Just Another, Manic Monday- The EU Inches Closer to Brink as PIIGS Bond Yields Skyrocket; Italy and Spain in Spotlight; Former WH Chief Economist Says More Economic Stimulus Necessary, Fails; Is The Muni Implosion Here? Whole County In AL Goes Bust, Soon; Gold and Silver Always Shine Against Fiat Here's Why; Educational Video About Banking; Super Typhoon Ma-on Heads Towards Japan; More Radiation Detected as People Outraged Over New "Revelations"; Much More

Updates
Update 1: A double eruption at the Mt Lokon volcano in Indonesia confirms that the "Ring of Fire" is heating up - quite literally. Coupled with a dozen or so earthquakes in that same region in the past 24 hours, we can see a lot more "economic stimulus" will be needed to fill the sinkholes and plug the volcanoes.

Update 2: We always wanted to visit Greece but now we believe holding off for another 10 years or so might be the wise choice, as protests shutdown airport and ports. Thousands of tourists stranded.

Update 3: A few companies you might want to avoid, for your health if not out of principles.

Main Article
Exactly one week ago, we reported that the latest 1H Greek budget was a complete and utter failure as they missed all "targets" by 3 bottles of warm ouzo in the morning a long shot, but then they turned around and blamed a "deeper than expected recession" for the misses. Oops. Hu Who wants to bet Greece will never meet the bailout requirements?

Here again, none of our readers were surprised by this latest data which was quickly swept under the rug because as we explained in great detail, not only is Greece (and by extension the whole EU) trapped in an ongoing fiat debt-death-spiral of which there is no escape but the continuing riots, protests and general strikes would seal the deal and finish off an already comatose economy. Once the people break away and demand change, there is no going back. It's a proven, historical socioeconomic fact which TPTB seem to be ignoring or denying.

One of the very first articles used to test the waters on this site was an article we published about Greece, and we have been focusing on Greece because of the implications to the global economy. Back in March when we began, we had warned that the situation in Europe would continue to deteriorate and gave the PIIGS only months, if not weeks to live. Today, we see Italian, Spanish, Greek and Portuguese bonds imploding - but most notably the Spanish bonds which have seen the 10yr reach a new EU era high of 6.37% (and as we have been saying, the 7% EU threshold is getting closer to judgement day). As the EU begins to lose its grip on the PIIGS the bond prices will continue to plummet and yields skyrocket. The whole EU is looking like bubonic plague a circus tent collapse today, so brace yourselves for some fireworks if yields continue to rise (ignore the Greek 2yr, as they are now flashing the big red default sign at 34.66%. Oops). Even the fake bank stress tests can't hide the fact that the whole EU is one big circlejerk. Warning: Eurobonds are junk Human consumption of gasoline as a dietary supplement is deadly.

You've heard, "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," but now you see what happens in Greece spreads to Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the United States, the whole world, as it only takes one domino to cause the fall of many; think in a similar sense how Lehman and AIG fell and touched off this whole catastrophe. The only truly sovereign nations remaining will be those that don't rely solely on others and that have enough gold in reserves to back their paper currency. Funny, we can't seem to think of any.

Since this accelerating great depression "recession" officially ended in June of 2009, we have to wonder why former White House Chief Economist and Economic Advisor Jared Bernstein is calling for more stimulus. With economists like this, there is no wonder why the world is in the situation it's in. As we have held since 2008, stimulus programs may buy time but nobody has the courage or ability to fix the fundamental problems - like the EU, it's simply throwing good money at bad. Now that the "stimulus" half-life has now been reduced to 3 months, increasing the debt ceiling one more time will do nothing.

Of course, nothing speaks economic depression turned collapse green shoot jobless recovery more than whole counties going under. It seems Jefferson County in Alabama is having a transitory rough patch. Nothing a little more fiat printing can't fix.

Which is why so many savvy investors are rushing to trade in their worthless fiat for gold and silver (both are up to highs, $1600 and $40 respectively). We can clearly see the fundamentals for $2000 gold and $70 silver are in the cards and as things spiral out of control, more fiat will be printed - all of this means higher prices for gold and silver - likely $50 silver by late August if things continue as is. We like to watch a little global balance indicator we like to call the 'JP Morgue to Silver Threshold', whereby the price of silver is higher than the price of one roll share of JPM toilet paper stock. Those who are extra cautious and prudent are buying food, water and supplies now, before they are in very short supply when the dominoes begin to tumble. And tumble they will.

Of course, the gold/silver bears will claim there is a bubble in gold forming but we firmly believe the only bubble forming is the fiat bubble (and the bubble on Dr. Deficit's head, which has turned into a boil). Say, have you tasted an iPad recently?

We posted this video way back in the "early days" but given the developments over the past few days, it would be wise to educate yourselves again by watching it again. Now who would have thought that watching cartoons could be so edgeyoumakayshunal? Well worth the 30 minutes.

From Fukushima, we learn so very disturbing but never unexpected news about the levels of radiation (and corruption) that is rampant across Japan. First, we are keeping a close eye on the Typhoon "Ma-on," which has turned into a category 4 super typhoon over the weekend and is headed straight for Japan. Work is being rushed to cover reactor 3 as it closes in.

Second, we learn from Energy News that "the new scandal appears to be much wider" as the cover up over radioactive beef and other atrocities committed by the Japanese gov't continues. When money is at stake, evil blinds the mind. As we first speculated, and as was later confirmed by a former Japanese official who resigned over a bad conscience, the "revelations" as he called it, over the radiation cover ups will really be shocking. We expect many more revelations over this catastrophe to come to the fore as the weeks roll by and humans and animals develop symptoms of radiation sickness. Like we've been saying, "you ain't seen nothing yet."