Jim Grant Must Watch: "Capitalism Is An Alternative For What We Have Now"

Submitted by Tyler Durden: Jim Grant is simply brilliant in this must watch interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, which we won't spoil with commentary, suffice to provide the following pearl of an exchange:
Maria Bartiromo: "What are the alternatives?"
Jim Grant: "Capitalism is an alternative for what we have now. I highly recommend it."  
Maria: "We all do."  
Grant: "No we don't."  
Maria: "The Federal Reserve may not."
Grant: "We ought to be discussing an intelligent move to a sound currency by which i mean a currency that is based on a standard and not at the whim and the discretion of a bunch of mandarins sitting around Washington D.C."

In other news, Joseph Stalin has never been happier in his grave that Ben Bernanke has decided to shoulder the legacy of central planning and is firmly committed to proving that where Vissarionovich failed, the ChairSatan will succeed. At any cost. Source

Central Bank Attempt To Sucker In Retail Investors Back Into Stocks Has Failed

Submitted by Tyler Durden: In what should come as no surprise to anyone who has a frontal lobe, yet will come as a total shock to the central planners of the world and their media marionettes, the latest attempt to sucker in retail investors courtesy of a completely artificial 20% stock market ramp over the past 4 months driven entirely by the global liquidity tsunami discussed extensively here in past weeks and months, has suffered a massive failure. 

Exhibit 1 and only: as ICI shows today, following what is now a 20% ramp in the stock market, not only have retail investors continued to pull out cash from domestic equity mutual funds (about $66 billion since the recent lows in October, the bulk of which has gone into bonds and hard commodities), but the week of February 29, when the market peaked so far in 2012, saw the biggest outflow of 2012 to date, at -$3 billion. Alas, this means that the traditional happy ending for the authoritarian regime, whereby stocks get offloaded from Primary Dealers, and GETCO's subsidiaries, to the retail investor, is not coming, and soon the scramble for the exits among the so-called "smart money" will be a sight to behold.

China Orbiter Discovers Alien Moon Bases???

Pictures yet to be released clearly show nuclear impact craters and building debris caused by explosions in an effort by NASA to destroy the truth. 

China is moving toward full disclosure of the Extraterrestrial reality, if these images and future ones are verified genuine then NASA should be investigated for fraud and treason.

Don't Attack Iran - Student Stop The War Campaign - London

StopTheWar Coalition is starting a campaign to prevent an attack on Iran. This meeting was held in a University Student Union building, and aimed at students, with some student speakers, these are just highlights. Source

Germany to Repatriate Reserves - Fears Fed is Loaning German Gold Savings

The German Federal Audit Office has criticized lax Bundesbank controls of and management of Germany's 3,396.3 tons in gold reserves. It is believed that some 60% of Germany's gold is stored outside of Germany and much of it in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to facilitate payment and trade, according to German newspaper Bild. A Parliamentary Budget Committee will assess how the bank manages the inventory of bullion totaling 42% of Germany's money held as savings in reserve.

Other central banks will follow Hugo Chavez's "mission accomplished" (Detail Here), and now Germany's footsteps in bringing home - repatriating - their gold, retaining direct possession of and therefore true ownership, not multiple paper promises of ownership (re-hypothecated).

Good timing for this type of news, as paper gold shorting has escalated as of recent and can absorb the bids which this news prompted, preventing a paper price spike much higher than the goal of maintaining order allows.

These moves are important in order to be better prepared for systemic crisis. Clearly this concern is developing, as moves in gold custody become more frequent. If the eurozone were to collapse under the 37x leveraged €3 trillion balance sheet chock full of non-performing "assets" the Bundesbank's losses would total near €500 billion, more than 150% of GDP. Chart above current to January 2012.

Syrian Girl - Colour Revolutions Soros or Levi Flavours

Syrian Girl takes us around the worlds unfolding events, with a near constant backdrop of colored revolutions. Source

How Does Anybody Make a Living These Days?

by Bill Sardi

With economist John Williams of ShadowStats.com pointing out the real US unemployment rate is above 20% and the economy is headed for some sort of future calamity before 2014 that may bring on unemployment rates of 50-60%, finding and keeping a job has to become "Job 1" in America.

The young who are entering the workforce for the first time are hit the hardest because they usually do not have the experience or financial backing to start their own business. Though one of my neighbor’s sons is defying the odds and starting his own online business – a first-of-its-kind site that helps school sports teams raise money now that public and private schools don’t have sufficient funds.

Value traps

A major problem that I see is that it never dawns upon many people they need to increase their value. And there are "value traps" as I call them – getting a PhD is no guarantee you will be gainfully employed. For example, in Cuba and Argentina there are few jobs so people go back for more schooling. These countries have the best-educated cab drivers. Taxi driving is the only job that is widely available. A lesson here may be to use your education to create your own job rather than relying upon someone else to create opportunity for you.

Zionism the Invisible Force Behind All Upheavals - Turkish Newspaper Editor

40 years ago the Arabs were united against Israel, now they are fighting amongst one another. Over many centuries a hidden hand has perfected the manipulation of masses of people everywhere, even in our own democracies where Presidents and Prime Ministers are picked for us. The Orthodox clique are the kernel. Nesin is the Senior Editor at the Turkish Newspaper Source

‘Web users want freedom, not free stuff’ – UK Pirate Party boss

Internet activists do not rally for “free online stuff,” the leader of the UK Pirate Party told RT. Rather, they protest against giving government tools to censor the web and to restrict civic freedoms.

Online users who came to protest against ACTA bill in Europe and SOPA and PIPA legislations in the United States, did not rally for “free online stuff” but were inspired by more selfless goals, leader of the UK Pirate Party Loz Kaye says.

"It is not about free stuff. It is about free people and free expression – that is what is driving people out onto the street,” he said.

“We are constantly told by governments when it suits them how important the internet is…But suddenly when it comes to home territory they do not seem to like to be challenged,” Kaye added. “What we have always been saying in the Pirate Party: it is not simply that it is about culture on this particular area, it is about ‘what are the tools we are giving to our governments?’ We are giving our governments tools to censor the internet."

European Banks Now Face Huge Margin Calls As ECB Collateral Crumbles

Submitted by Tyler Durden: In what could prove to be the most critical unintended consequence of the ECB's LTRO program, we note that as of last Friday the ECB has started to make very sizable margin calls on its credit-extensions to counterparties. While the hope was for any and every piece of lowly collateral to be lodged with the ECB in return for freshly printed money to spend on local government debt, perhaps the expectation of a truly virtuous circle of liquidity lifting all boats forever is crashing on the shores of reality. This 'Deposits Related to Margin Calls' line item on the ECB's balance sheet will likely now become the most-watched 'indicator' of stress as we note the dramatic acceleration from an average well under EUR200 million to well over EUR17 billion since the LTRO began.
The rapid deterioration in collateral asset quality is extremely worrisome (GGBs? European financial sub debt? Papandreou's Kebab Shop unsecured 2nd lien notes?) as it forces the banks who took the collateralized loans to come up with more 'precious' cash or assets (unwind existing profitable trades such as sovereign carry, delever further by selling assets, or subordinate more of the capital structure via pledging more assets - to cover these collateral shortfalls) or pay-down the loan in part. This could very quickly become a self-fulfilling vicious circle - especially given the leverage in both the ECB and the already-insolvent banks that took LTRO loans that now back the main Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese sovereign bond markets.

My Take On Andrew Maguire's Silver Arrow

Marc Faber explains how money printing divides societies and tests investors

The central banks of the world can counter a depression by printing money and know the quantity of money printed but they cannot predict where that money will go. Inflation increases the gap between the rich and poor, and makes life very tough for investors. This is the broad thesis that legendary investor Dr Marc Faber presented at the Hedge Funds World conference in Dubai this morning. He went so far as to blame social and political phenomena like the Arab Spring on the divisive effect of inflation produced by money printing.

Money printing side-effects

Higher food and energy prices are directly linked to the central bank policies to counter the global financial crisis, he said. This is arguably the root cause of the Arab Spring protests, revolutions and civil wars and so the divisive impact is clear.

Poorer sections of society spend a far greater portion of their wealth on food and energy than the rich and so feel a disproportionate impact when these prices go up. They don’t like it and rebel against the established order. Apart from underlining the importance of looking after the basic welfare of populations the world’s fifth wisest investor in a Bloomberg poll also had some thoughts on what this means for investors.

Netherlands looking for Euro Exit as Supercomputer prepares for Financial Judgement Day

"We will keep all options -- including military action -- on the table to prevent [Iran] from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told America's Pro-Israel lobby AIPAC today. Swiss money manager and Gloom Boom Doom Report publisher Marc Faber isn't waiting for war. He said in an interview he thinks "sooner or later, the U.S. or Israel will strike Iran - it's almost inevitable." Faber recommends a formula of 25% cash, 25% equities, 25% gold, and 25% real estate or real estate equities as a formula to provide some safety against these financial headwinds. We ask Mike Shedlock, Investment Advisor for Sitka Pacific Capital and author of the popular Global Economic Analysis blog what he thinks.

Stratfor leaks: NATO commandos in illegal special ops in Syria

Undercover NATO troops are already in Syria despite denials from their parent governments, according to a leaked brief from a highly-placed analyst.

The information comes from a hacked email from leading private US intelligence agency Stratfor, whose correspondence has been released by Wikileaks since February 27. The email appears to be written from the address of Reva Bhalla (bhalla@stratfor.com), the company’s director of analysis, for internal use, and details a confidential Pentagon meeting in December. The consultation is alleged to have been attended by senior analysts from the US Air Force, and representatives from its chief allies, France and the United Kingdom.

Western powers have categorically denied military involvement in Syria’s internal conflict, for which they have no international mandate. But if the information contained in the letter is reliable, a radically different picture of Western activity in Syria emerges.

The Illuminati are Panicking? David Icke Reports

On the Tuesday, March 6 edition of the Alex Jones Show, Alex talks with former BBC television sports presenter, spokesman for the Green Party, author and speaker David Icke. He is the author of Infinite Love Is the Only Truth: Everything Else Is Illusion and is featured in a number of videos, including Speaking Out: Who Really Controls the World and What We Can Do About It and Freedom or Fascism: The Time to Choose. Source