saveyourassetsfirst3 |
- Silver Price History And 'The Hunt Effect'
- The gold price and the exponential growth of our problems
- 4 Gold Stocks Trading Near A 52-Week Low
- Caution Advised In Gold And Silver
- Commodity Market Overview And Opportunity
- Expect Another Presidential Term With $Trillion-Plus Annual Deficits
- THE GREAT GOLD HEIST The Desert Wilderness Protection Act
- Gold Breaking Out
- Gold smuggling raises its head again in India
- 21 St Century : Is Gold Poised to make a comeback ?
- When Atlas Shrugged… Part Two : Gibson’s Paradox and the Gold Price
- Will Galison and Milton Allimadi: The Death of Sunny Sheu
- Bernanke Speech at Jackson Hole 2012
- Levity, sort of - Dennis Miller on Jay Leno
| Silver Price History And 'The Hunt Effect' Posted: 02 Sep 2012 10:44 AM PDT By Jeffrey Lewis: History remembers the last nominal high in the price of silver before the more recent high of $49.77 seen in April of 2011 as an anomaly that was largely induced by the Hunt brothers' purported attempt to corner the market by buying large quantities of silver and silver futures to the point where they held rights to over half the global amount of deliverable silver. This remarkable event began in the late seventies and led to a sharp rise in the price of silver to a then all-time high of $48.70 per ounce. The dramatic rally culminated in early 1980 after COMEX silver exchange trading rules were changed to make margin purchases more difficult, thereby forcing the Hunt Brothers to miss a $100 million margin call. The price of silver then collapsed in a traumatic market event that occurred on March 27th of that same year, which has since been Complete Story » | |||||||||||||||
| The gold price and the exponential growth of our problems Posted: 02 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT Two Bloomberg correspondents reported on August 8 that the US Government's unfunded liabilities rose by $11 trillion last year, "ten times larger than the official deficit", and are ... | |||||||||||||||
| 4 Gold Stocks Trading Near A 52-Week Low Posted: 02 Sep 2012 05:24 AM PDT By Plan B Economics: With gold closing on Friday at $1685/oz, it is up about 9.8% since its May 16 close of $1543/oz. Given that many gold miners are more-or-less a levered play on gold, one would reasonably expect that gold miners would outperform on the upside. As the graph below shows, since May 16, 2012, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) has outperformed SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD) by a significant margin. However, despite the strong performance from the gold miners ETF, many gold mining companies have lagged the rally. I recently ran a screen to identify gold stocks that are trading within 10% or less of their 52-week lows. Here's what I identified:
The graph below illustrates the one-year performance. In Complete Story » | |||||||||||||||
| Caution Advised In Gold And Silver Posted: 02 Sep 2012 04:41 AM PDT By Chris Mack: Gold (GLD) and especially silver (SLV) have succumbed to a long a demoralizing correction over the last 12 to 18 months. The summer doldrums likely marked the bottom of this correction, and the metals have turned the corner higher. However, both gold and silver investors will likely have their resolve tested once again in the coming weeks before the metals are able to break higher. Precious metals and mining equities surged from their 2008 lows to their 2011 highs in reaction to massive monetary intervention, and an initial surge in inflationary expectations. Although interest rates have remained near zero, and real interest rates are clearly negative, precious metals investors have been disappointed by the ongoing global stagflationary wealth destruction, and the failure of further intervention by policy makers. The Federal Reserve has admitted that the US economy is weaker than desired, yet it has also continually disappointed in announcing a Complete Story » | |||||||||||||||
| Commodity Market Overview And Opportunity Posted: 02 Sep 2012 04:31 AM PDT By JJ Butler: The dynamics of today's commodity markets are especially interesting. As the secular stock bear market grinds forward, valuations are compressing. Meanwhile, vast numbers of people are finding a better life in emerging countries. The structure of energy markets has changed radically. World oil production has enjoyed an undulating plateau in supply levels for almost a decade while natural gas and coal are depressed. Developed nations find themselves debt laden. The industrialization of China has long been a favorite investment theme. Invest in emerging markets by selling them what they need. This idea has been struggling with the iron ore collapse hurting producers like Cliffs Natural (CLF). Chinese copper demand growth being the | |||||||||||||||
| Expect Another Presidential Term With $Trillion-Plus Annual Deficits Posted: 02 Sep 2012 04:11 AM PDT By Faisal Humayun: President Obama, after coming to power in a relatively ugly economic scenario, has run trillion-dollar-plus deficits in each of his first four years in office. Government spending in critical moments during these four years has provided some stability to the economy and financial system. Therefore, it can be argued that deficit spending was necessary amidst the worst financial and economic crisis after the great depression. Despite the current stability (relatively) in the economy and the financial system, I am of the opinion that government deficits will be over USD1 trillion annually over the next four years. This article discusses the major reasons for this conclusion. Before talking about my opinion, I would like to first focus on CBO's deficit estimates under the baseline and the alternative fiscal scenario. According to the latest CBO estimates, budget deficits will drop sharply to USD641 billion under the baseline scenario and will remain over Complete Story » | |||||||||||||||
| THE GREAT GOLD HEIST The Desert Wilderness Protection Act Posted: 02 Sep 2012 04:00 AM PDT Uhuh | |||||||||||||||
| Posted: 02 Sep 2012 02:57 AM PDT | |||||||||||||||
| Gold smuggling raises its head again in India Posted: 01 Sep 2012 11:00 PM PDT | |||||||||||||||
| 21 St Century : Is Gold Poised to make a comeback ? Posted: 01 Sep 2012 10:30 PM PDT Columbia University | |||||||||||||||
| When Atlas Shrugged… Part Two : Gibson’s Paradox and the Gold Price Posted: 01 Sep 2012 10:00 PM PDT | |||||||||||||||
| Will Galison and Milton Allimadi: The Death of Sunny Sheu Posted: 01 Sep 2012 09:00 PM PDT By Will Galison and Milton Allimadi. Will Galison is an internationally known musician with many recording and performing credits. Will became a part-time journalist after being a victim of judicial corruption and discovering that no mainstream media was writing about the subject and no government agencies were challenging it. Milton Allimadi, publisher and CEO of the Black Star News, is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism. Originally published at Truthout. The cover-up of the death of an anti-corruption whistleblower by numerous agencies and the mainstream media. Lambert here: Definitely long form, and definitely required reading. * * * In the months following the February killing of Trayvon Martin, that story dominated headlines across the nation and around the world. Mainstream media venues have dedicated thousands of hours and countless pages to every conceivable angle of the story – including baseless speculation about unverified facts and even the imagined motivations of the victim and killer. Why has this story generated such intense attention and passion? While a racially charged debate continues among people speculating about the as-yet-unknown circumstances of the killing, the substantive story here is one of national importance: the fact that an American police department utterly failed to investigate a killing and released the killer solely on the basis of his own word. The ramification of this case is that an American citizen can be killed and that law enforcement can simply neglect their responsibility to investigate the killing, thus failing both to serve justice and to deter future incidents. Protection by law enforcement and a criminal justice system is the most fundamental contract between a people and their government. Without security, all other rights and liberties are moot, so we employ our government to protect us from being robbed, injured or killed by anyone with the inclination to harm us. Sheu, the New York Police Department's Own Trayvon Martin Case The failure of a tiny police force to investigate an apparently unpremeditated killing in a backwater of Florida engendered national protests, riots, impassioned speeches by politicians and months of headline coverage. What would the public's reaction be if the police department in question was the largest and most powerful in the nation, the New York Police Department (NYPD)? What if the murder was not an impulsive act by an unstable misfit, but apparently a premeditated assassination? What if the police not only failed to investigate, but were directly implicated in the crime and proven to have covered it up in collusion with the FBI, the New York State judiciary, and others? What if the victim had made a video weeks before his death, exposing the corruption he had uncovered, predicting his death and naming the people he believed would kill him? What if the medical examiner (ME) officially ruled the cause of death "blunt force trauma to the head with skull fractures and brain injuries" and the NYPD continued to maintain that the victim died of "natural causes" with "no head trauma"? In other words, what if the entire structure of governmental institutions, which exist to ensure our security, colluded to protect the killer through negligence and outright criminality? That is precisely what appears to have happened in the case of Sun Ming "Sunny" Sheu, an anti-corruption whistleblower who was bludgeoned to death on July 26, 2010. The details of this case and the reasons you have never heard of it will be the subject of this article. The Sheu story exposes criminal complicity and betrayal by all of the institutions we depend on for our security: local and federal law enforcement; the courts; politicians; health care providers; and, most chilling of all, our refuge of last resort, the media. The Story of Sheu Early in 2009, Sheu walked into the office of the Black Star News* (BSN) and recounted to Publisher Milton Allimadi the story of his ten-year struggle with corruption at every level of New York government. Mr. Sheu, a legal immigrant from Taiwan, was a small, wiry man with a mischievous sense of humor, who could express fierce outrage one moment and chuckle at the absurdity of it all the next. Though his English was rudimentary, he radiated intelligence and humble self-assurance. Sheu made his living as a computer hardware and software engineer and was creating a social network site for Chinese-speaking people when his troubles began. He also rented out two rooms in his Flushing Queens home for extra income. Above all, Sheu was a peaceful warrior, who felt that fighting for one's rights was a patriotic duty, a privilege of living in America that was to some degree its own reward. Sheu's problem centered around his residential property, a simple two-story house at 45-14 158th street in Flushing, Queens, which he said had been wrongfully wrested from him by a mortgage company with the aide of Judge Joseph Golia from the State Supreme Court in Queens. Sheu claimed Golia was "corrupt" and had consistently ruled against him and in favor of the bank, to wrongfully ensure that he never recovered his property. Sheu's story of his struggle with Judge Golia was so compelling that the BSN covered it in a three-part series entitled "Junk Justice," which ran beginning in July 2009. At that time, the BSN believed that exposing Mr. Sheu's struggle with judicial corruption and abuse would protect Sheu from reprisals against him. Tragically, that was not the case. The Background Story: Mortgage Fraud and Court Malfeasance Sheu's ordeal began over ten years ago when a bank representative knocked on his door and said he was there to inspect the house for its new owner. The problem was that Sheu had never sold the house. Sheu's house was owned under the name of his brother Hsu, and it was soon discovered that someone had forged his brother's signature on a power-of-attorney document and used the forged power of attorney to illegally sell the property to a fraudulent buyer. Sheu immediately alerted all relevant authorities and parties; including the police, the bank that held the mortgage (Centex Home Equity) and the title insurer of the property (Old Republic Title Insurance). He wrote letters to all the appropriate executives at Centex, alerting them that the sale was fraudulent. Sheu's brother was able to prove to the police that he had been in Taiwan on the date of the fraudulent signing and could not have signed the papers before a notary in New York. Soon thereafter, the forgers were arrested by the NYPD and were eventually prosecuted and pled guilty of forgery. Sheu expected that with all the evidence in hand, the fraudulent sale would be quickly invalidated and his home returned. In fact, it was actually only the beginning of his nightmare. Despite all the warnings and documentation submitted by Sheu regarding the fraud, including the criminal complaint, Centex continued to act as if the sale had been legitimate. Sunny continued to send his mortgage payments to Centex, but Centex sent them back, insisting that Sheu was no longer the owner. Incredibly, in December 2001, Centex filed a lawsuit against Sheu and the fraudulent "owners" in State Supreme Court, Queens County. The bank wanted a default judgment on the property and foreclosure, claiming that the "new owners" were delinquent on mortgage payments. In reality, of course, there were never any legal "new owners." The Legal Fiasco The Centex v. Sheu case went before Judge Golia, in Queens County. Sheu immediately filed an "Order to Show Cause" requesting a temporary restraining order on the lawsuit and asking Golia to allow the detectives who arrested the fraudsters to testify on the record. Sheu said he was stunned when Judge Golia denied the motion and ignored the documented fact that the "sale" had been fraudulent, which would have obviated Centex's claim against him. Instead of immediately restoring Sheu's rightful ownership, Golia allowed the lawsuit to proceed, eventually leading to foreclosure on Sheu's home. Worse yet, the judge let the case drag out for ten years, with numerous postponements, essentially draining Sheu of all his resources. At some point, Sheu could no longer afford attorney fees and had to represent himself. For ten grueling years, Sheu was consistently denied the opportunity to present evidentiary documentation proving that the fraud had taken place and that Centex had no right to foreclose on his home. Judge Golia never even allowed Sheu to introduce records of the forger's guilty plea and conviction into evidence. Clearly, simple discovery – examination of documents by the court – would have proven the fraud, but Golia never allowed this fundamental judicial procedure to take place, despite Sheu's numerous appeals to the judge. Sheu's home was first foreclosed on January 28, 2005, and Centex "bought" the property for $1,000 from Amy Cheng, one of the pseudonymous fraudsters who had been arrested for fraud in the fictitious sale. "How can you buy property from someone who does not exist?" Sheu asked, in an interview with the BSN. Sheu also wrote New York State Chief Administrative Judge – now Chief Judge – Jonathan Lippman, complaining about Judge Golia's conduct and accusing the judge of "discrimination" and "bias." In fact Lippman, while he was chief administrative judge, appointed Golia to his judgeship in the 11th District. Sheu demanded that Golia recuse himself from the case; the judge refused. Sheu was persistent, writing to numerous elected public officials and filing an appeal against the foreclosure. Aware that Sheu had notified various elected officials about what he claimed were the "biased" rulings, Judge Golia eventually reversed his own earlier decision and the initial foreclosure was rescinded, records showed. Still, the judge refused to restore ownership of the property to Sheu. Golia was so adamant to deprive him of justice, Sheu contended, that he came up with a remarkable decision. Golia now ruled that even though Sheu's home had been illegally sold years earlier, since Centex had already paid off the mortgage, the bank now owned the property under a doctrine known as "Equitable Subrogation." After all of Sheu's struggle, the bank owned the house after all. "How can equitable subrogation apply to stolen property?" Sheu said, in a BSN interview. "This means if I have a lot of money, like Centex, I can pay off anybody's mortgage anywhere without their permission and then take possession of their home and kick them out?" Finally, early in 2010, his property was foreclosed on again, this time conclusively (until after his death; see below). When it became clear to Sheu that he could not expect a fair disposition of the case by Golia, he advised the judge that he would expose the judicial charade to the media. Sheu's Letter to Golia Over nearly a decade of fighting the Centex suit, Sheu was never able to officially enter in the court record that the original sale was established to be fraudulent. He was also puzzled as to how the fraudsters, who had pled guilty to forgery and fraud felonies, could have walked away with no fine and no incarceration. His various motions for hearings to rectify this situation were either ignored or summarily dismissed by Golia. Desperate, on January 6, 2009, Sheu finally wrote a letter and hand delivered it to the mailbox outside Judge Golia's residence. The letter, in Sheu's imperfect English, read simply:
Sheu Is Kidnapped and Threatened by NYPD Detectives One week later, on January 14, 2009, Sheu was summoned to the Queens Supreme courthouse. He was met in the courthouse lobby by two NYPD detectives of the Queens District Attorney's Bureau. The detectives told Sheu that they wanted to talk to him about his mortgage case. Sunny sat down on a bench and said he was ready to discuss the case. According to Sheu, the detectives then "showed their guns and badges," led him into an unmarked car and drove him to the district attorney's (DA) office, where they entered through a back door. There, said Sheu, in a locked room, the officers berated and intimidated him, accusing him of harassing Judge Golia, forcing him to empty his pockets and photocopying his documents. He claimed that one officer pounded on a desk and told him repeatedly that the house he was fighting for didn't belong to him. Most ominously, Sheu reported that one of the detectives warned that if he "went to the press or authorities," "… you live in a dangerous neighborhood with gangs and anything could happen to you." Understandably, Sheu took this as a direct threat against his life, and after two hours of detention, he emerged shaken and terrified. (Spokesperson Kevin Ryan from the Queens DA's office confirmed that Sheu had indeed been detained by two NYPD detectives on the date in question and promised to provide more information after investigating the matter, including the name of the person who ordered the detention and the names of the two detectives. Since that promise was made – over a year ago – the Queens DA has never contacted the BSN regarding this matter.) But despite the warning of the detectives not to contact the authorities or the press, Sheu did both. It was shortly after this detention that Sheu contacted the BSN and began working on the articles with Milton Allimadi. Sheu Asks the FBI for Witness Protection Sheu also contacted the FBI: and was assigned to agent Rachel Rojas of the New York Bureau, who notified him that she was monitoring the case. Numerous emails were exchanged between the two. In November of 2009, Sheu also had a personal meeting with Rojas, accompanied by several of his associates, including Will Galison, a fellow activist (and co-reporter of this story), who had taken an interest in Sheu's case. After the meeting, Sheu sent a follow-up email to Rojas, reminding her of the threats against his life and appealing to the FBI for witness protection. In her responding email of April 9, 2010, Rojas simply wrote, "Thanks Sunny, be careful," an admonition Sheu found small comfort. (When contacted by telephone, Agent Rojas declined to discuss the case with the BSN. Rojas refused to comment on the case while Sheu was still alive and has refused to return any correspondence, or to accept any physical or documentary evidence regarding his death.) Unsatisfied with the FBI's tepid response, Sheu reached out to dozens of other government agencies, politicians and media outlets. (See "Murder and Cover-Up: It Takes a Village" below.) Sheu, a man of considerable education and discernment, wondered if Golia's blatant disregard of law in his own case indicated a more general propensity for corruption. He figured that if he could find evidence of other improprieties by Golia, perhaps he could force the judge off his case. Sheu Investigates Judge Golia's Finances With this in mind, Sheu set out to investigate the personal financial disclosure filings of Judge Golia, which are public records, available by request from the New York Office of Court Administration's (OCA) Ethics Commission. These filings detail the financial assets of all public officials, as a means of curtailing potential conflicts of interest. Sheu searched the Internet for documentation of Golia's real estate holdings, hoping to find concealed assets that had not been declared on his financial disclosure form. If he could prove financial impropriety by Golia, Sheu reasoned, perhaps he could get Golia removed from the bench and finally receive a fair hearing for his case. Sheu, who was a computer expert in both hardware and software, searched the Internet for evidence of properties he concluded were owned by Golia. Armed with a list of these properties, Sheu then went to the OCA Ethics Commission to obtain Golia's financial disclosure forms. According to Sheu, he discovered many discrepancies between Golia's actual properties and the ones declared on his financial disclosure forms, including a million-dollar beach house in Breezy Point, Long Island, which was described in a local magazine as belonging to the judge and which is publicly listed as being owned by the Golia "family." On November 29, 2009, Sheu alerted Janice Howard, the director of the OCA Ethics Commission, of these apparent discrepancies. Sheu's complaint to OCA included the following allegations:
The BSN cannot determine the validity of the above complaints, but clearly Ethics Commissioner Janice Howard found them compelling enough that she ordered that Golia submit an amended form to clarify any issues with his original financial form. By law, the amended disclosure form is the last chance for a public official to "come clean" about any errors or omissions on their original disclosure. Failure of a government official to rectify discrepancies between his actual assets and his financial disclosure form constitutes a felony under New York law. If Golia's amended form did not explain or correct the discrepancies alleged by Sheu, there could be an investigation and Golia could be looking at felony charges and incarceration. Sheu Makes a Video Predicting His Murder After his kidnapping, Sheu was keenly aware of the danger he was in. On April 9, 2010, Sheu recorded a video statement, later posted on YouTube. In the two-minute video, Sheu expresses his fear for his life as a result of his investigation into Judge Golia's personal finances:
Sheu's Testimony to the New York Senate Hearings on Judicial Corruption On June 8 and September 24 of 2009, the New York State Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on judicial corruption. The hearings, held in Albany and Manhattan, respectively, were packed to capacity and dozens of victims testified regarding judicial corruption they had endured. The Judiciary Committee was chaired by Senator Sampson, but also included (now New York State Attorney General) Eric Schneiderman and (former NYPD Captain) Eric Adams. Sheu attended the September 24 hearing and had been invited by Sampson and was scheduled to testify before the committee. Oddly, the moment before Sheu was scheduled to testify about the threats against him, Senator Sampson abruptly closed the meeting. Sampson promised that the hearings would resume the following November, but they never did. Crestfallen, Sheu personally handed his prepared written testimony to Senator Sampson, who promised to read it. In April of 2010, Sheu also had a personal meeting with Senator (and former NYPD Captain) Adams, requesting protection from the people who threatened him. After Sheu was killed, the BSN wrote a letter to Senator Sampson, asking what he would do to protect the lives of others scheduled to testify before the Judiciary Committee. Despite numerous follow-ups calls and emails, Senator Samson has never responded. (Ironically, Adams and other Judiciary Committee members expressed their "outrage" at the police misconduct in the Trayvon Martin case by wearing "hoodies," but did nothing to protect or seek justice for Sheu.) Sunny Receives Golia's Amended Financial Form On Wednesday, June 23, 2010, Janice Howard of the OCA Ethics Commission called Sheu to tell him that the amended form was available. Accompanied by his friends Dr. Sherry Bobrowsky and Galison, Sheu visited the Commission office where he was handed Judge Golia's amended financial disclosure form. Golia's amended form, which was examined by Sheu, Galison and Bobrowsky, was just one page long and was essentially an affirmation of the original disclosure form. Golia stood by his original accounting – the only asset Golia mentioned on the amended form that had not been cited on the original was a "vacant lot" in Queens that he claimed was worth less than $1,000 and therefore did not require reporting. (Over the past two years, the BSN has repeatedly requested a copy of the amended financial form from the OCA Ethics Commission, whose sole mandate is to provide such forms to the public. The Ethics Commission has repeatedly refused.) Sheu immediately realized that the amended form neglected to mention the beach house at Breezy Point as well as other undeclared properties enumerated in his complaint. Galison captured Sheu's reaction on his iPhone: "Now I've got him!" Sheu exclaimed. "Now I've got enough evidence to put Golia in Jail." Galison and Bobrowsky realized the imprudence of threatening to prosecute a judge in front of his colleagues at the OCA. Galison took Sheu by the arm and briskly ushered him out of the office, thanking Ms. Howard and her assistant for their help. Outside the OCA offices, Galison and Bobrowsky discussed with Sheu the grave jeopardy he was now in. Golia did not want to go to jail, they reasoned and would do anything necessary to keep that from happening. Sheu promised his friends that he would stay close to home, watch his back and call them if he felt that he was being surveilled or followed. Sheu Is Killed Three days after the visit to OCA, on the afternoon of Saturday, June 26, 2010, Galison's cell phone rang and Sheu's name flashed on the caller ID. When Galison lifted the phone it was not Sheu; the caller identified himself as Officer Ramos of the 109th Precinct in Queens. Ramos told Galison that a man, tentatively identified as Sheu, had been found in a coma with severe head trauma and was now at the New York Hospital of Queens. Galison's number, Ramos explained, was on the speed dial list and Ramos had dialed the list sequentially, to alert Sheu's colleagues of the injury and to summon someone to identify the patient. He asked if Galison could come to the Hospital ASAP. Galison called Dr. Bobrowsky (who had also been called by Ramos), who drove into the city from Yonkers to pick Galison up and take him to the Hospital. As Galison waited for Bobrowsky to arrive, he hastily uploaded the video of Sheu he had filmed weeks prior on YouTube, praying that Sheu's prediction of violent retribution had not come to pass. Before entering the hospital, Galison activated his iPhone video and positioned the phone so its camera could capture whatever was to unfold. Bobrowsky and Galison arrived at the emergency room at 8:15 PM. They were greeted by Dr. Zasheen Ahmed, a 29-year-old resident, and an emergency room nurse named Laura. The pair stood in front of a closed curtain. "I'm sor | |||||||||||||||
| Bernanke Speech at Jackson Hole 2012 Posted: 01 Sep 2012 02:21 PM PDT Just below is Dr. Ben S. Bernanke's concluding remarks from the August 31, 2012 speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Symposium, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Following these remarks is a link to the entire speech. It is always helpful, we think, to read the actual words before forming an opinion about them. Early in my tenure as a member of the Board of Governors, I gave a speech that considered options for monetary policy when the short-term policy interest rate is close to its effective lower bound. (31) I was reacting to common assertions at the time that monetary policymakers would be "out of ammunition" as the federal funds rate came closer to zero. I argued that, to the contrary, policy could still be effective near the lower bound. Now, with several years of experience with nontraditional policies both in the United States and in other advanced economies, we know more about how such policies work. It seems clear, based on this experience, that such policies can be effective, and that, in their absence, the 2007-09 recession would have been deeper and the current recovery would have been slower than has actually occurred. As I have discussed today, it is also true that nontraditional policies are relatively more difficult to apply, at least given the present state of our knowledge. Estimates of the effects of nontraditional policies on economic activity and inflation are uncertain, and the use of nontraditional policies involves costs beyond those generally associated with more-standard policies. Consequently, the bar for the use of nontraditional policies is higher than for traditional policies. In addition, in the present context, nontraditional policies share the limitations of monetary policy more generally: Monetary policy cannot achieve by itself what a broader and more balanced set of economic policies might achieve; in particular, it cannot neutralize the fiscal and financial risks that the country faces. It certainly cannot fine-tune economic outcomes. As we assess the benefits and costs of alternative policy approaches, though, we must not lose sight of the daunting economic challenges that confront our nation. The stagnation of the labor market in particular is a grave concern not only because of the enormous suffering and waste of human talent it entails, but also because persistently high levels of unemployment will wreak structural damage on our economy that could last for many years. Over the past five years, the Federal Reserve has acted to support economic growth and foster job creation, and it is important to achieve further progress, particularly in the labor market. Taking due account of the uncertainties and limits of its policy tools, the Federal Reserve will provide additional policy accommodation as needed to promote a stronger economic recovery and sustained improvement in labor market conditions in a context of price stability. The above is just the conclusion of a longer document. The entire speech, with footnotes, is at the link below. | |||||||||||||||
| Levity, sort of - Dennis Miller on Jay Leno Posted: 01 Sep 2012 02:07 PM PDT Dennis Miller on a recent Jay Leno show. Mr. Miller "gets it." We're not so sure about Mr. Leno.
Source: NBC. If the video above is not visible on your system or mobile device, follow the link below. http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/dennis-miller-part-2-82712/1414926/ Comment: We long ago quit watching The Tonight Show, but this clip is making the rounds. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Gold World News Flash 2 To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment