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US Financial World is upside down. Insurance cost $ 18,000 on $ 10,000,000 of US Govt debt Cost of US loans bail-out emerging By Krishna Guha, Michael Mackenzie,and Nicole Bullock from Financial Times September 10 2008 00:34The price of credit default swaps on five-year US government debt hit a record 18 basis points in early trading, according to CMA Datavision. This means that it costs $18,000 a year to buy insurance on $10m of US government debt. Tim Backshall, chief strategist at Credit Derivatives Research, said the price implied that the US was more likely to default on its obligations than Japan, Germany, France, Quebec, the Netherlands and several Scandinavian countries. Traders said the CDS market for US debt was illiquid and it was hard to see evidence of increased concern over US creditworthiness in broader market prices. (Give it some time and we might be able to add Venezuela, Argentine, Trinidad and Tabago to that list - Jesse) The price of US government bonds rose and yi...

if we don’t have the shock now, the shock’s going to be much worse later on. What can Bernacke do now besides resign? Keith Fitz-Gerald Investment Director Money Morning Sept 10,,2008 VANCOUVER, B.C. - The U.S. financial crisis has cut so deep - and the government has taken on so much debt in misguided attempts to bail out such companies as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - that even larger financial shocks are still to come, global investing guru Jim Rogers said in an exclusive interview with Money Morning. Indeed, the U.S. financial debacle is now so ingrained - and a so-called "Super Crash" so likely - that most Americans alive today won’t be around by the time the last of this credit-market mess is finally cleared away - if it ever is, Rogers said. The end of this crisis "is a long way away," Rogers said. "In fact, it may not be in our lifetimes."

Working towards a 12 TRILLION dollar mortgage bailout market.... Money Morning Sept 9, 2008 by By Keith Fitz-Gerald, Investment Director we’ve reported to you here in Money Morning, most concerns focused on how the government would actually take over the two government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), and whether or not the process would eliminate the common stock and preferred shares of both. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson & Co. ended the betting on that issue on Sunday, announcing that neither class of stock will be eliminated, as some had feared - although the point may be moot. Especially since a "rescue" is not going to stop the meltdown of the nation’s $12 trillion mortgage market (in which about half the paper is backed by Fannie and Freddie, incidentally). As part of the government’s plan, shareholders have been stripped of both their corporate-governance powers and management rights, while both common and preferred shareholders saw their income eliminated...

Israeli Attack on Iran Timed Between November and January? - Middle East Times : "Since Iran is a much bigger threat than Syria was and since the diplomatic efforts and sanctions have led almost nowhere, the question is not if Israel will strike but rather when. One of the people convinced of this outcome is French President Nicolas Sarkozy who on Sept. 4 from Damascus, of all places, warned Iran: 'Iran is taking a major risk by continuing the process of seeking nuclear technology for military ends, because one day, no matter which Israeli government is in power, one morning we will awake to find Israel has attacked.' While some pundits and analysts classify this kind of statement in the psychological warfare/bluff game, the truth is quite different. Interestingly Iran dismissed Sarkozy's statement and a deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Nour Ali Shoushtari boasted that 'the enemy does not dare attack Iran, as it knows that it will receive fatal blows f...

The Good-old Boys are still running the macro-economics - greed and self-interest still prevail Carlyle's Zwiener leading man for Wachovia CFO post-WSJ | Industries | Financial Services & Real Estate | Reuters : "Sept. 8 (Reuters) - Carlyle Group's David Zwiener is the leading candidate to fill the chief financial officer's position at Wachovia Corp (WB.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), The Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation. An announcement about the appointment of Zwiener, currently a managing director in the private equity firm's New York office, could come later this week, the newspaper said on Monday. In July Wachovia, which posted a record $8.86 billion second-quarter loss, said Chief Financial Officer Thomas Wurtz will resign from the fourth-largest U.S. bank after a successor is named" Who is the Carlyle Group?

BBC Four Documentaries - The Century of the Self Here is the BIG Picture and Long view of how our self - focused marketing system has transformed our economy and politics to the brink of collapse BBC - BBC Four Documentaries - The Century of the Self : "HE CENTURY OF THE SELF Monday 29 April - Thursday 2 May 2002 7pm-8pm Adam Curtis' acclaimed series examines the rise of the all-consuming self against the backdrop of the Freud dynasty. To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really? The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?" From Alpha Seek: James Quinn by n excellent comprehensive picture of the collapse we are heading for...

Market Overview - Yahoo! Finance - The basics of investing. : "Advances & Declines NYSENASDAQ Advances526 (15%) 544 (19%) Declines2,844 (83%) 2,279 (78%) Unchanged73 (2%) 95 (3%) Up Vol*271 (7%) 89 (5%) Down Vol*3,513 (93%) 1,614 (95%) Unch. Vol*11 (0%) 3 (0%) New Hi's2034 New Lo's237143 *in millionsmore..." lOOK AT TRINQ - a summary of all the high, low, volume for the day Bill Gross Pimco : FINANCIAL TSUMAMI could come ...Adding to the anxiety, Pimco's Bill Gross is warning about the potential for a "financial tsunami" if the U.S. government doesn't do much more to bail out both lenders and borrowers alike: "If we are to prevent a continuing asset and debt liquidation of near historic proportions, we will require policies that open up the balance sheet of the U.S. Treasury -- not only to Freddie and Fannie but to Mom and Pop on Main Street U.S.A., via subsidized home loans issued by the FHA and other government institutions," Gross...