By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

Yesterday, a short but ominous press release was issued at the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.  It said, “At the request of CME Clearing Europe Limited (CMECEL), pursuant to Section 7 of the Commodity Exchange Act, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an Order on March 13, 2012, vacating the registration of CMECEL as a derivatives clearing organization.”   (more…)

Monday’s post closed with, “. . . The nonpartisan agency projected the government will run a deficit of $229 billion in February, the highest monthly figure ever.”  (Click here for the complete report from the Washington Times.)    That means the government spent nearly $8 billion more than it took in each and every day of last month (29 days).  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com   (Revised)

The way the latest unemployment numbers were reported by the mainstream media (MSM), you would think the Great Recession was over and the United States was solidly on the road to recovery.  The Associated Press reported the numbers by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) with a story that said (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

The big story was the meeting between the Prime Minister of Israel and the President of the United States on Monday.  Netanyahu told Obama in no uncertain terms that he was tired of waiting to attack Iran over its nuclear program.  Iran has said repeatedly it is for the peaceful production of energy, but Israel is not buying it.  (more…)

In my mind, ever since Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) allowed the banks to value things like mortgage-backed securities and real estate at whatever  they think they will be worth in the future, the system was insolvent.  The banking insolvency problem in America is so profound (FASB) changed the accounting rules in April of 2009 to cover it up.  In short the big banks,who control most of the assets in this country, are a mess and the system needs to be fixed.  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

On Monday, President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in the White House to discuss how they were going to handle Iran’s nuclear program.   I think the meeting was a disaster for anyone who thinks we are on the way to settling the situation with sanctions and diplomacy.  The President wants to give sanctions against Iranian banking and petroleum exports a chance to work.  They are harsh and getting rougher by the month.  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

There are more ways for the world economy to get much worse than there are ways for it to get better. One landmine waiting to be stepped on is the Greek sovereign debt.  The IMF and the European Central Bank are running the show, and the deal on the table now requires bondholders to voluntarily take steep cuts.  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com  (Revised)

Subprime lending is back, and it is creating headlines like: “February auto sales rise to highest level in 4 years.”  That comes from a story last week from Reuters.  Reuters goes on to say, “U.S. auto sales rose nearly 16 percent in February and the annual sales rate leapt to its best level in four years . . . For a second month in a row, sales surpassed even the most optimistic expectations.  (more…)

Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

The Middle East is hot and getting hotter.  Reports are out that the Pentagon is preparing aerial refueling for Israeli Jets.  U.S. military, also, now says it has what it takes to knock out Iran’s deep bunkers hiding its nuclear program.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says, once again, this past week, the President’s policy is “to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons capability.”  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

Countries around the world have been actively seeking ways to not do business in dollars for the past few years.  The U.S. dollar is the so-called world reserve currency, but the big question is for how long?  China and Japan are beginning to shun the dollar in trade between the two countries.  Mind you, this is the 2nd biggest economy in the world doing business without dollars with the 3rd biggest economy in the world.  Russia and China, also, have an agreement to not use the dollar, and even India recently announced it would trade gold for oil with Iran.  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

The political season is well underway, and the real problems of the country and how to fix them are not being talked about.  Instead, we get lengthy discussions on things like contraception or religion.  The banking system is being propped up by phony accounting and is insolvent if it were audited using the same accounting methods as the IRS.  Neither party is talking about real issues and real solutions for the country.  (more…)

Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

A good friend of mine, who has family living abroad, called me this weekend. One of the first things out of his mouth was about his sister in London and how she was dealing with “terrible inflation.” No doubt he was talking about the spike in gasoline prices that have risen to more than $8 a gallon. (The official inflation rate in the UK is around 3.6%, but I’m sure the numbers over there are as reliable as the inflation numbers in the U.S. where fuel and food are not counted in the so-called “core” inflation.)  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

Syria is the top story, this week, because the bloody revolution there has big super power war implications.  This violent uprising against Bashar Assad has been going on for months. Two journalists covering the story were killed in the fighting.  Now, there is talk of a NATO type involvement much the same as Libya.  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

I keep asking myself, when is a deal not a deal?  Every time I hear the words “Greek debt deal” or “Greek bailout” in the same sentence, I wonder if, this time, they really have a deal.  Yesterday, I was thinking that again when it was announced there was a new Greek debt deal.  The headline from Reuters read, “Europe seals new Greek bailout but doubts remain.”  (more…)

The latest headline proves, once again, Iran and Israel are moving closer to war.  The only question is when.  A headline, today, from Debka.com said, “Tehran steps into US-Israel Iran row with threat of pre-emptive strike.”  The story goes on to say, “Deputy Chief of Iran’s Armed Forces Gen. Mohammad Hejazi issued a new threat Tuesday, Feb. 21: “Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran’s national interests… we will act without waiting for their actions.” debkafile’s military sources report that an Iranian preemptive attack on Israel has been in the air for some weeks. (more…)