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20 Things That You Should Not Read If You Do Not Want To BecomeVery Angry

Economy News Nightmare

Today America is very, very frustrated. In fact, we probably have not seenthis level of anger in the country since World War 2 ended. So why are somany Americans so frustrated and so angry right now? Well, for mostAmericans it comes down to the economy. Very few things are morefrustrating than not being able to find a job that will enable you to pay themortgage and feed your family. Middle class Americans that do have a littlebit of money are digging into their savings and investments at a staggeringrate as they desperately try to keep their heads above water. Millions of other families that do not have a "safety cushion" are on the verge of losing their 

homes or have already been callously tossed out onto the streets by big,greedy banks. Meanwhile, our politicians continue to burden us withincreasingly larger amounts of government debt and they stand idly by as our 

 jobs and our industries are shipped overseas. So even though themainstream media seems absolutely puzzled by the growing anger inAmerica, the truth is that it is not a great mystery. The economy is anabsolute nightmare, and if it gets even worse people are going to becomeeven more angry.

The mainstream media and our top politicians are running around proclaimingthat the economy has turned around, and yet all of the important long-termeconomic numbers continue to get worse. Do they think that the Americanpeople are stupid?

Perhaps they are just trying to be "optimistic" and are trying to get us all to"believe" in the economic recovery.

Well, while it certainly does not hurt to "stay positive" and to "have faith" whenthere is some basis in reality for doing so, but what the mainstream media is

asking us all to do is to stick our heads in the sand and to pretend that all of our horrific economic problems are not even there.

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Until we recognize exactly what our problems are and how bad they havegotten we will never be able to come up with the appropriate solutions.

Our economy does not just need a "tweak" or two. Our economy is a totalnightmare at this point.

The following are 20 things about our nightmare of an economy that you willnot want to read if you do not want to become very, very angry....

#1 Today, millions of American families are digging deep into their savingsand investments in a desperate attempt to stay afloat. Over the past twoyears, U.S. consumers have withdrawn $311 billion more from savings andinvestment accounts than they have put into them.

#2 15 billion dollars: the total amount of compensation that Goldman Sachs

paid out to its employees for 2010.

#3 The number of American families that were booted out of their homes andinto the streets set a new all-time record in 2010.

#4 Dozens of packages that we buy in the supermarket have been reduced insize by up to 20%. For example, there are now 2 less slices of cheese in atypical package of Kraft American cheese, and there is now 9 percent lesstoilet paper in a typical package of Scott toilet paper. So now, you may think

that you are paying the same amount for these items that you always have,but the truth is that you have been hit with a large price increase.

#5 One Canadian company is making a ton of money shipping "millions andmillions of dollars" worth of manufacturing equipment from factories that arebeing shut down in the United States over to new factories that are being setup in China.

#6 In America today, the wealthiest 20% own a whopping 93% of all the"financial assets" in the United States.

#7 Only 35 percent of Americans now have enough "emergency savings" tobe able to cover three months of living expenses.

#8 47 percent of all Americans now believe that China is the number oneeconomic power in the world.

#9 If the U.S. banking system is healthy, then why does the number of "problem banks" continue to keep increasing? This past week the number of U.S. banks on the unofficial list of problem banks reached 937.

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#10 According to former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich, the wealthiest0.1% of all Americans make as much money as the poorest 120 million.

#11 U.S. housing prices have now fallen further during this economicdownturn than they did during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

#12 According to some very disturbing new research, 45 percent of U.S.college students exhibit "no significant gains in learning" after two years incollege.

#13 Americans now owe more than $884 billion on student loans, which is anew all-time record.

#14 The United Nations says that the global price of food hit an all-timerecord high in December, and the price of oil is surging towards $100 a

barrel, but the U.S. government continues to insist that we barely have anyinflation at all.

#15 The more Americans that are on food stamps the more profits that JPMorgan makes. Today, an all-time record of 43.2 million Americans are onfood stamps, and JP Morgan is making a lot of money processing millions of those benefit payments.

#16 Back in 1970, 25 percent of all jobs in the United States were

manufacturing jobs. Today, only 9 percent of the jobs in the United States aremanufacturing jobs.

#17 Dozens of U.S. states are either implementing tax increases in 2011 or are considering proposals to raise taxes.

#18 The United States has had a negative trade deficit every single year since 1976.

#19 The U.S. national debt has crossed the $14 trillion mark for the first time,

and at some point during 2011 it will cross the $15 trillion mark.

#20 What the U.S. economy really needs is for the government to get off all of our backs, but instead they continue to tighten their grip on us. In fact, theObama administration is proposing a "universal Internet ID" that would watch,track, monitor and potentially control everything that you do on the Internet.

There are some people that have a hard time really grasping what statisticsactually mean. For people like that, often pictures and charts are much moreeffective. Well, that is one reason I like to include pictures and graphs inmany of my articles, and below I have posted my favorite chart from this pastyear. It shows the growth of the U.S. national debt from 1940 until today. I

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honestly don't know how anyone can look at this chart and still be convincedthat our nation is not headed for a complete financial meltdown....

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/economy-news-nightmare-20-things-that-you-should-not-read-if-you-do-not-want-to-become-very-angry

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#1

Number of the Week: Americans Dipping Into Savings

By Mark Whitehouse January 22, 2011, 5:00 AM ET

Number of the Week$311

Billion

$311 billion: The net amount US consumers have withdrawn from savingsand investment accounts over the past two years.

In the course of the recession and recovery, Americans have dipped deeper 

into their savings than at any point in the past six decades. That’s helping theeconomy now, but could leave it less prepared to withstand shocks in thefuture.

Over the two years ending September 2010, Americans withdrew a net $311billion — or about 1.4% of their disposable income — from their savings andinvestment accounts, according to the Federal Reserve. That’s a sharpdivergence from the previous 57 years, during which they never made a net

quarterly withdrawal. Rather, they added an average of 12% of disposableincome to their holdings of financial assets — including bank accounts,money-market funds, stocks, bonds and other investments — each year.

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To some extent, people are acting exactly as policy makers want, at least inthe short term. By holding interest rates near zero, the Fed is creating anincentive to spend rather than save — or to “save” in a different way bypaying down expensive debt. With three-month certificates of deposit offeringannualized interest of less than 0.3%, using available cash to pay off a credit

card that charges 30% or a mortgage that costs 5% makes a lot of sense.Over the two years ending September 2010, U.S. consumers — largelythrough defaults, but also through pay-downs — shaved nearly a trilliondollars off their mortgage and other debts, a shift that could make them lesssensitive to credit freezes like the one we just suffered.

In the longer term, though, Americans need to do more old-fashioned savingas well. One recent poll found that only 35% of Americans had enoughemergency savings to cover three months of living expenses. The less moneythey have for a rainy day, the more vulnerable they will be to job losses andother income shocks. As we have learned in the most recent crisis, credit isfar from a perfect substitute for a healthy bank account.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/01/22/number-of-the-week-americans-dipping-into-savings/

#2

Bank giant Goldman rewards staff with €11.4bn

Goldman Sachs took $10bn from the US Treasury at the height of thefinancial crisis but has since paid the money back, with taxpayers earning$1.4bn on the investment. Photo: PA

Wednesday January 19 2011

Wall Street banking giant Goldman Sachs revealed today that staff earned atotal of $15.4bn (€11.4bn) in pay and bonuses last year.

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The total figure represents a 5pc decline on the previous year's pot, but theshare of revenues paid out in salary and benefits for 2010 was up from35.8pc at 39.3pc.

The firm posted a 38pc drop in net earnings to $8.35bn (€6.2bn) for the year 

to December 31. This followed a 13pc decline in revenues to $39.16bn(€29bn).

Goldman Sachs took $10bn (€7.4bn) from the US Treasury at the height of the financial crisis but has since paid the money back, with taxpayers earning$1.4bn (€1.03bn) on the investment.

In the UK, the bank is trying to rebuild its reputation after it was fined £17.5mby the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failing to tell the regulator thatGoldman trader Fabrice Tourre was under investigation when he took a job at

the bank's London office in 2008.

Goldman has recently been in the spotlight for its dealings with Facebook -the bank invested $500m (€371m) in the social networking giant.

The New York-based group said the drop in revenues compared with 2009was driven by declines in the firm's underwriting business.

Chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said: "Market and economic conditions for 

much of 2010 were difficult, but the firm's performance benefited from thestrength of our global client franchise and the focus and commitment of our people.

"Looking ahead, we are seeing signs of growth and more economic activityand we are well-positioned to help our clients expand their businesses,manage their risks and invest in the future."

In the UK, Goldman forked out $465m (€345m) in UK bank payroll tax - aone-off 50pc tax on bonuses above £25,000.

But the large tax windfall was not enough to appease the unions, with TUCgeneral secretary Brendan Barber calling for the UK Government to do moreto tackle bonuses at the next G20 meeting.

He said: "Goldman Sachs has stuck two fingers up to austerity Britain byshelling out mega bonuses again. These earnings would make GordonGekko blush.

"Bankers are toasting their telephone digit bonuses while the rest of thecountry reels from more than a fifth of young people being out of work. ThisGovernment is overseeing a fast return to the worst excesses of the 1980s."

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Press Association

http://www.independent.ie/business/world/bank-giant-goldman-rewards-staff-with-euro114bn-2503082.html

#4

 Your favorite products - now 20% smaller 

From hand soap to hot dogs, these staples have gotten smaller over the past few years, according to Consumer Reports. The magazinefound "packages reduced in size by as much as 20%." 

Ivory dish detergent

Old: 30 oz.New: 24 oz.

It may still be 100% pure, but there's also 20% less soap in these new

bottles.By Jessica Dickler, staff writer 

Tropicana orange juice

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Old: 64 oz.New: 59 oz.

Last winter's freeze in Florida is now causing a chilly reception to Tropicana's7.8% reduction in juice.

Haagen-Dazs ice cream

Old: 16 oz.New: 14 oz.

When a pint is no longer a pint: Haagen-Dazs is now 2 ounces shy of itsformer size.

Kraft American cheese

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Old: 24 slicesNew: 22 slices

There are two fewer singles in Kraft's new packs of American cheese.

Kirkland (Costco) paper towels

Old: 96.2 sq. ft.New: 85 sq. ft.

Buying in bulk is less bulky now: There are 10 fewer sheets in Kirkland brand

paper towels.

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Scott toilet tissue

Old roll: 115.2 sq. ft.New roll: 104.8 sq. ft.

Another bum-mer: 9% less toilet paper in Scott's new roles.

Lanacane first aid spray

Old: 113 gramsNew: 99 grams

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Ouch! There's now 12.4% less Lanacane in the same size can.

Chicken of the Sea salmon

Old: 3 oz.New: 2.6 oz.

There's something fishy about 13.3% less salmon in Chicken of the Sea'snew packaging.

Classico pesto

Old: 10 oz.New: 8.1 oz.

The company blamed rising gas prices for reducing the amount of pesto by19%.

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Hebrew National franks

Old: 12 oz.New: 11 oz.

Where's the beef? These hot dogs lost 8.3% of their volume when thecompany revamped its packaging.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/pf/1101/gallery.downsized_consumer_pr oducts/index.html

#5

Liquidated North American industrial assets find new home in China

Tim Shufelt, Financial Post · Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011

Maynards Industries Ltd. knows the intricacies of doing business in China,where state control of capital flows prevent transacting in yuan.

As a liquidator of industrial equipment, the Vancouver-based company findsnew homes for unneeded and unwanted machines. And increasingly, thecompany finds itself removing that excess capacity from North America andtransferring it to China.

“Millions and millions of dollars worth of equipment is going there,” said AaronStewardson, Maynards’ chief operating officer.

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But in reselling that equipment to Chinese enterprises, Maynards has had tonavigate the country’s tight currency regime, one of the biggest complaints of China’s trading partners.

Purchases and sales could not be completed in yuan, but rather in U.S.

dollars, creating delays, piling on additional transaction costs and cutting off those Chinese companies that contract only in local currency.

But Maynards recently pulled off a small feat of commerce in China bycompleting a transaction exclusively with yuan, the first such successfulexchange by a Canadian company under a Chinese pilot program, accordingto HSBC Bank Canada, which facilitated the exchange.

Although the sum, tendered for project management expenses, was modest,the transaction might be considered a small signpost on the slow march to

free-flowing capital in China, said Tom Niebuhr, the bank’s head of product,trade and supply chain in North America.

“There’s a ways to go obviously in the liberalization of the Chinese currency.But this is several good steps in that direction.”

Maynards treated the trade as something of a trial. But with two new offices inShanghai and Beijing, the company could greatly simplify its business withwidespread adoption of the practice.

Since the recession, business has been brisk for Maynards, particularly in theautomotive industry. Included among the company’s contracts withautomakers is the task of liquidating 16 entire General Motors plants in theUnited States that were shuttered during the company’s bankruptcy.

“That’s everything in between the walls,” Mr. Stewardson said. “Everythingfrom hand tools to stamping machines.”

Many other Canadian companies have also identified the Chinese market as

fertile ground for expansion and diversification away from exports to theUnited States.

And with the rise in trade with China, the country’s authorities introduced apilot program in 2009 to allow for international payments of yuan. Lastsummer, the program was extended to make many more Chinese companieseligible.

But the process is still far from simple. Canadian companies require

facilitation by a bank and an account in China approved by the authorities.And the pre-approved Chinese trading partner must submit transactiondocumentation to the local bank.

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The Maynards transaction took more than two weeks, Mr. Niebuhr said.

John Curran, a senior dealer at CanadianForex, said his company hasarranged trades in yuan on behalf of corporate clients in the past.

“You can do it, but it’s not for the feint of heart,” he said. “It’s like goingthrough customs. When they point at you, you say, ‘Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.’”

Non-convertibility is a facet of China’s currency policy that unofficially pegsthe yuan to the U.S. dollar, a controversial approach that critics, mainly U.S.legislators, say keeps the currency undervalued and distorts global markets.

“China’s currency is like a boot to the throat of our economic recovery,” NewYork Senator Charles Schumer recently said in advance of the high-profilevisit of Chinese President Hu Jintao.

But China has its own complaints with the U.S. government’s monetarypolicy.

“The U.S. complains about an undervalued yuan, and what does the U.S.doing? They are undervaluing the U.S. dollar,” Mr. Curran said.

The Chinese leadership has criticized quantitative easing programs in theUnited States, which tend to devalue the dollar.

But China has eased its grip on the yuan recently, even if advances seem tocuriously coincide with events like a state visit or the G20.

Mr. Jintao recently underlined initial efforts to eventually turn the yuan into aglobal currency. And in the past five months, the yuan has appreciated morethan 3% against the U.S. dollar, said Shaun Osborne, chief currencystrategist at TD Securities.

“China is moving towards freer movement of capital.”

tshufelt@nationalpost.com

http://www.financialpost.com/Liquidated+North+American+industrial+assets+f ind+home+China/4134895/story.html

#6

As If The Fed Planned To Do It All Wrong An excerpt from Bob Chapman's weekly publication.

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As of Wednesday we have seen the euro rise 7 straight days, whichcaused the USDX to fall to 78.14, this in spite of having 10-year rates inSpain, Portugal and Ireland rising 3 bps.

Both food and energy prices have risen at double-digit rates. This is an

inflation reflection of 1979-80, 1996 and 2008. In the 1979 and 1980 and inthe 2008 period our inflation gauge measured real inflation of 14-1/4%. Bothoccurred in recessions similar to today’s inflationary depression.

Today’s energy prices will reflect a loss in buying power of more than$60 billion in the US alone. Higher grain and meat prices will add $40 billionto total, a loss in buying power of $100 billion. By the looks of it costs andinflation will rise further causing further cuts in GDP consumption. Thesecosts will affect 70% of the stimulus and QE2. That means very littleconsumption gains and stagnant unemployment.

The Consumer Sentiment Index fell from 74.5 in December to 72.7 inJanuary, which does not instill confidence in the economy. Current conditionsfell from 85.3 to 79.8, a 3-month low. Large household goods purchases fellto 129 from 140. The auto purchase outlook was fair to poor as well.

Real wages based on a phony 1.2% CPI, fell 0.4% when in reality theloss in buying power was much higher. Every indicator is in the minuscolumn. This is reflected in income expectations for the year that fell from 125

to 116. Real expectations dropped from 64 to 55, the lowest level in almost60 years. There is no recovery and there will be no recovery. The numbersare staring you right in your face. 2011 will be lucky to see 2% to 2-1/4%growth, as government spends $862 billion on pork and the Fed buys $1.6trillion in Treasuries, Agencies and toxic waste.

We have two economic and financial Americas, one of poverty andadvancing poverty and one of sumptuous wealth. The top 20% own 93% of financial assets, which could be the seeds of upheaval. The average family isone or two weeks away from starvation and debt collapse. How do you makeup the difference working 34.3 hours a week as gasoline rises from $2.50 to$3.50 a gallon and the price of food advances 50%? If you do not own goldand silver related assets to offset these increases you are just plain screwed.If QE2 isn’t translating into recovery then QE3 is fast on the way. It will bekicked off later this year or in 2012. It won’t work either. Throwing money at aproblem never has a positive desired result. Even though other nations haveproblems the dollar will remain under pressure. The gauge should not be theUSDX. It should be every currency versus gold and silver, which are the onlymeaningful yardsticks. For two years gold and silver have been propelled by

a flight to quality. A primary fight between gold and the dollar, which obviouslygold has won hands down and will continue to do so. Inflation hasn’t even

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entered the equation yet, but it will this year and next. That will cause goldand silver to roar to the upside along with gold and silver shares. The elitistswho control government are about to lose another battle and in the end thewar against gold and silver.

Since 2000, when we began recommending gold and silver relatedassets after having exited the stock market in early April, the market is downabout 80% versus gold. That means the only reliable guide to value is gold,not the dollar. The dollar has dropped from 13.80 Mexican pesos to 12.00 in ayear. Mexico is considered a second world nation and its currency isappreciating versus the dollar. That is becoming typical and will continue tobe so. The Mexican economy will grow 4% in 2011, and will have 4%inflation, far better results than in the US, and Mexico has not stimulated itseconomy. Not only do we have the dollar falling 20% versus gold annually,but also we have the dollar falling versus inferior currencies. That meanscreditors of US Treasuries are receiving a negative return of over 6%. Whatcan they be thinking of? This is a form of default. Even with these conditionsthe stock market reflected by the Dow will probably trade between 10,000 and13,500, while gold and silver again gain a real 20% plus, year after year, aslong as budget deficits climb.

It is almost as though the Fed, the White House and the House andSenate had planned to do just about everything wrong. All we hear from theillegal alien who is President is that we must have shared sacrifice. That is

why we have no win wars to keep the economy going and government lootssocial Security and Medicare. Have no fear the double dip is on the way eventhough it spends 60% more than incoming revenues. Neither party has anyintention of changing this situation. This year we will experience a decline inall personal purchase categories contrary to what the Fed and the Treasurywould like. That means revenues will fall again and debt will increase.

Investors are not only bypassing municipals, but Treasuries and agencysecurities as well. In funds there has been nine straight weeks of redemptions

of $16.5 billion of municipals that should have been liquidated three yearsago at much higher prices. That is when we recommended selling.

Inflation is rising in spite of the government’s bogus statistics. How doyou reconcile CPI at 1.2% and PPI at 13-1/2%? Price increases are comingfrom all sectors. That means profit margins are going to be reduced and salesare going to fall. The bedrock of the economy consumption will fall, which isthe exact opposite of what the Fed and the administration want. Major inflation is underway. In 2012 we will slip into QE3 and the chance for hyperinflation is excellent. We all know what happens after that – deflationarydepression.

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The financial and economic situation continues to deteriorate in theeuro zone. Both Greece and Ireland stand at the edge of the abyss.Unbeknownst to most the Federal Reserve started pouring funds into Irishbanks in 2008 to stabilize the system. AIB, Anglo Irish Bank, borrowed $3.3billion in the summer of 2009, which was the largest loan. The ECB has

provided $175 billion in direct support, which forced the ECB to recapitalize.

Just last month the Irish government via the Irish Central Bankarbitrarily injected billions of euros into its economy without collateralization.

In parallel in part the Irish bailout is being funded via retirement savings,which has not been approved by the Irish parliament. A spring election islooming and a vote may not come until then and there is a possibility thatFianna Fail, the party in power since 1987, will not succeed. The NoConfidence votes will prevail as the current PM refuses to step down. Thatmeans ratification of current policy will fail.

In this process the central bank has printed up about 25% of GDP ineuros and deposited them in the banks. This is uncollateralized by bonds andwill prove to be very inflationary, if not hyperinflationary. This euro increasehas not gone unnoticed, particularly in Germany. If you remember for yearsGermans have refused to accept euros printed in other euro zone countries. Itis not going to take long for Germany to react. They won’t and can’t acceptIrish euros and that should lead to a crisis in the euro zone as well as in the

EU. We are about to discover that all euros are not equal and that Germanywill not be held hostage by a group of euro-elitists. What is to stop Greece,Portugal, Belgium, Spain and Italy from doing the same thing? This has to putdownward pressure on the euro. This may be why the euro has been allowedto appreciate recently to offset the coming weakness in the euro caused byIreland’s euro printing.http://theinternationalforecaster.com/International_Forecaster_Weekly/As_If_ The_Fed_Planned_To_Do_It_All_Wrong

#7

Number of the Week: Americans Dipping Into Savings

By Mark Whitehouse

Number of the Week$311

Billion

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$311 billion: The net amount US consumers have withdrawn from savingsand investment accounts over the past two years.

In the course of the recession and recovery, Americans have dipped deeper into their savings than at any point in the past six decades. That’s helping the

economy now, but could leave it less prepared to withstand shocks in thefuture.

Over the two years ending September 2010, Americans withdrew a net $311billion — or about 1.4% of their disposable income — from their savings andinvestment accounts, according to the Federal Reserve. That’s a sharpdivergence from the previous 57 years, during which they never made a net

quarterly withdrawal. Rather, they added an average of 12% of disposableincome to their holdings of financial assets — including bank accounts,money-market funds, stocks, bonds and other investments — each year.

To some extent, people are acting exactly as policy makers want, at least inthe short term. By holding interest rates near zero, the Fed is creating anincentive to spend rather than save — or to “save” in a different way bypaying down expensive debt. With three-month certificates of deposit offeringannualized interest of less than 0.3%, using available cash to pay off a credit

card that charges 30% or a mortgage that costs 5% makes a lot of sense.Over the two years ending September 2010, U.S. consumers — largelythrough defaults, but also through pay-downs — shaved nearly a trilliondollars off their mortgage and other debts, a shift that could make them lesssensitive to credit freezes like the one we just suffered.

In the longer term, though, Americans need to do more old-fashioned savingas well. One recent poll found that only 35% of Americans had enoughemergency savings to cover three months of living expenses. The less moneythey have for a rainy day, the more vulnerable they will be to job losses andother income shocks. As we have learned in the most recent crisis, credit isfar from a perfect substitute for a healthy bank account.

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http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/01/22/number-of-the-week-americans-dipping-into-savings/

#9

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Unofficial Problem Bank list increases to 937 Institutions 

by CalculatedRisk on 1/22/2011 08:42:00 AM

Note: this is an unofficial list of Problem Banks compiled only from publicsources.

Here is the unofficial problem bank list for Jan 21, 2011.

Changes and comments from surferdude808:

The OCC finally released its actions through the middle of December 2010 aswe have been waiting for the past two weeks. By and large, the OCC actionswere the conversion of Formal Agreements to Consent Orders for six nationalbanks with only one new entrant. The major changes this week result fromthe publication of nine actions issued by the Illinois Department of Financial &Professional Regulation. We applaud the transparency of the IllinoisDepartment as they are the only state banking authority that publishes itssafety & soundness enforcement actions against banks.

This week there are 11 additions and seven removals. The changes result inthe Unofficial Problem Bank List having 937 institutions with assets of $409.4billion, compared with 933 institutions and assets of $410.4 billion last week.

The seven removals include the four failures this week -- United WesternBank, Denver, CO ($2.1 billion Ticker: UWBK); CommunitySouth Bank and

Trust, Easley, SC ($441 million Ticker: CBSO); The Bank of Asheville,Asheville, NC ($195 million Ticker: WFSC); and Enterprise BankingCompany, McDonough, GA ($101 million). The other removals are PacificValley Bank, Salinas, CA ($172 million Ticker: PVBK), which announced in apress release that the FDIC had terminated its Consent Order and twoproblem banks that were acquired in unassisted transactions in December 2010 -- First National Bank of Chester County, West Chester, PA ($1.1billion); and ShoreBank, Pacific, Ilwaco, WA ($180 million).

The new additions from the OCC and OTS are Amfirst Bank, NationalAssociation, McCook, NE ($254 million); and The Oculina Bank, Fort Pierce,FL ($133 million), respectively. The Illinois Department issued actions against

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Edens Bank, Wilmette, IL ($259 million); and eight banking subsidiaries of Metropolitan Bank Group, Inc. -- Archer Bank, Chicago, IL ($608 million);North Community Bank, Chicago, IL ($502 million); Plaza Bank, Norridge, IL($374 million); Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, Chicago, IL ($323million); Chicago Community Bank, Chicago, Il ($297 million); The First

Commercial Bank, Chicago, IL ($278 million); Citizens Community Bank of Illinois, Berwyn, IL ($218 million); and Community Bank of DuPage, Downers,IL ($61 million).

Next week, we anticipate for the FDIC to release its actions for December 2010, until then try to practice safe banking.

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2011/01/unofficial-problem-bank-list-increases_22.html

#11

House Prices – Up Or Down In 2011?

How soon will it be before people finally start using the term "depression" todescribe what has happened to the U.S. housing market? It has been four and a half years since housing prices began to decline, and they are stillfalling. In fact, U.S. housing prices have now fallen further during thiseconomic downturn than they did during the Great Depression of the 1930s.Just think about that. We are now in unprecedented territory, and mostanalysts believe that U.S. house prices will continue to decline in 2011.Mortgage rates have been moving up, mortgage delinquencies are on the riseagain, U.S. mortgage lenders have really tightened lending standards and"foreclosuregate" continues to plague the entire mortgage industry. It wouldbe really nice for the overall economy if house prices did go up in 2011, butright now it looks like that simply is not going to happen.

For many U.S. homeowners, all of this is absolutely sickening. Millions of homeowners are stuck in houses that they desperately want to sell, but theydon't want to take huge losses on their investments either.

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Millions of other U.S. homeowners are stuck paying on mortgages that are for far, far more than their homes are now worth.

Could you imagine paying $400,000 for a home that is now only worth$200,000?

Unfortunately, U.S. house prices just continue to decline.

According to CoreLogic, U.S. house prices have fallen for four months in arow, and in November (the last month CoreLogic has released numbers for)housing prices actually fell 5.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Sadly, house prices have dropped so much at this point that we have enteredtruly historic territory.

According to Zillow, U.S. housing prices have declined a whopping 26percent since their peak in June 2006. Amazingly, this is even farther thanhouse prices fell during the Great Depression. From 1928 to 1933, U.S.housing prices only fell 25.9 percent. A brand new record has now beenestablished.

So have we hit bottom yet?

Will house prices recover in 2011?

Unfortunately, every indication seems to point to even more declines in U.S.home prices. The following are five key factors that will continue to drivehouse prices down....

#1 Mortgage Rates Are Going Up

Over the past couple of months, mortgage rates in the United States havebeen moving up fairly steadily. That is going to make mortgages even moreexpensive for potential home buyers.

#2 Mortgage Delinquencies Are Increasing Again

As we approached the end of 2010, the number of mortgages in the U.S. thatare "seriously delinquent" started to creep up once again. That means thatwe are likely to see another bump in foreclosures at some point in 2011.There are already way, way too many homes on the market, so moreforeclosures will only add even more supply to a market that already has waytoo many homes for sale.

#3 Mortgage Lenders Have Really Tightened Standards

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Most large financial institutions have responded to the mistakes of the pastdecade by really, really tightening mortgage standards. It is now much harder to get a home loan in the United States. But if less people can qualify for amortgage that means that less people will be out there buying homes.

#4 The Entire Mortgage Industry Continues To Be Mired In LegalProblems

Foreclosuregate is a huge story that simply refuses to go away. For example, just the other day the highest court in Massachusetts voided the seizure of two homes after the big banks involved failed to prove that they actually heldthe mortgages at the time they foreclosed. This case made headlines all over the nation, and precedents such as this will encourage even morehomeowners to challenge their foreclosures in court. This is going to bereally bad for the big mortgage lenders and it is going to really slow down thepace of mortgage lending.

#5 The Underlying Economy Continues To Be Very Poor 

The American people cannot afford to buy good homes if they do not havegood jobs. But today there are seven million fewer middle class jobs thanthere were about ten years ago. As 2007 began, there were just over 1million Americans that had been unemployed for half a year or longer.Today, there are over 6 million Americans that have been unemployed for 

half a year or longer. Until there is a "jobs recovery" there simply is not goingto be a "housing recovery".

There are very few top economists that are actually optimistic about the U.S.housing market in 2011. In fact, there seems to be an emerging consensusamong analysts that house prices in America are going to decline quitesubstantially this year....

*Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics says that U.S. house prices are "doubledipping" and that we will likely see another 5 percent decline in housingprices during 2011.

*Economist Nouriel Roubini recently declared to CNBC that the "double-dip"for the U.S. housing market has already arrived....

"It's pretty clear the housing market has already double dipped." 

*Standard & Poor's analysts are projecting that U.S. home prices will fallanother seven to ten percent during 2011.

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*Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries expects home prices to continue tofall until at least mid-2011 and he is convinced that more hard times for theU.S. real estate market are still to come....

"Zillow believes that we’ll see bottom in national home values in Q2 or Q3 of 

2011 (more likely the latter), that home values will fall another 5-7% nationally (in the Zillow Home Value Index) between now and then, and that we’ll experience a very long, protracted bottom before home value appreciationreturns to historically normal rates." 

So it looks like the U.S. housing crash is going to continue for a while.

For those that make a living by building or selling homes, this has got to bevery depressing news.

But for those that are seeking to buy a house or that are seeking to buy someland, there could potentially be some very good deals out there over the nextyear or two.

So what do you think is going to happen to house prices in 2011? Please feelfree to leave a comment with your analysis....

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/house-prices-up-or-down-in-2011

#15

The More Americans That Go On Food Stamps The More Money JPMorgan Makes

JP Morgan is the largest processor of food stampbenefits in the United States. JP Morgan has contracted to provide foodstamp debit cards in 26 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. JP Morgan

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is paid for each case that it handles, so that means that the more Americansthat go on food stamps, the more profits JP Morgan makes. Yes, you readthat correctly. When the number of Americans on food stamps goes up, JPMorgan makes more money. In the video posted below, JP Morganexecutive Christopher Paton admits that this is "a very important business to

JP Morgan" and that it is doing very well. Considering the fact that thenumber of Americans on food stamps has exploded from 26 million in 2007 to43 million today, one can only imagine how much JP Morgan's profits in thisarea have soared. But doesn't this give JP Morgan an incentive to keep thenumber of Americans enrolled in the food stamp program as high aspossible?

There are just some things that are a little too "creepy" to be "outsourced" toprivate corporations. The JP Morgan executive in the interview below doeshis best to put a positive spin on all this, but it just seems really unsavory for abig Wall Street bank to be making so much money off of the suffering of tensof millions of Americans....

So if unemployment goes down will this ruin JP Morgan's food stampbusiness?

Well, apparently not. In the interview Paton says that 40% of food stamprecipients are currently working, and he seems convinced that there could befurther "growth" in that segment.

So is this what America is turning into?

A place where tens of millions of the unemployed and the working poor crawlover to Wal-Mart and the dollar store every month to use the food stamp debitcards provided to them by JP Morgan?

It turns out that JP Morgan also provides child support debit cards in 15 U.S.states and they also provide unemployment insurance benefit debit cards inseven states.

Apparently states have found that they can save millions of dollars by"outsourcing" the provision of these benefits to big financial firms like JPMorgan.

So what happens if you have a problem with your food stamp debit card?

Well, you call up a JP Morgan service center. When you do this, there is avery good chance that you are going to be helped by a JP Morgan call center 

employee in India.

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American people have needed a little grace and mercy from them they havebeen less than helpful.

So what do you think about how the big Wall Street banks have beenbehaving? Feel free to post a comment with your opinion below....

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-more-americans-that-go-on-food-stamps-the-more-money-jp-morgan-makes

#20

Are You Ready For The Universal Internet ID That Barack Obama WantsTo Impose On All Of Us?

The Obama administration is developing a"universal Internet ID" program that would watch, track, monitor and

potentially control your activity on the Internet. These "trusted identities" arebeing touted as a way to increase safety and security on the Internet and as away to eliminate the need for dozens of different usernames and passwords.But is a universal Internet ID that is issued and controlled by the U.S.government really a good idea? Right now, Obama administration officialsare trying to make it seem as non-threatening as possible. They are insistingthat it will not be mandatory. They are insisting that it would be impossible for hackers to steal the universal Internet identities. They are insisting that noneof our personal information will be gathered or used by federal agencies. Butin light of how regularly the government has abused our liberties andfreedoms in recent years in the name of "security", should we really believewhat they are saying about this new universal Internet ID?

Perhaps to assuage concerns about "Big Brother", the Obama administrationis proposing that the U.S. Commerce Department be the one to overseethese new universal Internet identities.

But how long do you think it would take for the Department of HomelandSecurity (along with several dozen other government agencies) to get

involved in "administering" these "trusted identities"?

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The potential for government abuse of such a system is absolutelystaggering. As we have seen so many times over the past few years, whenyou give government bureaucrats an inch, often they end up taking severalmiles.

So what are some of the other potential problems of such a system?

Well, by creating a "master key" to the Internet for each and every individual,if it is lost or stolen you could literally lose everything you have worked sohard for in a single day. Imagine what could happen if a very evil hacker gained instant access to your bank account, your credit cards, your Paypalaccount, your email, your Facebook account, your Twitter account, your Ebayaccount, your Amazon account, your blogs, your websites and everythingelse of importance on the Internet that belongs to you.

Just imagine the damage that could be done.

In addition, it would only be a matter of time before this universal Internet IDbecomes "a de facto national ID".

In fact, it is not hard to imagine that "in the name of security" Americanswould soon be required to link the universal Internet ID to biometricinformation or even link it to a microchip implant of some sort.

Of course this new program is going to "start out as voluntary", but how manytimes before has the government introduced "voluntary" programs that later became mandatory?

Once this universal Internet ID is implemented, it is only going to be a matter of time until many different federal agencies and a significant percentage of large corporations begin demanding that people start using it. Eventually itwould become extremely difficult to function on the Internet without one.Once that point arrives, it would only be a very small step to make itmandatory for everyone.

Of course right now the Obama administration insists that it is "doing us afavor" by creating a system that would enable us to be able to get rid of thedozens of usernames and passwords that we all use now.

But what all of this really sounds like is the kind of Internet controls that arebeing imposed in places like China.

The truth is that a universal Internet ID would give the U.S. government more

power to license, monitor and police the Internet than they have ever hadbefore.

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In fact, some talking heads on the major news networks are already toutingthis new identification system as a way to "tone down" the "vicious" rhetoricon the Internet.

Of course what that really means is that they want to shut up a lot of the

dissenting voices out there because they are not "politically correct" and theydon't agree with the version of the "truth" that the establishment media isconstantly pushing.

Hopefully the American people will realize that a universal Internet IDcontrolled by the government would be another gigantic step in the directionof becoming a Big Brother police state. Unfortunately, the American peoplehave not been doing a great job of standing up for liberty and freedom at thispoint. There was an initial uproar when the new "naked body scanners" wereinstalled at U.S. airports and when airport officials started feeling up our private areas as part of the new "enhanced pat-downs", but most Americansseem to have accepted these "new security procedures" at this point.

So now the Obama administration is ready to push even further. They wantto put a chokehold on the last great bastion of free speech in America - theInternet.

Someday if you have to get a license from the U.S. government to readarticles like this or to write articles like this, don't say that you weren't warned.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/are-you-ready-for-the-universal-internet-id-that-barack-obama-wants-to-impose-on-you

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