Saving Cyprus Means Nobody’s Bank Accounts Safe as Europe Breaks Taboo

"The island nation’s rescue sets precedents for the euro zone that may stick in the memory of depositors and bondholders alike as investors debate who will next fall victim to the debt crisis. Senior Cypriot bank bond holders will take losses and uninsured depositors will be largely wiped out. The message that stakeholders of all stripes can be coerced into helping a cash-strapped nation may make investors more skittish they’ll be targeted if Slovenia, Italy, Spain or even Greece again is next in line to need help. The risk is that bank runs and bond market selloffs become more likely the moment a country applies for a new rescue." Continue reading

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Top EU official: Cyprus bank rescue new template

"Inflicting losses on banks' shareholders, bondholders and even large depositors should become the 17-country eurozone's default approach for dealing with ailing lenders, a top European official said Monday. Banks' owners and investors must be held responsible 'before looking at public money or any other instrument coming from the public side,' said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs the Eurogroup gatherings of the 17 eurozone finance ministers. The bailout program for Cyprus marks the first time in Europe's three-year-old debt crisis that large deposit holders — wealthy savers, business people or institutions — will be forced to take losses." Continue reading

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The Seeds of War Have Been Sown

"Unless the Troika backs off the weaker, heavily-indebted countries, which is not likely, yes, I believe Europe is headed toward massive civil unrest and war. Vladimir Putin is up in arms over the crisis in Cyprus. He will not stand idly by while Russian money is at risk in Europe. Keep in mind that Russia largely controls the European energy sector. If Putin feels Russian financial losses in Europe are unjust, I don’t doubt for one minute that he would threaten to retaliate by 'turning the lights out' in Europe. War and massive civil unrest in many parts of the world is a very real threat. And it’s already starting to impact the financial markets." Continue reading

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Why the Government Is Desperately Trying to Inflate a New Housing Bubble

"Many people claim the Federal government and Federal Reserve are trying to inflate a new housing bubble to trigger a new 'wealth effect,' i.e. people seeing their home equity rising once again will feel encouraged to borrow and blow money like they did in 2001-2008. But if we look at current income (down) and debt levels (still high), there is little hope for a renewed wealth effect from housing. That leaves us with this conclusion: The Federal government and Federal Reserve are trying to inflate another housing bubble to save the 'too big to fail' banks from a richly deserved day of reckoning." Continue reading

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There Will Be No Economic Recovery. Prepare Yourself Accordingly.

"Everything you need to know that the media is not telling you... Stefan Molyneux, host of Freedomain Radio - and winner of the 2012 Liberty Inspiration Award - breaks down the unspoken facts about the end of freedom, opportunity and trade in the modern United States. There will be no economic recovery, prepare yourself accordingly." Continue reading

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Feinstein’s Assault Weapons Bill: Dead on Arrival

"Feinstein is not just a liberal. She is a California liberal. She is a feminist California liberal. That is, she does not have a lick of political sense. Her bill is creating the biggest wave of gun buying we have seen in my lifetime. Across the nation, there is massive demand to buy guns. Every time Feinstein opens her mouth, another American who never thought of buying a gun heads for Walmart to buy a shotgun or some other weapon. Feinstein is the gun industry’s manna from heaven. Like manna in the wilderness, she keeps coming back every day." Continue reading

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Nigel Farage: EU wants to steal money from Cypriots bank accounts

"Taking the bailout model to extremes - the EU has given Cyprus an ultimatum - either force savers to save banks, or go bankrupt. United Kingdom Independence Party MEP Nigel Farage gives his perspective on the deposit levy and Cypriot parliament vote." Continue reading

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The Retirement Crisis That Must Not Be Mentioned

"A theme that is little explored in the Western mainstream press is that retirement has all but collapsed for many in the middle classes. We have in the past called this condition 'dreamtime' – for it was built on central banking initiatives and fostered by central banking super-money printing. The idea was that the stock market was going to go up and up – and people would be able to take retirement based on their own investment initiatives. In Europe, state-fostered retirement provided a slightly different model. But the main issue in both the US and Europe was that an entity larger than the individual was going to manage the realities of retirement." Continue reading

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Retirement crisis: Impoverished seniors on horizon

"American households are so strapped that only half could come up with $2,000 in cash if an unexpected need arose in the next month. You would think that savings levels would increase, but no. The percentage reporting saving anything for retirement is at 66 percent, down from 75 percent in 2009. In a little more than a decade, there will be a lot of older people who will run out of money. There will be stories written in 2025 about Joe Smith, 82, a retired autoworker, living in a flophouse on $2,100 a month in Social Security after his pension was cut off and his personal savings ran out, while his children, in their 60s themselves, moved 2,000 miles away." Continue reading

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Can Your Edward Jones Financial Advisor Really Serve Your Best Interests?

"Edward Jones agreed, without admitting any wrongdoing, to a $75 million regulatory settlement with the SEC for allegedly failing to disclose that it received tens of millions of dollars from preferred mutual fund partners each year on top of commissions and other fees. Investors shouldn't need to worry that they're getting fleeced by the very person who's being paid to advise them. Investors are at greater risk of being taken advantage of when their advisor is not required to put them first, has strong economic incentives to generate fees, and doesn't need to disclose those conflicts of interest in a particularly clear way." Continue reading

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