Who Thinks the Eurozone is Going to Hold it Together?
The big question in many people’s minds is whether or not the eurozone can manage to stay together with all of the financial mess that is plaguing Europe presently. Many economists are making predictions on whether or not the eurozone will manage to hold it together. Anna Grimaldi, the Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo, sees a 40 percent chance and John Greenwood of Invesco investment company rates the probability at 70 percent. Twelve of 26 economists at the Financial Times see the probability of a breakup of the eurozone at 20 to 30 percent. Mike Shedlock believes that taking everything into consideration, the probability the eurozone staying intact is arguably 15 percent at best. It’s really hard for one country to want to stick with another when there really is no loyalty unless there’s something in it for them. It’s a bit like the typical marriage when finances go sour.
Corporate-finance executives aren’t planning to change their current, ultra-conservative approach to managing cash anytime soon, regardless of whether European leaders strike a deal to shore up the Euro. These executives, fearing a full-blown Euro crisis, have been scrambling for months to cut their companies’ exposure to fragile European economies, such as Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, and to ensure their continued access to credit.
Though European Union nations have been working more closely with the European Central Bank in recent days to save the Euro, nearly all of them now face potential credit-rating downgrades over the next three months. That’s partly why company executives say they are sticking with investment plans that provide relatively paltry, but safe, returns. Action in Europe has been mostly mixed, even after recent reports indicated that the European Central Bank will loosen criteria for loan collateral. That precedes the ECB’s monetary policy announcement tomorrow and the outcome of a highly anticipated eurozone summit.
A Reuters survey of 73 analysts showed a 60-percent chance the ECB will cut rates by 25 basis points to a record low of 1.0 percent — a floor it previously reached during the financial crisis in 2009. Times are rough and signs of improvements are slim to none.
Among Tuesday’s actions: U.S. Bancorp’s long-term rating was cut to A from A+ and left its short-term rating A-1.
PNC’s long-term rating was cut to A-minus from A and its short-term rating was cut to A-2 from A-1.
BB&T’s long-term rating was cut to A-minus from A and its short-term rating was cut to A-2 from A-1.
Can You Really Trust Social Security!
Members of CrushTheStreet.com now this answer, but here it is from Senator Dick Durbin, the chamber’s second-ranking Democrat, “The government has been borrowing surplus Social Security revenue to pay for other programs, and promising to repay it later with other tax revenue, so the money has already been mixed.” It really is a scam when you consider all the money present day workers are putting into it, with the funds being redirected to other unrelated government agendas. It is a scam, no doubt, ponzi scheme at best and the only way it works is by screwing seniors with an under reported CPI number. Expecting to receive and to live off of this ponzi scheme is going to be detrimental for those who have not anticipated the collapsing system. Young people are at the most risk of losing their benefits because there are way to many years in between now and when they are supposed to collect for the failing system for it not to be bankrupt IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE.
Why would the government be preparing the roads for Martial Law?
A recently passed Senate Bill-the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)-grants broad new authority to the Department of Defense (DOD) to arrest and detain civilians who are suspected of being enemies of the state. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called the expanded authority “absolutely necessary tools for defeating those who would attempt to bring down our government.” Panetta acknowledged that these new powers contradict protections guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, but asserted that “the threats we face today warrant extraordinary steps to counter them. After all, it’s not as if we’d be totally obliterating the protections against wrongful imprisonment. Those accused of crimes against the private sector would still be granted the privilege of a speedy trial before a jury of their peers. It would only be when the intended target is the government itself that this new emergency authority would be deployed.” The Secretary characterized fears that such sweeping powers could be abused as “overwrought.” Okay, so pretty much what this is doing is allowing the government to issue itself an even more amount of power to use and abuse the citizens it governs. It’s very likely that they are preparing for ways to control the population under civil unrest.
Metals Update
J.S. Kim, managing director of the SmartKnowledgeU investment research firm, argues today that despite — or rather because of — suppression of gold and silver prices by central banks and their bullion bank agents, gold and silver mining equities offer by far the best values in the stock market, bigger bargains than they’ve been since November 2008. Times when metals prices are remaining relatively stable and low, in our opinion, are the exact times to accumulate and be able to acquire more wealth in these days of monetary uncertainty.
Featured Video
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We’ve posted Bill Still’s latest update on the front page of CrushTheStreet.com. His thought of restoring the monetary system is that we go back to a debt free money system. The current system is set for governments consistently going into more and more debt to continue existence. Currently, the system that is in place today only allows for a positive outlook on the economy because in a debt based system, it is implied that the future will be able to pay for the past. He also goes into his politics in this upcoming election.
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