'CHANGE' - US Gold Reserves shrink as Europe's Banks Seek Financial Independence.

'CHANGE' - US Gold Reserves shrink as Europe's Banks Seek Financial Independence. (SP).

European Central banks keep demanding the return of their gold bullion from the vaults of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, reducing the gold stockpile kept under the streets of Manhattan to its lowest level in decades; economist Lew Rockwell is convinced that the move is an indication that Europe is desperately striving for independence. Read the full story here.

US overtakes Europe to become biggest importer of Chinese goods.

US overtakes Europe to become biggest importer of Chinese goods.(HD).China said yesterday that the United States has overtaken the European Union as its biggest export market, as the continent’s debt crisis has sent demand slumping.
“The biggest is the US and the EU is second,” Commerce Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang told reporters at a regular briefing, without saying when the reversal occurred. “The EU used to be the biggest,” he added.
Chinese customs figures for the first 10 months of this year showed that China’s exports to the United States totalled $289.3 billion, while shipments to the EU came to $276.8 billion.
Weak demand from both Europe and the US has been a big factor as China’s economic growth has slowed over the past seven quarters to the end of September.
Economic growth in the United States remains weak but is expanding, while the eurozone’s debilitating debt crisis has dragged it back into recession.
Shen noted that China will probably miss its full year target of 10 percent foreign trade growth this year due to sluggish overseas demand, particularly in Europe and Japan.
“The international economic situation this year has been severe and complicated. There have been many uncertainties, with slack foreign demand being the most severe one,” he said.
“It will be indeed very difficult to achieve this year’s 10-percent target for trade growth,” he said, yet added it was premature to conclude what the full year increase would turn out to be.”
Shen also said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations had moved past Japan as China’s third-biggest export market.Hmmmm.......OBAMA: America remains the one indispensable nation. And the world needs a strong America, and it is stronger now than when I came into office.Read the full story here.

The 46 Million Foodstamp Man March - An Infographic

The 46 Million Foodstamp Man March - An Infographic.HT: ZeroHedge. America has over 46 million people on Food Stamps. The food stamps program's real name is Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The Food Stamp program is "hidden" from view through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Cards that work just as credit cards. This article visualizes the size of the program and the vast amounts of people participating.For higher resolution see: Infographic by Demonocracy 

Does that homeless guy have a higher net worth than you?

Does that homeless guy have a higher net worth than you?(ACC).By Nick Sorrentino.It’s very possible. That homeless guy probably isn’t carrying any debt. Most Americans however carry quite a lot, and almost everyone carries some. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when debt makes sense- primarily when one is very solidly in the positive net worth column. But most Americans who have debt are not in that situation.
As a financial advisor I used to compile people’s net worth all the time. I had to to make sure someone was an appropriate client. I am going to let you in on a secret. Lawyers and doctors are often in debt to their eyeballs. And the farmer who you might think doesn’t have a dime to spare often has plenty of dimes, often many more than the lawyers and doctors.
Why? Because, at least where I worked, Charlottesville Virginia, a country culture of thrift runs deep through the people who have lived there for a long time. Additionally many of these farmers have land which goes back generations which over time they have sold. That helps. Who’s the better retail brokerage client, the guy in the new Mercedes or the guy in the late model but clean F-150 pick-up truck? When I was a financial advisor I’d rather have the guy in the truck every time, he likely has more assets to invest. He doesn’t have a $600 car payment. For most Americans assets take a back seat to things. A new car. A new house. Lord knows I’ve personally gone down that route. But debt, until one is well off is a loser’s game for most people, even with rates as low as they are. Most people should avoid debt, no matter what the Federal Reserve says.Read the full story here.

The U.S. Economy By The Numbers: 70 Facts That Barack Obama Does Not Want You To See.

The U.S. Economy By The Numbers: 70 Facts That Barack Obama Does Not Want You To See.(BLN).By Michael Snyder.BLN Contributing Writer.Why is the economy going to collapse? Have you ever been asked that question? If so, what did you say? Sometimes it is difficult to communicate dozens of complicated economic and financial concepts in a package that the average person on the street can easily digest. It can be very frustrating to know that something is true but not be able to explain it clearly to someone else. Hopefully many of you out there will find the list below useful. It is a list of 70 numbers that show why we are headed for a national economic nightmare. So why does the title of the article single out Barack Obama? Well, it is because right now he is the biggest cheerleader for the economy. He is attempting to convince all of us that everything is just fine and that the economy is heading in a positive direction. Well, the truth is that everything is not fine and things are about to get a whole lot worse. Certainly others should share in the blame as well. Congress has been steering the economy in the wrong direction for decades, the "too big to fail" banks have turned Wall Street into a pyramid of risk, leverage and debt, and the Federal Reserve has more power over the financial system than anyone else does. Our economy has been in decline for quite a while now, and soon we are going to smash directly into an economic brick wall. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are in denial about this. A lot of people out there doubt that an economic collapse is coming. Well, if you know someone that believes that the U.S. economy is going to be "just fine", just show them the list below

The following are 70 facts that Barack Obama does not want you to see....
$3.59 - When Barack Obama entered the White House, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.85. Today, it is $3.59.
22 - It is hard to believe, but today the poverty rate for children living in the United States is a whopping 22 percent.
23 - According to U.S. Representative Betty Sutton, an average of 23 manufacturing facilities permanently shut down in the United States every single day during 2010.
30 - Back in 2007, about 10 percent of all unemployed Americans had been out of work for 52 weeks or longer. Today, that number is above 30 percent.
32 - The amount of money that the federal government gives directly to Americans has increased by 32 percent since Barack Obama entered the White House.
35 - U.S. housing prices are now down a total of 35 percent from the peak of the housing bubble.
40 - The official U.S. unemployment rate has been above 8 percent for 40 months in a row.
42 - According to one survey, 42 percent of all American workers are currently living paycheck to paycheck.
48 - Shockingly, at this point 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be "low income" or are living in poverty.
49 - Today, an astounding 49.1 percent of all Americans live in a home where at least one person receives benefits from the government.Read the full list @ BlacklistedNews 

Broken Promises: Pensions All Over America Are Being Savagely Cut Or Are Vanishing Completely.

Broken Promises: Pensions All Over America Are Being Savagely Cut Or Are Vanishing Completely.(TheEconomicCollaps).How would you feel if you worked for a state or local government for 20 or 30 years only to have your pension slashed dramatically or taken away entirely? Well, this exact scenario is playing out from coast to coast and in the years ahead millions of elderly Americans are going to be affected by broken promises and vanishing pensions. In the old days, things were much different. You would get hired by a big company or a government institution and you knew that the retirement benefits that they were promising you would be there when you retired in a few decades. Unfortunately, we have now arrived at a time when government institutions and big companies have promised far more than they are able to deliver, and “pension reform” has become one of the hot button issues all over the nation. Many Americans that have been basing their financial futures on their pensions are waking up one day and finding that their pensions are either gone or have been cut back dramatically. According to Northwestern University Professor John Rauh, the latest estimate of the total amount of unfunded pension and healthcare obligations for state and local governments across the United States is 4.4 trillion dollars. America is continually becoming a poorer nation and all of that money is simply not going to magically materialize somehow. So where is that 4.4 trillion dollars going to come from? Well, either pension benefits are going to have to be cut a lot more all over America or taxes will need to be raised dramatically. Either way, we are all going to feel the pain of these broken promises.
There simply is not enough money out there to keep all of the pension commitments that have been made. Something has got to give. In the end, millions of elderly Americans will likely be plunged into poverty as pensions disappear.
Some local governments around the nation are already declaring bankruptcy and are either eliminating pensions or are cutting them very deeply. Just check out what just happened in Central Falls, Rhode Island….

For years, city officials promised robust union contracts and pensions without raising revenue to pay for them. Last August, the math caught up with them. Central Falls was broke, its pension fund short $46 million. It declared bankruptcy.
“My daughters grew up here, went to school here. It’s all gone,” said Mike Geoffroy, a retired firefighter.
He said he could not make the payments on his house after his pension was cut by $1,100 a month.

When will the math catch up with the city where you are living?For years and years most of our state and local politicians have been ignoring this problem. But eventually a day comes when you simply cannot ignore it any longer.
Over the next 20 years approximately 10,000 Baby Boomers will be retiring every single day.
A lot of them are going to be blindsided by empty pension funds and broken promises.
We are facing a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude, and there is not much hope in sight.
And if there is a maor stock market crash, things are going to be much, much worse.
Most pension funds and retirement plans are heavily invested in the stock market. If we were to see a major financial crisis like we saw back in 2008 it would be absolutely devastating. Millions of Americans could see their retirement plans wiped out in short order.Once again, please do not place your faith in the system.If you do, you are likely to end up holding a bag of broken promises.
A gigantic tsunami of unfunded pension obligations is coming. A lot of state and local governments are going to go broke. A lot of promises are going to be broken.
If you hope to retire any time soon, you better plan on being able to take care of yourself.Read the full story here.

Obama’s Gas Pains

Obama’s Gas Pains.(PLB).More anomalous is Obama’s explanation this week that “gas prices are on the rise again because as the economy strengthens, global demand for oil increases.” It is true that global demand for oil is probably the primary driver of the price of oil right now (though surely a risk premium because of Iran is in the mix somewhere), but here in the U.S. demand for gasoline seems to be way off, as shown in the figure below which I plotted earlier this week for my Energy Fact of the Week squib over on American.com. The figure shows retail gasoline deliveries—the best proxy for consumption—falling off a cliff starting a few months ago—before prices began to creep back up. The fall in consumption ought to be holding down gasoline prices, all other things being equal (which they never are). Is the economy about to fall over the cliff along with this indicator? That’s what a lot of people are wondering.Read the full story here.