Is Canada's 'Housing Bubble' about to burst nationwide?

Is Canada's 'Housing Bubble' about to burst nationwide? (ZeroHedge).

This Is What A Bank Run Looks Like: Home Capital Loses 70% Of Deposits In One Week.

In the beginning it was a slow pace, then it became a casual jog. Then, starting early last week, the jog morphed into a full-blown run, and - as of the past 3 days - the withdrawal of deposits at Home Capital Group's high interest savings accounts has mutated into a full blown mad dash not to be the last person to have their money at what is now an effectively insolvent alternative lender.

According to HCG's latest press release this morning, the "less than prime" Canadian mortgage lender held HISA deposits of only $391 million as of Monday, May 1; this is down C$130 million from Friday, or a reduction in the total amount by 25%. It is also down 72% from the C$1.4 billion reported one week ago.

For those who need to think all the way back to the third Greek bailout of 2015 to recall what a bank run looks like, here is what the deposit situation at HCG has looked like over the past month.

There is some good news: a terminal bank run at the mortgage lender has already been largely factored in, and is largely covered courtesy of the recently announced $2 billion emergency loan from the Ontario Pension Plan - putting up to 321,000 retirees on the hook - which carries a pre-bankruptcy interest rate of as much as 20%.  To this end, HCG announced today that its subsidiary, Home Trust, expects to receive the initial draw today of $1 billion from its $2 billion credit line.

However, there is another problem: the company has another C$12.8 billion in  Guaranteed Investment Certificate deposits, or GICS. As these 30- and 60-day deposits come due in the coming weeks, depleting HCG's already tapped out liquidity, and forcing even more emergency loans. Without a deposit base, Home Capital can’t fund new mortgages.

As we reported over the weekend, while Home Capital hired investment bankers for a possible sale, there is little to no interest in the loan book as the company itself.

Meanwhile, as financial regulators say they are watching closely, overnight Jim Hall, the CIO of Mawer Investment Management, formerly one of the biggest investors at HCG, said he is "recalculating the odds of a contagion widening across the Canadian financial system."

“The probability has gone from infinitesimal to possible - unlikely, but possible. If depositors or bondholders start to lose faith in their banks, well then that becomes systemic.”

So is contagion on the horizon? Here Bloomberg has some good observations, noting that unlike in the U.S. housing crash when loan defaults soared, there is little evidence of faulty loans, at least not yet: after all the housing market remains propped up by tens of billions in offshore money flooding into Canada's two main metroareas, Vancouver and Toronto. Furthermore, Home Capital’s delinquency rate, for example, was just 0.20% as of February, suggesting at least for the time being there are no rising delinquency concerns.

All that may change, however, if Chinese money launderers shift to other targets, such as the US west coast as one can now make the case based on several outlier transactions in the Pacific Northwest and, as of past week, Los Angeles.  It would also explain why the Ontario Pensioners demanded they have $2 in mortgage collateral for every $1 lent, hinting that the creditor may anticipate losses as much as 50% on the loan in the future.

Still, investors are starting to get cold feet, and shares of rivals First National Financial and Equitable Group have both tumbled, dragged lower by the Home Capital woes as investors fear contagion.

'Another liberal Succes' - Federal judge lets Detroit move forward with largest bankruptcy in US history.

'Another liberal Succes' - Federal judge lets Detroit move forward with largest bankruptcy in US history.(RT).

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Detroit, Michigan is indeed eligible for bankruptcy protection, giving the go-ahead to the once booming Motor City to move forward with plans to restructure more than $18 billion in debt.

Amid reading excerpts from a lengthy decision of more than 140 pages, United States Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes announced during Tuesday morning’s historic hearing that he approved of Detroit’s Chapter 9 filing, in turn authorizing the largest municipal bankruptcy ever in the US to proceed.

Detroit — once the automobile manufacturing capital of the world and an icon of Americana — has fallen heavily into debt during the last  few decades, so much so that Governor Rick Snyder hired bankruptcy expert Kevin Orr to man the helm of the city in March and assume the role of emergency manager. Four months later, though, Orr’s attempt to salvage the city proved to be futile, and Detroit filed for Chapter 9 protection this past July.

In order to decide if Detroit could be awarded protection from creditors, Judge Rhodes was forced to find the city insolvent and agree that it was authorized to file for bankruptcy in the first place. Additionally, Rhodes had to find that city officials either negotiated with creditors in “good faith” or that those negotiations were impractical.

"The court finds that Detroit was and is insolvent,” Rhodes said around one hour into the hearing, Detroit Free Press reporter Nathan Bomey tweeted from the city’s Levin Courthouse

Moments later, according the Free Press’ Brent Snavely, Rhodes ruled that the court “finds that this case was filed in good faith and should not be dismissed,” allowing the city to begin restructuring plans immediately.

"The city's debt and cash flow insolvency is causing the city's 700,000 residents to suffer hardship,” Rhodes continued, adding, “This situation has proved unworkable,” according to Bomey. Hmmmm.....Detroit is just the tip of the iceberg .... the 'Obama Economy'.

PA Dep PM warns of worsening financial crisis.

PA Dep PM warns of worsening financial crisis.HT: IMRA.

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority deputy prime minister for economic affairs said Tuesday that the financial crisis is getting worse, as the new PA cabinet met for the first time.

"There is a major financial crisis and the PA is $4.2 billion in internal and external debt," Muhammad Mustafa said during a news conference following the cabinet meeting.

"We will start looking for sources of financial funds and will examine spending and collect taxes to pay our debts on time."

The PA official also warned of a growing job crisis, with over 250,000 Palestinians currently unemployed, young people particularly affected."The government will work hard to create jobs, especially for the youth sector through the launching of new projects," he said.

The PA owes $600 million to banks and $1 billion to international financial institutions, Mustafa said, adding that the new cabinet is working on a three year plan, starting with a 100-day short-term strategy.

The 15th Palestinian government headed by Rami Hamdallah was sworn in before President Mahmoud Abbas last Thursday.

In March, the International Monetary Fund warned that the PA's fiscal situation was "increasingly precarious," calling for urgent action to help close a gaping budget deficit and to stabilize the economy.

The IMF said Israeli restrictions on movement and access were virtually unchanged and continued to hamper growth.Hmmmm......The more money they receive the lower their GDP.Read the full story here.

Video - Sen. Ted Cruz This Debate is About One Thing -- The Debt Ceiling.

"CHANGE" - US Treasury secretary says he has begun tapping federal retiree pension fund to avoid default.

"CHANGE" - US Treasury secretary says he has begun tapping federal retiree pension fund to avoid default.(StarTribune).

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said late Monday he will begin tapping into two government employee retirement funds to buy more time before the U.S. Treasury is faced with the prospect of defaulting on the national debt.

In a letter to congressional leaders, Lew said that he would tap the civil service retirement and disability fund and a similar fund that covers retired postal workers. The law allows him to remove investments from these funds to clear room for more borrowing until Congress votes to raise the debt limit

Under the law, any investments diverted from the pension funds must be replaced with interest once Congress approves raising the debt limit.

Lew has said the various bookkeeping measures he is allowed to employ should provide enough maneuvering room to keep the government from defaulting on its debt until after Labor Day. Other estimates say Lew may be able to forestall a default until as late as November.

"I respectfully urge Congress to protect America's good credit and avoid the potentially catastrophic consequences of failing to act by increasing the debt limit in a timely fashion," Lew said in his Monday letter.Hmmmm.... Obama: "All the Choices We've Made Have Been the Right Ones"Makes a nice motto for the Post United States of America, doesn’t it? Read the Full Story here.

"Eurogeddon" Germany rejects joint EU bank deposit scheme: Merkel.

"Eurogeddon" Germany rejects joint EU bank deposit scheme: Merkel.(HD).Germany rejects at least for now a standardized Europe-wide bank deposit guarantee scheme, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on yesterday. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, fears such a scheme would leave its taxpayers footing the bill for mistakes made by banks in other euro zone countries.

Speaking in the east German city of Dresden, Merkel also reiterated her centre-right government’s view that in the future bank shareholders should also suffer losses in the event of their institutions receiving euro zone rescue funds.

Wealthy depositors in Greek Cypriot banks were forced to take a hit as part of the recent international bailout for Greek Cyprus. Hmmm.....Place your bet....'rien ne vas plus.'Read the full story here.

Egypt Muslim Brotherhood 'Regime' rule slowly starving the Egyptian people.

Egypt Muslim Brotherhood 'Regime' rule slowly starving the Egyptian people.HT: IsraelMatzav

..... Egypt is starving. Egyptians are getting hungry. The fall of the Egyptian pound to just 60% of its 2012 exchange rate against the dollar has priced everything but bread out of the reach of the poorer half of the population, and the bread supply is now at risk. 

The news late last week that Libya and Qatar may lend US$5 billion to Egypt was overshadowed by reports that Cairo owes $5 billion to the oil companies that produce oil and gas on its territory.
Half of the amount is overdue, and oil companies reportedly expect to wait years for payment. Egypt's arrears on trade credits from suppliers of oil, wheat, and other essential items probably exceed its $8.8 billion cash reserves, leaving the country flat broke.
With a trade deficit running at $32 billion, the Libyan and Qatari money covers just a couple of months; stiffing the oil companies might have covered the past couple of months. 
If the Egyptian government finally comes to terms with the International Monetary Fund for a $4.8 billion loan, that will cover another few weeks. Egypt's finances have been in free fall since the mid-2000s, when prices for food and other essential imports soared while export earnings for cotton and other products stagnated. At $60 billion, the country's trade deficit is a seventh of its gross domestic product. The 40% fall in the exchange rate of the Egyptian pound from 6 to the dollar late last year to 8.25 on the black market last week will raise the cost of imports even further. The half of Egyptians that lives on $2 a day no longer eats beans, let alone milk products. Imports of proteins have collapsed, according to the Egyptian Gazette:

''As for frozen food imports, namely meat, fish and chicken products, they fell by 25 per cent during the first three months of the year, compared to the same period a year before due to the surge in the dollar," said Alaa Radwan, a member in the Food Stuff Industries at the FECC. Radwan, who is also head of the Association of the Meat, Fish and Chickens Importers, explained that banks had suspended offering importers with letters of credit, demanding them to seek dollars from the parallel market, which caused frozen food prices to increase by 25 per cent to 39 per cent.

The price of imported milk products, which account for 60% to 65% of consumption, has risen by 60% since January, the Gazette reported.

The only basic foodstuffs still available to poor Egyptians are state-subsidized bread, sugar and oil. That may change drastically during the next several months.

The only practical assistance the US has provided to the Morsi government took the form of a shipment of 140,000 teargas canisters. This arrived at the Abadeya Port in Suez, the Egypt Independent reported April 8. As matters stand, Morsi will need them. Perhaps Washington could follow up by donating coffins.  It gets worse, and there doesn't seem to be much hope for the foreseeable future. Hmmmm....Genesis 12:3 - " I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed." Read the full story here.

"I'm Not A Dictator" - Obama Ignores 85,933 Ideas to Save Money.

"I'm Not A Dictator" - Obama Ignores 85,933 Ideas to Save Money.(Heritage).

President Obama asked federal workers to suggest ways for the federal government to save money, and American citizens responded – with 86,000 suggestions.

But his administration picked only 67 of those ideas, most of which are either minute or simply take credit for savings that have already been implemented, according to Washington Post reporter David A. Fahrenthold.


The Obama administration created the online comment box in 2009. Sixteen ideas have been given a presidential SAVE award, and 51 ideas have been included in past Obama budget proposals.
Not one savings idea has been included this year, because Obama’s 2013 budget is still late.

The Post found that 20 – nearly a third – of the 67 ideas were actually old savings plans that were already being acted upon by the government.

For instance, Obama claimed the SAVE award program reduced drug costs at the National Institutes of Health. “But that actually started in 2008, under President George W. Bush,” writes Fahrenthold.
“The White House also cited the SAVE program for an effort to digitize the X-rays of federal prisoners. That began in 2004, during Bush’s first term.”

In all, these are the results of Obama’s budget crowd source:

• 86,000 ideas submitted since 2009.
• 67 ideas chosen by the Obama administration.
• 20 of these ideas had already been implemented in some form before 2009.
• 15 ideas have not been implemented or had no details available.
• Four ideas have been implemented but were watered down to generate less savings.
• 28 actual savings ideas have implemented since 2009.

Looking for ways to save tax dollars is always worthwhile. Heritage has highlighted ways that the Department of Education, Transportation Security Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency can save taxpayers’ money. Heritage also outlined, in detail, $150 billion in cuts Congress should enact.
But in the end, the President should reform the main drivers of spending: entitlements. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security together drain 44 percent of the budget each year, and that share will grow. There are six bipartisan proposals that would achieve substantial savings through entitlement reform – if they were championed with presidential leadership.Read the full story here.

Forbes: 1.6 Billion Rounds Of Ammo For Homeland Security? It’s Time For A National Conversation

Forbes: 1.6 Billion Rounds Of Ammo For Homeland Security? It’s Time For A National Conversation.(Forbes).By Ralph Benko.The Denver Post, on February 15th, ran an Associated Press article entitled Homeland Security aims to buy 1.6b rounds of ammo, so far to little notice. It confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security has issued an open purchase order for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. As reported elsewhere, much of this purchase order is for rounds forbidden by international law for use in war, along with a frightening amount specialized for snipers. Also reported elsewhere, at the height of the Iraq War the Army was expending less than 6 million rounds a month. Therefore 1.6 billion rounds would be enough to sustain a hot war for 20+ years. In America.
Add to this perplexing outré purchase of ammo, DHS now is showing off its acquisition of heavily armored personnel carriers, repatriated from the Iraqi and Afghani theaters of operation. As observed by “paramilblogger” Ken Jorgustin last September:

[T]he Department of Homeland Security is apparently taking delivery (apparently through the Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico VA, via the manufacturer – Navistar Defense LLC) of an undetermined number of the recently retrofitted 2,717 ‘Mine Resistant Protected’ MaxxPro MRAP vehicles for service on the streets of the United States.”
These MRAP’s ARE BEING SEEN ON U.S. STREETS all across America by verified observers with photos, videos, and descriptions.”
Regardless of the exact number of MRAP’s being delivered to DHS (and evidently some to POLICE via DHS, as has been observed), why would they need such over-the-top vehicles on U.S. streets to withstand IEDs, mine blasts, and 50 caliber hits to bullet-proof glass? In a war zone… yes, definitely. Let’s protect our men and women. On the streets of America… ?”
…
“They all have gun ports… Gun Ports? In the theater of war, yes. On the streets of America…?
Seriously, why would DHS need such a vehicle on our streets?”

Why indeed? It is utterly inconceivable that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is planning a coup d’etat against President Obama, and the Congress, to install herself as Supreme Ruler of the United States of America. There, however, are real signs that the Department bureaucrats are running amok. About 20 years ago this columnist worked, for two years, in the U.S. Department of Energy’s general counsel’s office in its procurement and finance division. And is wise to the ways. The answer to “why would DHS need such a vehicle?” almost certainly is this: it’s a cool toy and these (reportedly) million dollar toys are being recycled, without much of a impact on the DHS budget. So… why not?
If Obama doesn’t show any leadership on this matter it’s an opportunity for Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, to summon Secretary Napolitano over for a little national conversation. Madame Secretary? Buying 1.6 billion rounds of ammo and deploying armored personnel carriers runs contrary, in every way, to what “homeland security” really means. Discuss. Read the full story here.

Swarms of locusts seen descending on Cairo, no not the Journalists following John Kerry...the 'Biblical kind'.

Swarms of locusts seen descending on Cairo, no not the Journalists following John Kerry...the 'Biblical kind'.(AO).Feared 'locust plague' reaches Cairo after prior sightings along Red Sea coast and in Upper Egypt.

Swarms of locusts have been seen in several districts of Cairo on Saturday, including Moqatam and New Cairo.

Some citizens burned tires to create a black fog to keep the locusts from settling in the city.

Swarms were earlier reported to have reached Egypt's Red Sea city of Zafarana, some 200 kilometres from Cairo, and then the Upper Egyptian city of Qena where locusts appeared in at least three major villages.

There has earlier been reports of a "plague of locusts," which some experts say could hit Egypt's Nile Delta.

Since January, swarms of the insects — originating from Sudan — have been spotted along the Red Sea coast in south-eastern Egypt, north-eastern Sudan, Eritrea and Saudi Arabia.

In 2004, Egypt witnessed one of the most serious locust infestations in recent history, when farmers in 15 out of the country's 27 governorates suffered extensive crop damage.

At the time, the Land Centre for Human Rights, a local NGO devoted to agriculture issues, reported that 38 percent of the nation's crops had been damaged as a direct result of the arrival of locusts. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), one ton of locusts eat the same amount of food in a single day as around 2,500 people.Hmmmm.....Genesis 12:3 - "And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed."Read the full story here.More here.

Hmmm....A reader just pointed out: "Locusts follow John Kerry and flies follow BO".......Why didn't i see how they 'Connect.'
Kerry: I Will Implement 'President Obama's Vision For The World'.

Egypt - Rent a Pyramid? Cash-strapped Egypt considers offering pyramids, other monuments for rent.

For Rent?

Egypt - Rent a Pyramid? Cash-strapped Egypt considers offering pyramids, other monuments for rent.(AA).Egypt’s finance ministry sent a proposal to the country’s antiquities ministry to consider offering key monuments, including the pyramids, to international tourism firm as a quick solution to generate funds needed to overcome the financial crisis, an official has said.

Rumors about the proposal, which some described as preposterous, have circulated online for weeks.

But on Wednesday, Adel Abdel Sattar, the secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, in an interview with Egypt’s ONTV channel confirmed the existence of a proposal to offer Egypt’s monuments, including the pyramids in Giza, the Sphinx, the Abu Simbel Temple and the temples of Luxor, to international tourism firm.

There have been reports that the rich Gulf state of Qatar, which strongly supported efforts to oust former president Hosni Mubarak from power, is interested in a deal to exploit Egypt’s most precious historical assets for a period of five years. The return for Egypt would be a substantial amount of money, estimated at $200 billion, enough to pay the country’s national debt and heal its economic woes for years if not decades to come.

Abdel Sattar confirmed the proposal to rent out Egypt’s monuments but denied that Qatar or any Gulf state was involved.

Abdel Sattar said he was “surprised” at the end of January when the finance ministry forwarded him a proposal by Abdallah Mahfouz, identified as an Egyptian intellectual, to offer in a public auction the rights to exploit Egypt’s most famous sites to international tourism firms.

Sattar said the proposal indicated that such a move would provide a quick solution to the country’s financial deficit as it will generate about $200 billion over five years.

Despite his objection to the proposal, Sattar said he sought legal advice from the Ministry of State of Antiquities and following a meeting with the Supreme Council of Antiquities the ministry decided to send rejection letter to the finance ministry.

Monica Hanna, Egyptian archaeologist and researcher, was quoted by the [Egypt Independent][ http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/proposal-rent-egypt-monuments-refused] was a “a litmus test” to test how far can Egypt go in its struggle to overcome the economic crisis.Hmmmm.......Vote 'Muslim Brotherhood we boldly go where no Egyptian ruler went before?Read the full story here.

Into the Fray: Egypt: A nation doomed to become the Arab version of Bangladesh?

Into the Fray: Egypt: A nation doomed to become the Arab version of Bangladesh?(JPost).

The Greek historian Herodotus (c.484- 425 BCE) is credited with designating Egypt “The Gift of the Nile.” Today, tens of millions of Egyptians might consider the epithet “gift” singularly misplaced.

The recent unrest that has raged across Egypt has once again thrust the country into the center of international attention. Indeed, there is a growing realization that the gap between the challenges facing the country and its ability to meet them – in even a minimally adequate fashion – is widening, perhaps irretrievably, making a humanitarian catastrophe of staggering proportions evermore likely.
Of course, Egypt has been teetering on the brink of political and societal collapse for a quite some time now – well before the advent of the “Arab Spring” – another curiously inapt misnomer.
For example, in a remarkably prescient essay, “Is Egypt stable?,” in the Middle East Quarterly (Vol. 14, 3, 2009), Prof. Aladdin Elaasar diagnosed virtually all the socioeconomic ills and political dysfunctionalities that were to lead to the ousting of the Mubarak regime, the ascent of the Muslim Brotherhood, and its inimical posture toward Israel, almost two years before their occurrence.
As desperate as the situation was in pre-revolution Egypt, January 2011 still comprises a downward “point of inflection,” marking a dramatic acceleration in the degradation of the parameters of Egypt’s society and in the performance of its economy.
For example, just before the ousting of Hosni Mubarak, the country’s foreign reserves stood at $36 billion. According to figures released this week by Egypt’s central bank, the foreign currency reserves fell this January to $13.61b., from $15.01b. in December, dropping by 10% in a month.
These figures signify a decline of a total of $23b. in reserves over the past two years, wiping out well over half of the nation’s reserves.
Around 12% of Egyptians are normally employed in the tourist industry. According to The Washington Post (December 22, 2012), Egypt’s revolution and ensuing unrest have caused a decline in the number of visitors to the country of about 37%, while revenues have fallen by 30% compared to 2010.
Egypt has long been plagued by dire poverty and dramatic income disparities. Nearly half the population lives at or below the $2- a-day poverty line, and is dependent on government subsidies for basic commodities.
Accordingly, Morsi is thought to be shying away from undertaking any steps that may inflame further violence and risk losing even more support for his Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government.
To make matters worse, Egypt recently had its international credit rating cut to “junk” level (Bloomberg, December 24), with even further downgrades looming ahead, making the possibility of raising further desperately needed funds even more remote–and more expensive. In addition, the value of the Egyptian pound has fallen rapidly, raising the price on imports for an increasingly impoverished public.Hmmmm.....If you take in consideration the Billions 'donated' by Turkey , Qatar the US and the rest of the world Egypt is BROKE!Lets donate more arms so they can find 'riches' somewhere else.Read the full story here.

Video - DR. Carson shames Obama on National debt while sitting next to him.

After Turkey , Qatar now Iran offers loan to Egypt.

After Turkey , Qatar now Iran offers loan to Egypt.(TI).President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on the first visit to Cairo by an Iranian leader in more than three decades, called for a strategic alliance with Egypt and said he had offered the cash-strapped Arab state a loan, but drew a cool response, Reuters reported.
Ahmadinejad said outside forces were trying to prevent a rapprochement between the Middle East's two most populous nations, at odds since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and Egypt's signing of a peace treaty with Israel in the same year.
"We must all understand that the only option is to set up this alliance because it is in the interests of the Egyptian and Iranian peoples and other nations of the region," the official MENA news agency quoted him in remarks to Egyptian journalists published on Wednesday.
The two countries have not restored diplomatic ties since Egypt overthrew its long term leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011, but its first Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, gave Ahmadinejad a red-carpet welcome on Tuesday to a summit of Islamic nations.
"There are those striving to prevent these two great countries from coming together despite the fact that the region's problems require this meeting, especially the Palestinian question," Ahmadinejad said.
Egypt's foreign minister played down the significance of the visit, telling Reuters the Iranian leader, one of several heads of state to get the red-carpet treatment, was in Cairo chiefly for the Islamic summit beginning on Wednesday, "so it's just a normal procedure. That's all."
Egypt's leading Sunni Muslim scholar scolded Ahmadinejad on Tuesday when he visited the historic al-Azhar mosque and university over Tehran's attitude to its Gulf Arab neighbors and attempts to spread Shi'ite influence in Sunni countries.
In his meeting with Egyptian reporters, MENA said Ahmadinejad denied accusations Iran was interfering in Bahrain, where a Shi'ite majority lives under minority Sunni rule.
Al-Ahram daily quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in an interview that Iran had offered to lend money to Egypt despite being under international economic sanctions over its nuclear program.
"I have said previously that we can offer a big credit line to the Egyptian brothers, and many services," he said. He did not say if there had been any response.
The president said the Iranian economy had been affected by sanctions but it is a "great economy" that was witnessing "positive matters", saying exports were increasing gradually.
The United States and its Western allies have sought to choke off Iran's vital oil exports by embargoing imports from the Islamic republic and cutting its access to shipping, insurance and finance.
Egypt disclosed on Tuesday that its foreign reserves had fallen below the $15 billion level that covers three months' imports despite recent deposits by Qatar to support it. Hmmmm.......Muslim Brotherhood economics since it works so wel in Palestine.Read the full story here.

Unions demand Taxpayers Dollars for Obamacare Subsidy Request.

Unions demand Taxpayers Dollars for Obamacare Subsidy. HT: Heritage.By Alyene Senger.

Labor union leaders, who are big supporters of President Obama and were big proponents of his health care reform law, want taxpayer dollars to help pay for the increase in their health care costs due to Obamacare.

There are many provisions in Obamacare that will raise the cost of insurance in both the individual and employer markets. To name just a few of these provisions: no pre-existing condition exclusions, no cost-sharing on certain preventative benefits, children can stay on their parents’ plan until they’re 26, and no cap on medical benefits.
It should surprise no one that adding benefits and restricting cost-sharing adds considerable costs to health plans.
However, it appears the unions were too busy supporting Obamacare to do the math. Unions are now asking for a reprieve from the higher costs in the form of taxpayer subsidies for their lower income workers with employer-sponsored insurance. 
However, the subsidies are only intended to go to those purchasing coverage in the new exchanges, not to anyone with employer-sponsored insurance.
To be clear, they want taxpayer subsidies to offset the cost of their insurance while non-union workers in the same predicament would not receive help.
This request should insult every American taxpayer. These unions are using their political clout to ask for special treatment under the law at the expense of taxpayers.
Thus far, the Administration has not caved in to their request but the unions are determined to keep up the pressure.As The Wall Street Journal reports:

Top officers at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the AFL-CIO and other large labor groups plan to keep pressing the Obama administration to expand the federal subsidies to these jointly run plans, warning that unionized employers may otherwise drop coverage. A handful of unions say they already have examined whether it makes sense to shift workers off their current plans and onto private coverage subsidized by the government. But dropping insurance altogether would undermine a central point of joining a union, labor leaders say.

Indeed, many employers will stop offering health insurance to their employees and send them into the federally subsidized exchanges. Estimates for loss of employer-sponsored coverage vary depending on the study or survey but the end result is always clear: Millions will lose the coverage they once had.

Rather than unions or other politically influential groups receiving special treatment, all Americans should get a reprieve from Obamacare and its erroneous consequences. Government subsidies are made of taxpayer dollars, so more subsidies will inevitably result in more taxes, which is not the solution. The only way to pardon everyone from Obamacare’s damaging effects is to repeal it. Luckily, there is still time.

Japan - Welfare payments to be slashed ¥74 billion to root out the 'comfortably poor'.

Japan - Welfare payments to be slashed ¥74 billion to root out the 'comfortably poor'.(JT).Welfare benefits will be slashed by ¥74 billion over a three-year period starting from fiscal 2013, after a government panel found that some people are making more on the dole than the average low-income person who is not spends on living costs, it was learned Sunday.
The decision to lower standard benefit payments by 6.5 percent was made by welfare minister Norihisa Tamura and Finance Minister Taro Aso. The reduction will hit in August.
Since the standard benefit payment provides the basis for determining other levels of public assistance, such as subsidies for school expenses, reducing it may also affect low-income earners even if they are not on welfare.
Tamura said after the meeting that he will implement the measures so the decision does not adversely affect such earners.
The actual amount doled out per household will be slashed by a maximum of 10 percent from the current level, which is based on age, number of family members and area of residence.
Welfare recipients hit a record high of 2.14 million in October 2012 and the state budget for benefits, including medical assistance, stood at around ¥2.8 trillion for fiscal 2012 ending in March.
Later Sunday, the government and ruling parties approved the fiscal 2013 budget proposal, with expenditures in the general account budget totaling ¥92.61 trillion.Hmmm......'comfortably poor'....lets create only 'Uncomfortable poor' people....problem solved.Read the full story here.

Related: The Number Of Desperately Poor People In Japan Is Growing At An Alarming Rate

Scam Complete: The US Government Takes A Page From Diocletian’s Book.

Scam Complete: The US Government Takes A Page From Diocletian’s Book.(SovereignManblog).By Simon Black.

Early in the 4th century, Emperor Diocletian issued an infamous decree to control spiraling wages and prices in the rapidly deteriorating Roman Empire.As part of his edict, Diocletian commanded that any merchant or customer caught violating the new price structures would be put to death.

This is an important lesson from history, and a trend that has been repeated numerous times. When nations are in terminal economic decline, governments will stop at nothing to keep the party going just a little bit longer.
I thought of Diocletian’s desperation a few days ago when I read about the recent sanctions imposed on US rating agency Egan-Jones. It’s a similar story–
For years, major rating agencies (S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch) have championed the outright fraud of our financial system by pinning pristine credit ratings on insolvent governments and their heavily inflated currencies.
In doing so, the rating agencies are effectively claiming that the greatest debtor that has ever existed in the history of the world is nearly ‘risk-free’.
Clearly this is a ridiculous assertion. With a debt level over 100% of GDP, the US is so broke that the government must borrow money just to pay interest on the money it’s already borrowed. They’ve lost over a trillion dollars a year since 2008, yet they still spend money on things like drones and body scanners. It’s crazy.
As with any good scam, the government must maintain public confidence. The moment someone says ‘the Emperor has no clothes,’ that shallow, fragile confidence will come crashing down and expose the scam. Dissent must be vigorously and swiftly pursued.
So when S&P finally downgraded the US one notch in August 2011, the SEC and Justice Department announced that S&P was under investigation, just two weeks later.
Egan-Jones, a smaller rating agency, has been even more aggressive, downgrading the US credit rating three times in 18 months. And while the federal government may not have imposed Diocletian’s death penalty, they are just as willing to squash dissent.
In a country that churns out thousands of pages of new regulations each week, it’s easy to find a reason to go after someone. As you read this letter, in fact, you are probably in violation of at least a dozen regulatory offenses.
In the case of Egan-Jones, the SEC brought administrative action against the agency within two weeks of their second downgrade. And a few days ago, the case was settled.
I’m sure you have already guessed the ending: Egan-Jones is banned from for the next 18 months from rating US government debt. They’ve effectively been silenced from telling the truth.
The lesson here is obvious. Just as in Roman times, bankrupt nations today will stop at nothing to keep up the scam just a little bit longer.
Given that all this is happening at a time when Congress is voting to suspend the debt ceiling entirely, these actions are the clearest sign yet of just how desperate the government has become.
Could the warning signs be any more obvious?Hmmmm.....They know their Pyramid scam is crumbling that's why they want your weapons, cause when it does 'explode' they'll have to face 250 million plus angry, hungry and well armed Americans.Hey.... they might even stock up a billion plus hollow point bullets.....Oh wait they have.Read the full story here.

Video - Bill O'Reilly: The U.S. Dollar will Collapse

Video - Currency World War looms as Japan, China, US & Europe decline.

Palestinians demand salaries as sanctions and cash crisis bite.

Palestinians demand salaries as sanctions and cash crisis bite.(AA).Hundreds of Palestinian government workers protested outside their prime minister's office on Tuesday (January 15) saying they had not received a full salary in almost three months amid a deepening financial crisis.
A cash shortfall in the Palestinian Authority worsened after Israel imposed sanctions following the West Bank government's successful bid to gain de-facto recognition of Palestine as a state at the U.N. General Assembly in November.
The demonstration in downtown Ramallah was the latest in a series of sporadically violent protests over cuts and tough austerity measures in the Israel-occupied West Bank.
Protesting alongside the government workers were farmers who had not received their subsidies since the government began searching for ways to plug a hole in its finances.
“We want support for the grazing animals, the agriculture and the farmers, and to lower the prices of seeds for us,” said a farmer from Bani Naeem.
Deprived of potentially lucrative land and infrastructure by Israeli restrictions and Jewish settlements, the West Bank's economy depends on foreign aid.
'A government can liberate a worker, it cannot liberate a settlement' read a banner raised by two elderly men at the protest.
From a high of $1.8 billion U.S din 2008, foreign aid plummeted to around 600 million last year, according to the Palestinian Monetary Authority.
Despite the shortfalls, hiring has continued to rise in the Palestinian Authority's swollen public sector, and efforts to improve tax and utility bill collections have only increased the public anger.
“The salary is based on the steadfastness of this sector of the Palestinian people. Giving salaries means supporting these people, the merchants, the manufacturers and the private sector. When you insert $120 million U.S. into the country, it means you will make this country work. The salary of a government worker will make the country work,” said Ministry of Economy employee Reem Najjar.
The day after the protest, market vendors in central Ramallah complained about plummeting sales as a result of the unpaid government salaries.
Frustrated Palestinian officials said Arab countries had failed to deliver a $100 million monthly safety; promised before the U.N. statehood move and accused Washington of pressing its Gulf allies not to pay.
Around $200 million in U.S. budget assistance pledged by Washington in 2012 has been held up by Congress which is opposed to Palestinian moves that it says undermines Israel's security.
Israel controls entry and exit points in the occupied West Bank and has repeatedly withheld customs duties it collects on the Palestinians' behalf, a main source of government revenue, in response to Palestinian political moves it opposes.
Israel said in December it was retaining the dues to cover millions of dollars of unpaid bills with local utility firms. Hmmmm.......The more financial aid they receive the lower their GDP.Read the full story here.

Related:  "Understanding Palestinian Poverty" - Former PA Interior Minister, all the funds donated to the PA ‘have gone down the drain, and we don’t know to where.’