Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
The debt ceiling impasse is a monster story and, once again, it tops our Weekly News Wrap-Up (WNW) on USAWatchdog.com.  I have been saying for more than a week Congress is going to miss the August 2nd deadline for getting a deal done to avoid default.  Yesterday did not change my mind.  The two parties are as far apart as ever.  The U.S. will not default on Treasury debt, but many bills are not going to be paid. 

There have been a lot of naysayers when it comes to the gold bull market we are in right now.  I don’t see how anyone can deny it exists, but many who missed it, now say gold is in a bubble.  I just want to hold my sides and laugh because the facts, and experts who predicted this years ago, say just the opposite.   It is hard for many to see this, but gold is really just getting started.  To equal the previous 1980 high of $850 an ounce, gold would have to …

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 
Watching the debt negotiations is like watching two stubborn people headed over a waterfall.  Both are too blockheaded to steer the boat towards land on the left or the right.  So, both go over the edge and will see how long the other can hold his breath.  Both, of course, drown in this story, right along with the rest of the country.  Yesterday, Speaker Boehner said he wanted to call the President’s bluff and not give him a “blank check.” 

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 
Last week, this story from Reuters really got me upset.  The headline read: “States negotiating immunity for banks over foreclosures.”  The story said, “A coalition of all 50 states’ attorneys general has been negotiating settlements with five of the biggest U.S. banks that would include payment of up to $25 billion in penalties and commitments to follow new rules.

Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 
It looks like even the mainstream media (MSM) can see a calamity if we are right on top of one.  Finally, the dire debt ceiling negotiations between Congress and the White House were covered wall-to-wall on all the major media outlets yesterday.   No comment better describes the frightful situation America faces over its debt problem than what Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said yesterday on FOX

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com   
“Deal or No Deal.”  That’s what I am now calling the debt ceiling debate between Congress and the White House.  I said last week that it is going to be tough getting tax increases and spending cuts big enough to get a $2.5 trillion raise in the debt ceiling through the House of Representatives. 

By Greg Hunters USAWatchdog.com
I have been telling you for the past few days that I am not so sure Congress and the White House will get a debt ceiling deal done to avoid default on August 2nd.  The grand plan was to raise the debt ceiling around  $2.5 trillion to allow the U.S. to borrow money and pay all of its bills.  Just this week I said, given the polarization between Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives,  a debt deal is not going to be easy, if they can do one at all. 

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 
Yesterday, there was a UK hearing featuring father and son executives Rupert and James Murdoch over alleged phone hacking.  The spectacle was covered wall-to-wall by most cable news outlets.  Channel surfing, I realized that at one point, CNN, HLN, FOX News, FOX Business, MSNBC, CNBC and Bloomberg were all running the testimony.  The coverage was highlighted by a disgruntled protester attempting to hit the senior Murdoch with some sort of foam pie. 

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 
In April, 14 of the nation’s biggest banks promised federal regulators they would stop robo-signing documents to foreclose on homes.  This was part of a settlement to clean up the foreclosure mess caused by wild lending of the banks.  Nearly 8 months ago, the banks were caught red handed fraudulently creating fake documents because they lost track of the originals in the haze of creating mortgaged-backed securities.

Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 
Last week, in testimony on Capitol Hill, Fed Chief Ben Bernanke said, “The pace of the economic recovery will pick up.”  As far as the weak economy is concerned, Mr. Bernanke also said there would be, “a notably better performance than we have seen so far this year.”  I could not believe what I was hearing.  It was totally opposite to other economic news that came out in the very same week.

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
There are two big debt crises going on now in the world.  First, in Washington D.C., the debt ceiling talks have gotten ugly and have hit an impasse.  I don’t know if Democrats and Republicans will get a deal done in time before the default deadline of August 2nd.  I do know if a deal is not done, Fed Chief Bernanke predicts “calamity” and “chaos” if the U.S. defaults on its debt. 

Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
The gloves came off in the fight over raising the debt ceiling yesterday.  On CBS News, the President basically threatened to cut off Social Security checks by August 3rd if a deal was not reached.  Mr. Obama said to veteran newsman Scott Pelly, “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue, because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.”

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 
If the debt ceiling deal wasn’t complicated enough, Friday’s terrible unemployment report poured sand into the gears that ground negotiations to a halt.  Nothing came out of Sunday’s meeting of Congressional leaders at the White House on resolving America’s debt crisis.

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com  (Updated and revised)
It is amazing that so few people know or want to know about the debt ceiling negotiations going on in Washington D.C. this weekend.  It has been reported the raise is in the neighborhood of $2.4 trillion.  That’s 2,400 billion bucks, and please remember a billion is 1,000 million.  On the other hand, the public is being bombarded with every tiny detail about the Casey Anthony case by the mainstream media.

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com   
Thank goodness the Casey Anthony case is over!  The jury thinks she is not guilty of murder.  I don’t know if they got right or wrong, but I do know many dollars and much air time was devoted to a story that will have zero effect on the lives of 99.999% of Americans.  I think the discovery of a walking, talking Martian would have gotten about the same attention.