Faced with a deep recession, Cuba tries socialism lite

10-14-2009 • Miami Herald

Since he took office early last year, Raúl Castro has been saying that the country's severely battered economy needs fixing. In a widely quoted August speech, Castro said Cuba was spending more than it made. "Nobody, no individual nor country, can

IT'S FINALLY HAPPENED! ***** Dollar loses reserve status to yen & euro

10-14-2009 • Gather News

Over the last three months, banks put 63 percent of their new cash into euros and yen -- not the greenbacks -- a nearly complete reversal of the dollar's onetime dominance for reserves, according to Barclays Capital. The dollar's share of new cash in

Iceland Shrinks 8% as Prices Increase 11% in Deepest Recession

10-12-2009 • Bloomberg

(Is this a glimpse of what the US faces) Arni Hallgrimsson lost his job as a public relations consultant when Iceland's three biggest banks collapsed last year, putting him out of work for the first time since 1980. After a stint cleaning the docks

Govt unveils huge asset sale to cut debt

10-12-2009 • AFP

Prime Minister Brown announced a 16-billion-pound sale of state assets including a high-speed railway and a betting service to cut soaring debt. The 16-billion-pound figure was equivalent to only a weeks' worth of borrowing

The Mother Of All Bubbles: Lending In China Hits New Low In September

10-12-2009 • Zero Hedge

Some ominous moves out of the Hang Send and the Shanghai Composite overnight which may have everything to do with the latest piece from Caijing, which notes that according to banking sources September lending by China's four largest banks was the low

Dollar Reaches Breaking Point as Banks Shift Reserves (Update2)

10-12-2009 • Bloomberg.com

Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Central banks flush with record reserves are increasingly snubbing dollars in favor of euros and yen, further pressuring the greenback after its biggest two- quarter rout in almost two decades.

Jim Rogers Sees U.S. Treasuries Bubble

10-10-2009 • Jim Rogers for LewRockwell.com

"The next bubble that I see developing is in the United States government bond market. It is inconceivable to me that anybody would lend money to the U.S. government for 30 years in U.S. dollars at 3 to 6 percent interest rate," he said.

Oil at $200, Stocks Can Keep Rallying: Jim Rogers

10-10-2009 • CNBC

Investor Jim Rogers, a prominent commodities bull, said Thursday the U.S. government bond market will be the next bubble to burst due to unsustainable borrowing, and agricultural commodities and precious metals are among his favorite investment picks

A Deflation Story

10-10-2009 • dailyreckoning.com

Meanwhile, Americans’ per capita wealth has fallen from $172,000 in September from $212,000 two years earlier. And the UN reports that the quality of life in America has gone down too…from #5 on its list in 2000, it fell to #13 in 2007. No doubt it i

Gold-The Canary in the Coal Mine

10-08-2009 • Guest Blog for CNBS by Charles Goyette

There is no reasonable prospect of the federal debt being paid down. Nor can anyone possibly believe that today’s government bonds can be paid except by issuing new bonds tomorrow.

FHA Shortfall Seen at $54 Billion May Lead to Bailout

10-08-2009 • Bloomberg

The Federal Housing Administration, which insures mortgages with low down payments, may require a U.S. bailout because of $54 billion more in losses than it can withstand, a former Fannie Mae executive said.

What Is Money? Part 3: Schizophrenic Economists

10-07-2009 • Lew Rockwell (HT Liberty Pulse)

There is a reason for this. Bankers for five centuries have benefited from a grant of privilege from the state: a legal privilege. Banks are allowed to write contracts that are prohibited to all other profit-seeking agencies. They are allowed to prom

Irish students told to bring their own toilet paper

10-06-2009 • Digital Journal

Students attending St. John's Girls National School in Carrigaline, Ireland have been asked to bring their own toilet tissue with them to school as part of a cost-cutting measure due to dwindling government funding.

On the Losing Side of a Credit Battle

10-06-2009 • Daily Reckoning

Where have all the jobs gone long time passing Where have all the jobs gone long time ago Where have all the jobs gone Gone to graveyards everyone When will they ever return Oh when will they ever return – Sung to the tune of “Where Have Al

Australia central bank raises rates, more expected

10-06-2009 • Reuters

Australia's central bank raised its key cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.25 percent on Tuesday and heralded more to come, saying it was safe to row-back on stimulus now that the worst danger for the economy had passed. The Australian dollar jumpe

Oil states say no talks on replacing dollar

10-06-2009 • Reuters

Big oil producing nations denied a British newspaper report on Tuesday that Gulf Arab states were in secret talks with Russia, China, Japan and France to replace the U.S. dollar with a basket of currencies in trading oil.

Weak dollar, strong stock market push oil higher

10-06-2009 • AP

Oil prices climbed Tuesday as the combination of a weaker dollar and stronger stock market outweighed concerns about weak demand and vast supplies of crude.

There's no such thing as too big to fail in a free market

10-06-2009 • Telegraph

The collapse of a financial institution is not necessarily a disaster. If free markets are to thrive, we must not allow giant, state-supported banks to believe that they are indestructible

A Look Ahead To the Great Resetting

10-05-2009 • Washington Post

Take a look around the corner. Millions of adjustable-rate mortgages are going to reset in the coming years, possibly to higher interest rates, creating the prospect of a new round of foreclosures.

The Demise of the Dollar

10-05-2009 • Independent

In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning - along with China, Russia, Japan, and France - to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese Yen and

World Bank Could Run Out Of Money in a Year

10-03-2009 • Telegraph

The Bank, whose job it is to support low-income countries, (and has done a poor job at that) has had to hand out so much cash in the wake of the financial crisis that its resources could run dry within 12 months. "By the middle of next year we will

Even Europe Knows Tax Cuts Work

10-02-2009 • http://papatodd.com

As economic numbers continue to plummet in the United States, some countries of the European Union have seen the errors of their ways and are now returning to free-market capitalist principles. The story starts with our own bad news… WASHINGT

Even Europe Knows Tax Cuts Work

10-02-2009 • http://papatodd.com

As economic numbers continue to plummet in the United States, some countries of the European Union have seen the errors of their ways and are now returning to free-market capitalist principles. The story starts with our own bad news… WASHINGT

Bankrupt Cayman Islands to get $50m Bail-Out

10-01-2009 • Telegraph

The offshore centre of choice for the world's hedge funds has admitted it may have to begin a new life -- as a tax haven with taxes. After lengthy wrangling, the British overseas territory on Wednesday confirmed that it has finally secured permissio

What they're saying about THE DOLLAR MELTDOWN...

09-29-2009 •

"This Book is Truly a Must Read" - Ron Paul