UK economy flatlining, NIESR says

via: TheTelegraph
by: Angela Monaghan
August 7, 2012

The British economy shrank by 0.2pc in the three months to the end of the July according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

It followed a 0.7pc fall in gross domestic product in the three months to the end of June, which left Britain in its first double-dip recession since 1975.

The think-tank estimated the economy grew by 1.4pc in July alone, but senior research fellow Simon Kirby said the number was “flattered” partly by a rebound in activity following the work lost over the Jubilee bank holiday weekend in June.

“The underlying economy is probably weaker than the figure would suggest. It doesn’t change the view that the economy is essentially flat,” he said.

NIESR’s estimate came as the Bank of England was poised to give a gloomy assessment of the economy’s prospects in its latest forecasts on Wednesday.

The Bank of England is expected to sharply downgrade its forecasts for growth and inflation when it publishes its August Inflation Report .

Continue Reading At: Telegraph.co.uk

Consumer Credit Misses As Revolving Credit Has Biggest Contraction Since April 2011

via: ZeroHedge
By: Tyler Durden
August 7, 2012

Just like every other aspect of the global economy and capital markets, the sudden, rapid moves in every times series are becoming increasingly more pronounced: today’s case in point – consumer credit. Instead of rising by the expected $10.25 billion in June, following the whopper of a May bounce when it grew by $17 billion, in June, credit rose by only $6.46 billion. On the surface this was not a big miss and was the 10th consecutive increase in a row, driven exclusively by non-revolving credit – i.e. student and GM subprime loans. However, looking below the surface shows that following May’s biggest monthly surge in revolving credit since November 2007 (+$7.5 billion), consumers have again expressed a revulsion to credit, with revolving credit sliding by $3.7 billion: this was the biggest monthly contraction in revolving credit since April 2011, and before that since February 2009. Did Americans developed a sudden taste for credit funded consumption in May, only to puke it all up and then some in June? It sure appears that way based on recent retail sales numbers. The July retail sales number will simply confirm if the re-icing of US consumers has continued for another month.

Continue Reading At: ZeroHedge.com

Eveillard – Gold & The Brutal Reality Of The Current Cycle

via: KingWorldNews
August 7, 2012

With global stock markets trading higher, today legendary value investor Jean-Marie Eveillard, who oversees $50 billion, told KWN, “In a way one should not confuse fluctuations in financial markets or commodity markets with the end of the world.  However, I think there continues to be considerable hope on the part of many investors that the Neo-Keynesian remedies which have been in place will result in a sustainable economic recovery.”

Jean-Marie Eveillard continues:

“There does have to be the realization that the hope of an economic recovery in the Western world will end up being a delusion.  Investors and authorities who believe there will be a recovery are deluding themselves.  But hey, hope springs eternal.

There is the continued stimulus being provided by the Federal Reserve, and of course some of that newly printed money ends up in the equity markets….

Continue Reading At: KingWorldNews.com

Gregory Mannarino – Important Updates-Markets, Gold, Silver, U.S. Dollar

via: GregVegas5909
August 7, 2012

Audit the Fed Threatens the Secrecy of the Federal Reserve Bank

via: OccupyCorporatism
by: Susanne Posel
August 7, 2012

Senator Ron Paul, author of the legislation called Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2012 (HR459) that will subject Ben Bernanke and the privately-owned Federal Reserve Bank to a monetary audit policy has seen much support from his peers on Capitol Hill. The House of Representatives passed 327 – 98 on a vote last week which exceeded the necessary 2/3rd majority.

Bernanke, trying to deter the US Congress from digging into the private matters of the Fed, told House lawmakers that this legislation would allow a “nightmare scenario” of political meddling in monetary policy making. How pretentious of this head of the global Elite banking cartel to say that American representatives would be fumbling idiots meandering about in the matters of private shareholders being forced to disclose their agendas regarding our money system.

Paul, who is pushing for “transparency” in America’s relationship with the Fed, said that Americans are “sick and tired of what happened in the bailout and where the wealthy got bailed out and the poor lost their jobs and they lost their homes.”

Back in March, Bernanke lectured at the George Washington University in a propaganda stunt to reaffirm to the younger generations that the Federal Reserve is necessary and integral to the US monetary future. Bernanke claimed that “a central bank is not an ordinary commercial bank, but a government agency.”

By fabricating the factual need of the Fed as a cornerstone of our currency system, Bernanke tried to coerce the public on the benefits of the Fed. Dennis Kucinich said that “it’s time that we stood up to the Federal Reserve that right now acts like some kind of high, exalted priesthood, unaccountable to democracy.”

Paul wants to show the American public that their hard-earned money is going into off-shore accounts to support the global central banking cartels and fund their agendas. The focus is on the 2007 – 2009 “recession” that has laid the groundwork for hyper-inflation in the near future.

Continue Reading At: OccupyCorporatism.com

Downfall Of A Tuscan Paradise – Monte Dei Paschi Di Siena, The World’s Oldest Bank

via: Spiegel
by: Alexander Smoltczyk in Siena, Italy
August 7, 2012

Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world’s oldest bank, took five centuries to accumulate its wealth — and three years to gamble it away. Its fall from grace is a disaster for its home city of Siena, which relied on distributed profits from the bank. Now the picturesque Tuscan city is trying to come to terms with the new reality.

Siena’s Financial Fiasco

Valentina still has exactly 22 hours before her future comes to an end. She has to drop off papers at the Italian Football Federation by 6 p.m. tomorrow to register her club in Serie A, Italy’s top soccer league. It would be a triumph, a well-earned conclusion of a season in which the female football team of the Italian city of Siena qualified for promotion into the country’s highest league for the first time.

Dropping off the papers in Rome on time wouldn’t have been the problem, but the €17,000 ($21,000) registration fee was. The club’s traditional sponsor had backed out, due to “an internal decision,” as had been explained in the fax, written on letterhead with the Monte dei Paschi Foundation’s logo of three beehives at the top.

Valentina Lorenzini is the coach, masseuse and organizer of the soccer club Siena Calcio Femminile. She is a stocky 43-year-old who refuses to believe that it’s over, that something has finally come to an end in her city. “We won and we can’t be promoted,” she says. “How sick is that?”

But there is still time. It’s only 8 p.m. Perhaps she’ll still manage to find someone.

A Happy Exception

This is the way it’s always been in Siena, an idyllic Tuscan city where even the curbstones look as if they’d been chiseled by the sculptor Bernini. It’s a city over which the profits of a major bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), were distributed year after year like manna. Sometimes it was €150 million, and sometimes it was even €200 million. It’s a lot of money for a city with a population of 55,000 people.

Siena was always considered a happy exception in Italy, a prosperous city with functioning hospitals, recycling and free buses for the schools. And now there isn’t even enough money to register the local women’s soccer club in Serie A. Siena’s coffers are empty, the main bank has to borrow money, the elites have failed and a commissioner has taken control of the city. Siena has gone from being an exception to a reflection of Italy’s general situation.

Most locals don’t perceive that as a compliment.

It is partly to do with the debt crisis, partly with the Italian state and a lot to do with Siena. It also has a lot to do with the fact that now, at 8 p.m., hundreds of Sienese wearing fake Yulia Tymoshenko-style braids and with pacifiers in their mouths are marching across the Piazza del Campo, banging on drums and waving blue-and-white flags.

Continue Reading At: Spiegel.com

This Is Why Gold & Oil May Explode Higher In August

via: KingWorldNews
August 7, 2012

Today acclaimed commodity trader Dan Norcini told KWN, “One spark for gold may be at some point in August we begin to have rumors about what is going to happen at the Jackson Hole meeting.  The first round of QE was announced during that Jackson Hole Summit in late 2008.  So the upcoming meeting may wind up being very significant when it comes to which direction central planners are going to take.”

Dan Norcini continues:

“You may very well get a lift in gold based on the type of monetary response that may come out of Jackson Hole.  The other situation which could escalate and have a huge impact in the key markets, particularly crude oil and gold, is the disintegration that is taking place in Syria.

If the war begins to engulf a broader scope of the Middle-East, bringing Israel and Iran into conflict, that powder keg could create an explosion higher in the price of both crude oil and gold….

Continue Reading At: KingWorldNews.com

Keiser Report [324] – Crime, Crooks, Chaos

via: RT
August 7, 2012

In this episode, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss jihadi bots gone wild while the President of the United States was pumping and dumping Facebook stock. Max and Stacy also discuss what the first ever Predator droned American may mean to Goldman Sachs’ bottom line as the banks begins collateralizing crime and recidivism. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser interviews burning banks artist Alex Schaefer about his recent arrest for chalking the words, ‘crooks,’ ‘crime’ and ‘chaos’ in front of a Chase Bank in Downtown Los Angeles. The eight hours in jail means that the artist Alex Schaefer has done more time than any bankster since the financial crisis began.

Hyper Report 08/07/2012 – US Banker Rats Jumping Euro Ship

via: HyperReport
August 7, 2012

Source Links and video text for Today’s Items are located at:

http://hyperreport.org/2012/08/06/120807/

Biderman’s Daily Edge 8/6/2012: Hope Springs Eternal & Boosts Global Stocks

via: TrimTabs
August 6, 2012