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…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com (corrected) Anybody who reads this site knows I can get pretty heavy handed when it comes to reporting and analyzing the news.  Sometimes I freak myself out, but the facts are the facts–things are bad.  In the spirit of Christmas, I am going to take this opportunity to share with you a couple of pretty funny YouTube videos.   If we are all going to get through this, we need to take time for a little levity. (more…)

Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

I have been pretty hard on “CBS 60  Minutes” for doing fluff interviews with Fed Chief  Ben Bernanke and not asking the hard questions that would be obvious to a freshman journalism student.  In all fairness, I have to admit last Sunday’s story called “The Day of Reckoning” was an eye opening, hard hitting piece. (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

Some people see the Internet as an electronic world of wires and computers run at speeds measured in nanoseconds.  I tend to see the Internet as an electronic extension of human biology.  Sample enough of the Internet in the right places and you can get a snapshot of what people are generally feeling. One of my own readers, Alyce, commented recently, “It’s easy for people to become lulled into a false sense of security. (more…)

One of the headlines in yesterday’s USA Today read, “Foreclosures take biggest dive in years in November.” That would make you think things are getting better in the rent vs. buy arena. When you read the story, you realize things are just taking a breather and about ready to get worse.  Why does the mainstream media feel it has to spin stories to make the economy look better than reality?  I think this is a blatantly dishonest headline.  Why do I say that? (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

There are some big messages being put out by the government that appear to be for the sole purpose of reassuring the public that everything is under control.  Bernanke appeared on “60 Minutes” 10 days ago to tell the public that he is “100 percent” sure inflation is not going to be an issue, and that it’s a “myth” the Fed is “printing money.” I am not going to touch on the veracity of his statements.  (more…)

Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

I want to share with you two videos that will surely enlighten and maybe even enrage you.  The first is from “The Daily Show.”  It seems a comedy show that repeatedly claims to do “fake news” was the only mainstream media outlet to call BS on Fed Chief Ben Bernanke’s BS.  Bernanke stated on “60 Minutes” last Sunday that the Fed was “not printing money.” (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

I was on French TV last week on a show called “On The Edge with Max Keiser.” Keiser is a former Wall Street broker with inside knowledge of  how fat cats claw out insane profits and rip off the public.  He had me on to talk about  the mortgage fraud and the securitized debt mess.  (more…)