Obama’s Third-Party Leftist History

Turns out Obama has been caught in a rather substantial lie. Despite numerous protests to the contrary (backed up by the mainstream media Palace Guards) Obama was a card-carrying member of the socialist New Party. Kurtz provides unequivocal proof in a new article published today.

Read the article here.

Ain’t Basel III a pain in the ass? Luckily, they have 7 years to raise it. Let’s hope we don’t have another few years of Armageddon.

Read the article here.

Russian BASE jumper Valery Rozov set a new world jump record with a leap from the top of Shiving, a 4-mile high mountain in the Indian part of the Himalayas

The U.S. economy is poised to slide into a recession thanks to anemic job growth, weak industrial production figures and consumers who spend more than they’re taking home, says international investor Wilbur Ross, CEO of WL Ross & Co.

A slew of dismal economic indicators points to a fresh economic downturn in the world’s largest economy, especially the Bureau of Labor Statistics May jobs report.

“In the most recent jobs report, only 69,000 net jobs were created. We need to create over 100,000 just to keep the unemployment rate constant,” Ross tells Reuters.

Full article

The Democrat’s political football just turned into a golfball: the “cash hoard” that companies have supposedly been sitting on his 1/2 trillion dollars smaller than previously believed.

Read the article here.

Here is one way to make a helicopter…

Full article

“As Greece sinks toward a financial abyss—and Portugal, Italy and Spain sit on the edge—can we in the United States consider ourselves safe?

Fundamental economic numbers offer little reassurance. At 8.6% of gross domestic product, the U.S. budget deficit is just under Greece’s (9.1%) and equal to Spain’s. U.S. debt, at 103% of GDP, is just below Portugal’s—which first asked for a European Union bailout in 2011—and 58% larger than Spain’s, which might soon need one.

Yet Americans should be concerned for a deeper reason. High deficits, high debt and unsustainable entitlements are symptoms of a common disease infecting Southern Europe and the U.S. That’s crony capitalism, a problem with which I, having lived in Italy, am unfortunately familiar.”

Full article

“In today’s world, there are many who want government to regulate and control everything. The most bizarre instance, though — more bizarre even than banning the sale of large-sized sugary drinks — is surely central banking.

Why? Well, central banking was created to replace something that was already working well. Banking panics and bank runs happen, and they have always happened as long as there has been banking.

But the old system that the Fed displaced wasn’t really malfunctioning — unlike what the defenders of central banking today would have us believe. Following the Panic of 1907, a group of private bankers led by J.P. Morgan successfully bailed out the system by acting as lender of last resort. The amount of new liquidity disbursed into the system was set not by academics like Ben Bernanke, but by experienced market participants. And because the money was directed from private purses, rather than being created out of thin air, only assets and companies with value were bought up.

The rationale of the supporters of the Federal Reserve Act was that a central banking liquidity mechanism would act as a safeguard against such events, to act as a permanent lender-of-last-resort backed by government fiat. They wanted something bigger and better than a private response.”

Full article

Nikkei down 1.5%

Asian markets

A recent psychological study found that awe enhances well-being, expands perception of time and causes people to behave more altruistically and less materialistically.

So how can we stimulate awe?  Lead author Melanie Rudd of Stanford told us their most effective method was exposing subjects to an awe-inspiring video:

The methods that were the most effective at stimulating awe were those that presented participants with a “new” awe experience (i.e., having participants watch the awe-eliciting commercial). Remembering a past awe-eliciting experience and reading about an imaginary awe-eliciting experience (i.e., the short story) also elicited awe, but relatively less compared to when participants experienced a “fresh” and “real” awe experience.

Full Video and article

Here is my video choice of awe:

“China surprised economists today with a surprise cut in interest rates by a quarter point, the first cut in rates since 2008.

Just a couple of months ago, few analysts had forecast that Beijing would cut rates, believing that China was on track for a “soft landing”. But after growth slowed to 8.1 per cent in the first quarter, recent data showed the economy was on track for a sharp deceleration.”
Full article

Greek parliament candidates fighting on a Greek talk show, including the Fascist party candidate, a man, repeatedly punching the communist candidate, a woman, in the face. FACT: socialism has failed.

Video Here

“Fitch Ratings reiterated on Thursday it would cut its sovereign credit rating for the United States next year if Washington cannot come to grips with its deficits and create a “credible” fiscal consolidation plan.”

Full article

“Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke traveled to Capitol Hill this morning for his periodic appearance before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.

Getty Images Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before the Joint Economic Committee on Capitol Hill June 7, 2012 in Washington, DC.

He delivered a careful and balanced view of the economy (a gradual healing in the context of a still-muted outlook growth and jobs), re-iterated the improved banking and financial conditions at home (stressing the major additions to bank capital), and referred to the strains in Europe (acknowledging that they act as a drag on the US economy).”

Full article

“An International Monetary Fund report on Spanish banks will show the country’s troubled lenders need a cash injection of at least 40 billion euros ($50 billion), sources in the financial sector said Thursday.”

Full article

The markets are holding up well despite Bernanke not signaling QE3 has or will be launched.

Full article

Market Update

Here are today’s hybrid movers courtesy of The PPT.

I’ve imported the tickers to finviz for your viewing pleasure, click here for charts.