By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

When I Google the phrase “TSA outrage,” I find 2 million search results.  I can only view this as a black eye for the Transportation Security Administration.  I know these folks have a tough job trying to keep the country safe from terrorists, but who reins them in when they go too far?  What do I mean by too far? Some examples include being arrested by the TSA over applesauce, a bladder cancer survivor being left covered in urine after an aggressive pat-down at the airport and TSA child molestation – children being strip searched and fondled in public by agents.   If you do not submit to the radiation of full body TSA scanner images then you get the pat-down check from the TSA. (more…)

Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

General Motors started trading publicly last week in what is being called one of Wall Street’s most successful Initial Public Offerings (IPO) in years.  The automaker took in $20 billion selling newly minted shares of this iconic American company.  That is only part of the $50 billion price tag in the bailout, but letting GM go under would have been far worse. (more…)

Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair gave a speech to the securities industry in New York City this past Wednesday.  In her opening remarks, she said, “Now, as a tentative economic recovery continues to build, and as the earnings of banks and other financial companies begin to recover, we must resist the natural impulse to return to business as usual.    Instead, now is the time to carry through with our work to strengthen financial market practices and products and sharpen our approach to financial regulation.”  Apparently, the Financial Standards Accounting Board (FASB) wants to do just that and return to fair market accounting. (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com  

I was on the nation-wide radio show, Coast to Coast AM, for 3 hours early Monday morning.  Ian Punnett filled in for the regular host, George Noory.  Punnett is a pro, and he guided me through many subjects I have been writing about for the past several weeks on USAWatchdog.com.  I write about the economy, politics and the mainstream media the most, and we covered them all in my interview.  The comments and emails in the last 24 hours have been massive and daunting.  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

What is happening in the economy is signaling enormous changes for the U.S. and the world.  The scale of what the Federal Reserve is doing is unparalleled in human history.  No country has ever produced so much money and so much debt in such a short amount of time.   The Fed has embarked on another round of money printing (Quantitative Easing or QE2).  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

The G-20 kicked off in Seoul South Korea this week.  It seems to me everyone should be talking about the U.S. defaulting on its obligations by massive money printing.  Instead, the group of twenty finance ministers and central bankers from the most important industrialized and developing economies of the world has been sidetracked.  (more…)

The piece you are about to read is from our friend, Ellen Brown.  Her posts are on the long side, but heavy on detail and fact.  This is what I love about her—she backs up her work.  This piece is a great addendum to the post I did Monday called “The Fed’s Biggest Fear.” Their biggest fear is, also, the biggest financial problem facing America.  It is the mortgage mess and the layers of fraud, taxpayer rip-offs and the extremely leveraged banks.  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

Last week’s decision by the Fed to start another round of Quantitative Easing was met with only one dissenting vote by the Federal Open Market Committee.  That does not mean everybody in the rest of the world thinks this is a good idea.  Any country holding dollars is faced with a decrease in buying power.  Some of the most powerful members of the G-20 are highly critical of the Fed’s money printing. (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

One day after the Federal Reserve announced a $600-$900 billion second round of Quantitative Easing (QE2), gold and silver hit fresh all-time highs.  Yesterday, the yellow metal surged more than $40 an ounce to well over $1,390 before falling back a few dollars in after hours trading.  Silver, also, had a monster move!  It was up more than a $1.50 per ounce.  It, too, retracted slightly in after hours trading.  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com  

Now that the mid-term elections are over, it is time to get back to reality.  Just because House Minority Leader John Boehner is taking over for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House doesn’t mean the economy will get better.  Yes, the Republicans can now, pretty much, put the kibosh on the Obama agenda with big victories in the House and Senate, but is that enough to turn things around?  In a word–no.  (more…)

I love the article you are about to read because it is very much in line with some of what this site is about.  USAWatchdog.com is neither “Democrat nor Republican, liberal or conservative.”  I just want to connect the dots and find out what’s really going on, no matter which party is in power.  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

In the wake of the financial meltdown of 2008, the Federal Reserve announced it would buy mortgage-backed securities, or MBS.  The January announcement by the Fed said it would buy MBS from failed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the amount of $1.25 trillion.  At the time, the Fed said in a press release, “The goal of the program was to provide support to mortgage and housing markets and to foster improved conditions in financial markets more generally.”  (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

When I was an investigative reporter at the networks, the first question we would ask when trying to decide if we wanted to do a story was: How many?  How many people have been hurt by a defective product?  How many defective products of a certain kind were in use? How many dollars will it take to fix the problem?  In the case of the recent mortgage crisis – “Foreclosuregate,” the question of how many has been answered. (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com  (revised)

Did you know that in the aftermath of the Savings and Loan (Thrifts) scandal there were more than a thousand felony convictions of financial elites?  The cost of the wrongdoing associated with the rip-off and closure of nearly 800 Thrifts cost taxpayers more than $160 billion.  The current sub-prime/mortgage-backed security scandal is 40 times bigger according to Economics professor William Black.  That means the size of the crime is $6.4 trillion by my calculation.  (more…)

In January of 2009, I wrote a post called “Default Option.”  My outrageous plan was to simply let the banks fail.  Some people told me that was an unthinkable way to handle the financial meltdown, but I still think otherwise.  Yes, it would have been rough.  Bondholders and shareholders would have been wiped out, unemployment would have shot up, and lots of people would have lost money.   Back then, I wrote, “In short, the incompetent banks would be liquidated and competent banks would take over the assets that are left behind.  (more…)