks would reinvest 70 percent of the proceeds when Greek bonds fall due. Of that amount, 50 percent would go into the new 30-year bonds and 20 percent would be reinvested in a zero-coupon guaranteed fund based on high-quality securities.
Full article here
Reuters
French banks have agreed to roll over holdings of Greek debt for 30 years, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday, as the Greek government fought to persuade backbench rebels to back a crucial austerity plan to avert bankruptcy.
With financial markets watching the Greek crisis anxiously, Sarkozy told a news conference in Paris that the French authorities had reached an agreement with the banks on a voluntary rollover of maturing bonds.
“We concluded that by stretching out the loans over 30 years, putting (interest rates) at the level of European loans, plus a premium indexed to future Greek growth, that would be a system that each country could find attractive,” he said.
Banking sources confirmed that was part of an outline deal under which banks would reinvest 70 percent of the proceeds when Greek bonds fall due. Of that amount, 50 percent would go into the new 30-year bonds and 20 percent would be reinvested in a zero-coupon guaranteed fund based on high-quality securities.
Full article here
Silver Coin Sales Booming at Perth Mint, June 28 2011
Jason Scott
Bloomberg
Silver-coin sales from Australia’s Perth Mint, which was founded in 1899 and processes all of the country’s bullion, have surged to a record as buyers seek to protect their wealth with the metal known as poor man’s gold.
The mint sold 10.7 million 1-ounce silver coins since July 1 last year, according to Sales and Marketing Director Ron Currie. That’s 66 percent higher than the previous full fiscal year and about 10-fold more than five years earlier. Sales of 1- ounce gold coins will be close to a record, he said.
The soaring demand adds to signs investors are stepping up precious-metal purchases as Europe’s governments tackle a sovereign-debt crisis and central banks led by the U.S. Federal Reserve print cash to stimulate their economies, potentially devaluing paper currencies. Silver, the second-best performing commodity over the past year, rallied to a record in April.
“Silver’s still booming and it’s been going strongly for a year,” Currie said in interview yesterday from the mint in Western Australia’s capital. “A lot of the buying is by people new to the market,” with European and U.S. investors the most active international purchasers of the mint’s products, he said.
Full article here
Bloomberg
Silver-coin sales from Australia’s Perth Mint, which was founded in 1899 and processes all of the country’s bullion, have surged to a record as buyers seek to protect their wealth with the metal known as poor man’s gold.
The mint sold 10.7 million 1-ounce silver coins since July 1 last year, according to Sales and Marketing Director Ron Currie. That’s 66 percent higher than the previous full fiscal year and about 10-fold more than five years earlier. Sales of 1- ounce gold coins will be close to a record, he said.
The soaring demand adds to signs investors are stepping up precious-metal purchases as Europe’s governments tackle a sovereign-debt crisis and central banks led by the U.S. Federal Reserve print cash to stimulate their economies, potentially devaluing paper currencies. Silver, the second-best performing commodity over the past year, rallied to a record in April.
“Silver’s still booming and it’s been going strongly for a year,” Currie said in interview yesterday from the mint in Western Australia’s capital. “A lot of the buying is by people new to the market,” with European and U.S. investors the most active international purchasers of the mint’s products, he said.
Full article here
New Orleans Police on Trial For Post-Katrina Killings, June 28 2011
AFP
Five New Orleans police officers indiscriminately shot unarmed residents during the chaos unleashed by Hurricane Katrina and got colleagues to help cover up the crime, prosecutors said Monday.
“Shoot first, and ask questions later,” federal prosecutor Bobbi Bernstein said during opening arguments of a high-profile trial of the officers.
“That’s how this whole case got started.”
Bernstein described a “seemingly endless barrage of gunshots” that left two people dead and four badly wounded and a wide-ranging conspiracy that lasted almost four years.
The deadly 2005 shooting on the Danziger Bridge came to epitomize the city’s failure to protect its citizens and exposed deep-rooted corruption in the police department, which critics say remains unaddressed.
Full article here
Five New Orleans police officers indiscriminately shot unarmed residents during the chaos unleashed by Hurricane Katrina and got colleagues to help cover up the crime, prosecutors said Monday.
“Shoot first, and ask questions later,” federal prosecutor Bobbi Bernstein said during opening arguments of a high-profile trial of the officers.
“That’s how this whole case got started.”
Bernstein described a “seemingly endless barrage of gunshots” that left two people dead and four badly wounded and a wide-ranging conspiracy that lasted almost four years.
The deadly 2005 shooting on the Danziger Bridge came to epitomize the city’s failure to protect its citizens and exposed deep-rooted corruption in the police department, which critics say remains unaddressed.
Full article here
Wildfire Reaches Los Alamos Nuclear Facility, June 28 2011
Dominic Rushe
London Guardian
A raging forest fire threatened the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory in New Mexico on Monday and led to the evacuation of thousands of nearby residents.
The fire started in Santa Fe national forest on Sunday and has so far burnt 200 sq km (78 sq miles). The Las Conchas blaze started a 4,000-sq-metre “spot fire” on the sprawling property where scientists worked on the first atomic bomb 50 years ago. So far several thousand people have fled the town of Los Alamos, which has a population of about 12,000.
According to local authorities firefighters were able to douse the fire at the nuclear facility. Los Alamos National Laboratory officials said all radioactive materials stored at the lab were safe from flames. The lab has been closed while firefighters monitor the blaze.
The wildfire is being driven by 60mph winds. The fire is believed to be several miles from the laboratory’s essential structures. The 100-sq-km property’s plutonium facility is on the north-east side of the complex, while the fire seems to be moving south and east, lab spokesman Kevin Roark told Reuters. The fire has so far destroyed properties outside Los Alamos but has not entered the city itself.
Full article here
London Guardian
A raging forest fire threatened the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory in New Mexico on Monday and led to the evacuation of thousands of nearby residents.
The fire started in Santa Fe national forest on Sunday and has so far burnt 200 sq km (78 sq miles). The Las Conchas blaze started a 4,000-sq-metre “spot fire” on the sprawling property where scientists worked on the first atomic bomb 50 years ago. So far several thousand people have fled the town of Los Alamos, which has a population of about 12,000.
According to local authorities firefighters were able to douse the fire at the nuclear facility. Los Alamos National Laboratory officials said all radioactive materials stored at the lab were safe from flames. The lab has been closed while firefighters monitor the blaze.
The wildfire is being driven by 60mph winds. The fire is believed to be several miles from the laboratory’s essential structures. The 100-sq-km property’s plutonium facility is on the north-east side of the complex, while the fire seems to be moving south and east, lab spokesman Kevin Roark told Reuters. The fire has so far destroyed properties outside Los Alamos but has not entered the city itself.
Full article here
Obama Films Campaign Ad in White House, June 28 2011
Real Clear Politics
Video here
NRO’s Jim Geraghty raises the question of whether Barack Obama filmed a video for his reelection campaign in the White House, which may possibly be a violation of federal election laws.
In the video, President Obama promotes a “Dinner With Barack” raffle. To participate in the contest you need to donate at least $5 to the president’s re-election campaign and your name will be raffled off to enjoy a dinner with the President, airfare and accommodations included. In a new web video, Obama announced Vice President Joe Biden will also be attending the dinner.
There is one problem, however. This campaign ad was most likely recorded in the White House, which may have violated FEC campaign finance laws.
Take a look at this weekly address delivered by Obama in February. Below is a screenshot taken from the weekly address followed by an image taken from the campaign advertisement.
Both videos have identical lamps in the background, suggesting both videos were recorded at the same location. President Obama normally records his weekly address at the White House unless he is on the road like last week when he was in Pittsburgh.
Below are several other instances where this room was used for a weekly address:
Weekly Address: Partnering with the Private Sector to Spur Hiring
Stopping Oil Market Fraud, Beginning a Clean Energy Future
Video here
NRO’s Jim Geraghty raises the question of whether Barack Obama filmed a video for his reelection campaign in the White House, which may possibly be a violation of federal election laws.
In the video, President Obama promotes a “Dinner With Barack” raffle. To participate in the contest you need to donate at least $5 to the president’s re-election campaign and your name will be raffled off to enjoy a dinner with the President, airfare and accommodations included. In a new web video, Obama announced Vice President Joe Biden will also be attending the dinner.
There is one problem, however. This campaign ad was most likely recorded in the White House, which may have violated FEC campaign finance laws.
Take a look at this weekly address delivered by Obama in February. Below is a screenshot taken from the weekly address followed by an image taken from the campaign advertisement.
Both videos have identical lamps in the background, suggesting both videos were recorded at the same location. President Obama normally records his weekly address at the White House unless he is on the road like last week when he was in Pittsburgh.
Below are several other instances where this room was used for a weekly address:
Weekly Address: Partnering with the Private Sector to Spur Hiring
Stopping Oil Market Fraud, Beginning a Clean Energy Future
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