By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

Just a few weeks ago, an uprising toppled a little known Tunisian leader (President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.)  Tunisia is due west of Egypt, separated only by Libya.  About the only thing that seemed newsworthy was the family reportedly took flight with a ton and a half of gold.  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

Barack Obama addressed the country for the third State of the Union address of his Presidency this week.  In broad terms, he talked mostly about innovation, education and jobs.  To be fair, he also briefly touched on the deficit, the two wars we are fighting and unity.  But because so much emphasis was put on education, it sounded more like an address to a local PTA (more…)

I was on Coast to Coast AM early Wednesday morning.

Coast to Coast AM is a nation-wide radio show with a network of more than 500 radio stations.

I was on the first hour of the show (1am EST) to talk about the “REAL” State of the Union.

Check out the Coast to Coast website  here: http://www.coasttocoastam.com/

New USAWatchdog.com visitors from Coast to Coast AM – welcome to USAWatchdog! You are always welcome here.  Please leave a question or comment on what you think the “Real” State of the Union is in your neck of the woods.  I guarantee I will read and answer everyone.  If  you comment, make sure to include your city and state.  Please try to get to the point, and keep it sharp and short.  (But I won’t cut anyone off if they don’t.)

Here is audio from the C2C AM show from a reader named Brent.  He wrote me and said, “I happened to miss the show last night but I really wanted to hear it and I found it on youtube.  Here are the links to anyone else who missed it.” :

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YsCnyUlVWI

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ11s9L5F-4

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSECuqbkLTk

Also, please feel free to browse our site and read through some of the past few months most popular posts:

1. How Do I Buy Gold and Silver?
2. Headlines Confirming Troubled Times Are Here
3. The Most Predictable Financial Calamity in History
4. Bad Real Estate News Ignored to Spin Bright Future
5. New Year Predictions and Comments

–Greg Hunter–

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

In November 2010, the Federal Reserve announced a second round of economic stimulus commonly referred to as Quantitative Easing (QE2).  The reason, according to the Fed, was “progress toward its objectives has been disappointingly slow.”   So, to try and turn the economy around, the Fed said, “. . . the Committee intends to purchase a further $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

Housing starts are a tried and true barometer of business activity.  If there was a real economic recovery going on, housing starts would be, at the very least, edging up.  Please keep in mind the government is providing some of the lowest mortgage rates in a generation.  A 30-year mortgage is around 4.75%.  This week, the Commerce Department reported housing starts were down 4.3% last month. (more…)

Nearly every state in the Union and nearly every large city are facing ballooning budgets and shrinking tax revenue (confiscation).  Some, such as Illinois and California, are boarding on insolvency and need to fill budget holes that are tens of billions of dollars.  Tax receipts everywhere are plummeting because of the high unemployment rate that, in reality, is above 22%.  On top of that, foreclosures hit another record nationwide in 2010 and are expected to set yet another one this year.

(more…)

Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

For months now, the Federal Reserve has been worried about inflation being too low.  So low, that the Fed claims it is unhealthy to the U.S. economy.  When it announced its second wave of money printing (QE2) in early November 2010, the Fed said, “Longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable, but measures of underlying inflation have trended lower in recent quarters. . . . (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

I was shocked to see this headline from an Associated Press story yesterday, “Economists project home sales, construction to rise sharply in 2011 from extreme lows of 2010.”   I was dumbfounded by the title of the article and even more taken back when I read the story which said, “The forecast delivered at the International Builders’ Show in Orlando sees U.S. economic growth sharply lifting home sales and residential construction over the next two years, but from near-historic lows posted last year. “  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

Just after the first of the year, the Chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers, Austan Goolsbee, emphatically pushed for Congress to raise the debt ceiling.  Goolsbee said on the ABC Sunday talk show, “This Week,” if it was not raised, the “impact on the economy would be catastrophic . . . “If we get to the point where we damage the full faith and credit of the United States, that would be the first default in history caused purely by insanity.” (more…)

The 2011 Predictions post garnered more than 100 comments and several hundred predictions.  I want to thank everyone for taking the time to make a prediction or comment.  Your involvement is what makes this site come alive.   I put together a few of your predictions below.  I thought they were, for the most part, deductive and rational.  Here are a few of the highlights from USAWatchdog.com readers: (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

In case you have not heard, Fannie and Freddie (also known as Government-Sponsored Enterprises or GSE’s) settled a big lawsuit with Bank of America Monday.  The case was settled for cents on the dollar, even though the GSE’s had had a strong case to force B of A to buy back billions in sour mortgage-backed securities (MBS.) (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

This post is going to be a little different because I want you all to be an even bigger part of the site than normal.  I want you to give me your predictions for 2011.  It can be as simple as what you think the price of gold, silver and oil will be, or as complicated as what country or countries might go to war. (more…)

Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com (updated)

From the very beginning of QE2, it was no secret the Federal Reserve wanted the stock market to rise.  The Fed got its wish.  Many people see the stock market increase of nearly 20% in a few short months as a sign things are turning around.   The turnaround is really a mirage of the printing press. (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

The mainstream media was at it again last week–putting a positive spin on the awful real estate market.  The USA Today headline on top of the “Money” section last Thursday read “Optimism for home sales adds up.”   The story said, “The trend is starting to move in the right direction,” says Diane Swonk, chief economist at financial services firm Mesirow Financial.  (more…)