Link: http://www.businessinsider.com/citi-reveals-the-most-likely-debt-ceiling-endgame-and-why-its-bad-news-for-the-us-dollar-2013-1

Citi currency guru Steven Englander has a new note out this evening titled: No coin + temporary debt ceiling extension + sequester = US Dollar negative.

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9797957/Goldman-bankers-set-for-bonus-windfall-as-profits-rise.html

Goldman Sachs bankers are poised for a bigger windfall when bonuses are handed out later this month after the US investment bank enjoyed a stronger 2012. Analysts expect the Wall Street bank to have amassed a total compensation pot, which includes bonuses and salaries, of $13.3bn (£8.2bn) to $13.8bn for 2012.

Link: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-11/so-you-want-retire-five-disturbing-statistics-about-retirement-infographic

So all Americans in their twenties, thirties, forties, or even fifties, naively looking forward to their retirement, we have two words: "good luck."

Link: http://xrepublic.tv/node/1726

Rick Santelli on IL SB3144: "They Want An Audit Trail To Any Precious Metals"

Link: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2013/01/07/washingtons-hegemonic-ambitions-are-not-in-sync-with-its-faltering-economy-paul-craig-roberts/

In November the largest chunk of new jobs came from retail and wholesale trade. Businesses gearing up for Christmas sales added 65,700 jobs or 45% of November’s 146,000 jobs gain. With December sales a disappointment, these jobs are likely to reverse when the January payroll jobs report comes out in February. Family Dollar Stores CEO Howard Levine told analysts that his company’s customers were unable to afford toys this holiday season and focused instead on basic needs such as food. Levine said that his customers “clearly don’t have as much for discretionary purchases as they once did.”

Link: http://thetruthwins.com/archives/the-middle-class-in-america-is-being-wiped-out-here-are-60-facts-that-prove-it

The middle class in the United States is being systematically destroyed, and nobody is doing much of anything to stop it. Our incomes are shrinking, our share of the income pie is at an all-time low, our jobs are being sent overseas, debt burdens have soared to unprecedented heights and millions of formerly middle class Americans have fallen into poverty. America once had the largest and most vibrant middle class that the world has ever seen, but now it is rapidly being shredded. Unfortunately, this is particularly true for younger Americans. Today, families that have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.

Link: http://dprogram.net/2013/01/02/cash-strapped-red-cross-predicts-violent-riots-in-europe/

“For the first time we see growing pressure on Europeans, where more and more people have become really poor. Secondly, European countries use less money on social welfare due to the economic crisis,” Daccord said. “That creates new challenges for the Red Cross that we have not experienced previously.”

Link: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/happy-new-year-middle-class-the-fiscal-cliff-is-going-to-rip-you-to-shreds

The middle class has quite a gift welcoming them as the calendar flips over to 2013. Their payroll taxes are going to go up, their income taxes are going to go up, and approximately 28 million households are going to be hit with a huge, unexpected AMT tax bill on their 2012 earnings. So happy New Year middle class! You are about to be ripped to shreds. In addition to the tax increases that I just mentioned, approximately two million unemployed Americans will instantly lose their extended unemployment benefits when 2013 begins, and new Obamacare tax hikes which will cost American taxpayers about a trillion dollars over the next decade will start to go into effect.

Link: http://hamsayeh.net/articles/2588-say-goodbye-to-the-good-life.html

Will this be the last normal holiday season that Americans ever experience? To many Americans, such a notion would be absolutely inconceivable. After all, in the affluent areas of the country restaurants and malls are absolutely packed. Beautiful holiday decorations are seemingly everywhere this time of the year and children all over the United States are breathlessly awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus.

Link: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/12/17/the-fiscal-cliff-is-a-diversion-the-derivatives-tsunami-and-the-dollar-bubble/

The fiscal cliff is automatic spending cuts and tax increases in order to reduce the deficit by an insignificant amount over ten years if Congress takes no action itself to cut spending and to raise taxes. In other words, the “fiscal cliff” is going to happen either way.

Link: http://www.goldmoney.com/gold-research/alasdair-macleod/goodbye-to-liberty.html

Financial news The human race, in its advanced economic form, is committing euthanasia. The US, UK, Europe and Japan are all implementing economic policies that must ultimately result in the complete destruction of their currencies; and if you destroy the means of exchange of goods and services, your people will starve. The political class and government establishments have drifted in incremental steps into this tragedy. Far from being the guiding hand for society, they are its destroyers.

Link: http://www.activistpost.com/2012/12/10-signs-we-live-in-false-economy.html

It's time to admit that we live in a false economy. Smoke and mirrors are used to make us believe the economy is real, but it's all an elaborate illusion.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/12/11-9

RTW -- Brought Home to You by ALEC (and the Kochs, of course) At issue is a bill spearheaded by ALEC legislators so beholden to their corporate benefactors that they think it's legitimate to vote in secret as equals with corporate lobbyists on model bills like RTW through ALEC "task forces," as the Center for Media and Democracy's PRWatch/ALECexposed has previously reported. Key provisions of the Michigan RTW bills (for instance, HB 4054) are taken almost verbatim from the ALEC template.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/12/11-4

Police in riot gear confront thousands as legislation seen as blow to collective bargaining power, middle class passes. Republican Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law contentious "right-to-work" legislation on Tuesday after tear-gas wielding police and over ten thousand people protesting the attack on labor converged at the state Capitol and vowed that the day's action was just the beginning. Snyder's signature makes the state the 24th to have a law dubbed by critics as "right-to-work for less." "Unions built the middle class of America," he said. "This is a national attack. These folks want to shift more and more of the wealth to a smaller and smaller group of people."

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/12/10-1

As the city of Lansing, Mich. braces for thousands of workers and union supporters to descend on the capital in protest of the controversial right-to-work legislation, President Obama and congressional Democrats and met with Governor Rick Snyder urging him to "step back from the brink."

Link: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/12/08/more-phony-employment-numbers/

Statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) calls the government’s latest jobs and unemployment reports “nonsense numbers.” There are a number of ongoing problems with the released numbers.

Link: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/12/06/paul-craig-roberts-on-ron-paul-citizens-united-the-fiscal-cliff-and-america-today-read-more-httpcommunities-washingtontimes-comneighborhoodconscience-realist2012dec5paul-craig-roberts-ro/

The US cannot reclaim its economic vitality, which US corporations have sent abroad to India, China, and elsewhere, unless it can retrieve the offshored middle class jobs. The only way in which the US can retrieve its middle class jobs is to tax US corporations according to the geographical location at which value is added to their product.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/dec2012/clif-d05.shtml

Both the Democrats and the Republicans are using the artificial fiscal emergency to call for cuts in the basic federal health care programs, Medicare and Medicaid, as well as Social Security, the government pension program for the elderly, along with reductions in outlays for education, transportation, food stamps and other social needs. At the same time, they are pushing for a revamping of the tax system to slash rates for corporations and the rich and eliminate or reduce tax deductions that benefit working people.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/dec2012/socr-d05.shtml

Out-of-work parents charged for transporting children in back of moving truck... In an incident with modern-day echoes of The Grapes of Wrath, a Pennsylvania couple was charged with child neglect after being pulled over in New Castle, Indiana, driving cross-country with five of their children stowed away in the back of a Budget moving truck. Two other children were squeezed into the cab with their parents. The children in the back were aged 9 to 18.

Link: http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/worst-since-world-war-ii-50-unemployment-over-six-million-teens-and-young-adults-are-out-of-work-and-not-in-school_12042012

Amid a worsening fiscal crisis, a crumbling economy, and the destruction of over 40% of America’s wealth in just the last few years, it should be quite clear that this is no ordinary recession. In fact, with progressively dwindling job opportunities, a long-term downward trend in real estate prices, and the near doubling of participation in emergency benefits programs like food stamps and disability, one could make the argument that the United States is smack-dab in the middle of the next Great Depression.

Link: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-coming-derivatives-panic-that-will-destroy-global-financial-markets

When financial markets in the United States crash, so does the U.S. economy. Just remember what happened back in 2008. The financial markets crashed, the credit markets froze up, and suddenly the economy went into cardiac arrest. Well, there are very few things that could cause the financial markets to crash harder or farther than a derivatives panic. Sadly, most Americans don't even understand what derivatives are. Unlike stocks and bonds, a derivative is not an investment in anything real. Rather, a derivative is a legal bet on the future value or performance of something else. Just like you can go to Las Vegas and bet on who will win the football games this weekend,

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/275970.html

Most people associate inequality with the income gap. As distorted as the distribution of income may be, our wealth distribution is even more extreme. Americans are beginning to realize that years of preferential tax treatment for the rich, under the guise of "supply-side job creation" nonsense, have bloated the fortunes of the super-rich to a level that would make Rockefeller and Carnegie envious. 1. We're close to being the most unequal country in the world.

Link: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/truthdigger_of_the_week_iceland_20121201/?ln

One country refused to bail out its derelict banks and slash social spending amid the financial crisis. And guess what? Unlike the eurozone and the United States, it’s making a sturdy comeback

Link: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/12/01/our-collapsing-economy-and-currency/

Is the “fiscal cliff” real or just another hoax? The answer is that the fiscal cliff is real, but it is a result, not a cause. The hoax is the way the fiscal cliff is being used.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/nov2012/pers-n29.shtml

The media has largely ignored the main message from Monday’s meeting of euro zone finance ministers: that the Greek people confront years, if not decades, of austerity. In comparison, the issues headlined by the media—whether Greek debt falls below 120 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 or in 2022; whether lending rates are lowered or a debt haircut is imposed—were of a marginal and largely hypothetical nature. They boiled down to the question of how many food scraps one allows the victim, in order to exploit him as long as possible, before he eventually dies.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/nov2012/clif-n29.shtml

As the deadline for the so-called “fiscal cliff” grows nearer, the indications mount that, behind the smokescreen of deficit talks and media hype, the artificial fiscal emergency is the starting point of a process for making deep structural cuts in basic social programs that previously would have been considered politically impossible.

Link: http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/greek-politics-a-whos-who-of-chaos-and-exhaustion-4756/

As the days go by, the current chaos in Greece is rendered more and more perplexing and unwieldy, so much so that one might assume that this country likes to put itself into a permanent submissive position of misery. It’s like the hypocrisy of past generations is somehow infused into people’s DNA.

Link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-europe-banks-regulationbre8an04q-20121124,0,3104279.story

GUBBIO, Italy (Reuters) - European banks have asked the European Commission to postpone the introduction of tougher global bank capital rules by a year to 2014 after U.S. regulators delayed application of the new requirements.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/economy/6-reasons-fiscal-cliff-scam

Stripped to essentials, the fiscal cliff is a device constructed to force a rollback of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as the price of avoiding tax increases and disruptive cuts in federal civilian programs and in the military.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/20/273512/california-poorest-state-in-america/

A recent report indicates that while California is home to Hollywood and the largest number of billionaires, it is the poorest state in America, Press TV reports. According to a report by the US Census Bureau, California has a poverty rate of nearly 24 percent. This is a sharp rise from a previous 16 percent. This means that in California, nearly one in every four people is living in poverty.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/giant-lie-trotted-out-fiscal-conservatives-trying-shred-social-security

Trying to convince the public to cut America’s best-loved and most successful program requires a lot of creativity and persistence. Social Security is fiscally fit, prudently managed and does not add to the deficit because by law it must be completely detached from the federal operating budget. Obviously, it is needed more than ever in a time of increasing job insecurity and disappearing pensions. It helps our economy thrive and boosts the productivity of working Americans. And yet the sharks are in a frenzy to shred it in the upcoming “fiscal cliff” discussions.

Link: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/nationalize-oil-industry-we-americans-have-suffered-enough-oil-titans-control-industry/dLlD7xtY

For too many years the oil titans have been overcharging all Americans for their fuel needs. It started with kerosene and now has evolved into a well planned monopoly. Congress needs to address this issue without fear. Nationalizing the oil industry is a good start in recovery for our country. Too many people are suffering including small and large businesses that rely on transportation as a means of business exchange. The oil and gas industry has gone unchecked for way too long, thus the intentional spikes in fuel prices on a whim. We need bipartisan support from Congress. The oil titans have been ruling for way to long. The process of making a gallon of gas has not changed. The technology has gotten better, yet we all still pay more per gallon.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/nov2012/pove-n16.shtml

The ranks of the unemployed in the United States rose last year to 49.7 million, based on a new measure that provides a fuller picture of poverty than that previously reported by U.S. Census Bureau data. The revised poverty rate of 16.1 percent is up more than a percentage point from the 15 percent figure reported by the government in September.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/nov2012/obam-n14.shtml

Trade union leaders met Tuesday with President Barack Obama to give their support to his plans for massive cuts in social programs upon which tens of millions of workers depend. The hour-long, closed-door meeting at the White House was the first act in a carefully orchestrated campaign to convince the public that unprecedented cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps and other welfare programs are the only alternative to economic disaster in the form of the so-called “fiscal cliff.”

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/nov2012/fisc-n14.shtml

The term “fiscal cliff,” first used by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke last February, refers to the simultaneous expiration of tax cuts and imposition of spending cuts on January 1, 2013. The American media has seized on the term “fiscal cliff” and promoted it, in part, to suggest that measures which would otherwise be enormously popular—ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy or cutting military spending—are threatening, even dangerous.

Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/49802535

Marc Faber, managing director of Marc Faber Ltd. and publisher of the Gloom, Boom and Doom Report. “I don’t think markets are going down because of Greece, I don’t think markets are going down because of the ‘fiscal cliff’ — because there won’t be a ‘fiscal cliff,’ ” Faber told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “The market is going down because corporate profits will begin to disappoint, the global economy will hardly grow next year or even contract, and that is the reason why stocks, from the highs of September of 1,470 on the S&P, will drop at least 20 percent, in my view.”

Link: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981755562

Stocks tumbled again on fears of the rapidly approaching fiscal cliff in the United States and a failure by eurozone finance ministers and the IMF to decide how Greece will resolve its sovereign debt and pay off the banksters at Société Générale, Deutsche Bank, Eurobank, and other loan sharking institutions.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/11/07-9

It's a basic part of what makes America run, like our national highway system. Social Security is more popular than sliced bread. And it should be. Our Social Security system is the foundation of our families' security: We work hard and pay into it with every paycheck so each of us can retire with dignity.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/our-future-going-be-keeping-rich-people-happy-servant-economy

That's where we seem to be headed, as we shed decent American jobs. Fire fighter, basketball player, lion tamer, teacher, nurse: Ask little kids what they want to be when they grow up, and you’ll get all sorts of answers. But you’ll never hear this one. You’ll never hear youngsters say they want to devote their careers to serving rich people.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/11/02-5

Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz -- an Obama critic -- says Romney's cuts would be disastrous. Joseph Stiglitz has a decent résumé. He won the Nobel Prize in economics and served as chairman of Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers before being named chief economist of the World Bank. His C.V. , however, pales before his passionate commitment to pushing for economic policies that help the poor and powerless — inside and out of the United States. For Stiglitz, economics and social justice can’t be separated.