By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com   
According to economist John Williams at Shadow Government Statistics (SGS), we are getting “… false positive signals…” for monthly numbers such as retail sales and unemployment.  So, a recovery looks like it is taking place when a deeper analysis into the government numbers shows it is not.  Williams says in his latest report, “Generally, the economy continues to sink or bottom-bounce; no recovery is in place.”    A perfect example of a false positive is the seasonally-adjusted retail sales data from last year compared to now.  In November 2008, …

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com   
Alex,a friend of mine, sent me an email with just one sentence.  It said, “Did you read this?”   It was an article published this week by NYU Economics Professor Nouriel Roubini titled, “Roubini: Here’s Five Reasons The “Barbarous Relic” Gold Is Going To Tank.”  Alex and I like and respect Roubini because he was one of the few economists to call the coming financial crisis well before the meltdown.  Alex knew I would be taken aback, like he was, at the bearish call on gold. 

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
Kenneth Feinberg was appointed by the Obama Administration as a so-called “Pay Czar” after public outrage over big compensation packages at firms that were bailed out by the government.  Feinberg has been on the job as pay cop for a little over 6 months.  He is attempting to cut the salaries of top executives by limiting the cash portion of pay to just $500,000.  The rest of the compensation can be in stock but must be held for 3 years before cashing it in according to Feinberg’s …

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
This week nationally syndicated columnist George Will wrote a piece called “Playing Politics with the Fed.”  Mr. Will is squarely against Congressional legislation called the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009.  This bill will force the Federal Reserve to open its books for an audit.   The bill, also known as “Audit the Fed,” has 317 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives alone, a more than two-thirds majority.  There are 137 Democrats and 180 Republicans backing an audit, so it is very serious bi-partisan legislation. 

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
President Obama’s “Jobs” speech this week hinted, once again, that he is well aware the U.S. Government has a ballooning deficit problem.  In remarks made to the Brookings Institute, the President said, “There are those who claim we have to choose between paying down our deficits on the one hand, and investing in job creation and economic growth on the other. But this is a false choice.

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
The FDIC just shut down another 6 banks last Friday.  There is no end in sight for the bank failures coming.  To make matters worse, the FDIC is way more than $8 billion in the hole as far as insurance funds to close insolvent banks.  That is pretty scary if you ask me.  Many people have been asking how they should protect themselves?    

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 
Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke was in front of the Senate Banking Committee trying to hold on to his job.  Some Senators were complimentary on Bernanke’s job.  Republican Senator Judd Gregg from New Hampshire gave the Fed Chairman a warm welcome.  Judd said, “If you hadn’t been there, and hadn’t been willing to take extraordinary action last fall, last winter, and even early spring … it’s very likely we would be experiencing a depression…”   I look at Bernanke’s performance during the financial crisis the same way …

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
I watched the President last night address the nation on why he needed to send 30 thousand more troops to Afghanistan.  He said it would cost an additional $30 billion for this escalation.  That works out to 1 million bucks per soldier.  There are 68 thousand troops already there.  That means there will be 98 thousand troops on the ground in Afghanistan in 2010.  Using the President’s math, 98 thousand troops will cost $98 billion dollars a year! 
I do not envy the President.  Sending people to battle …

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
Last week, just before the Thanksgiving holiday, Dubai World asked creditors if it could suspend payments on nearly $60 billion in debt.  Experts call this a “technical default” by Dubai itself because it owns Dubai World which is a state run investment company. 
Imagine calling your banker and telling him that you are not going to make your mortgage payment for at least 6 months; that would also be considered a technical default.  The folks defaulting on their debt are famous for building the man-made palm tree shaped island …

 By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced this week that the insurance fund that covers more than $4.5 trillion in deposits was not only depleted but has a negative balance of $8.2 billion according to the Wall Street Journal.   The FDIC is now an insurance fund with no money of its own.  The FDIC says it still has $23.3 billion to cover failing banks.  It also has a $500 billion line of credit at the U.S. Treasury.  FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said in early September, “…We can tap up …