Anniversary Monday- Today is the 40th Anniversary of Gold-free Fiat; Made in China Report Almost Too Comical; NY Empire Manufacturing Plummets to Fresh Lows, Worst Readings Since 2001; ECB Buys Up $32 Billion Worth of Worthless Bonds; June's TIC Data Signals Exit For Private Investors; Bank of America Fire Sale; Fukushima, Deadly News, Warnings; Much More

Time to run to the Hallmark store and buy one of those "Happy 40th Anniversary" cards (Made in China, of course) that plays music when you open it, and send it to former El Presidente Richard Nixon and thank him for creating this floating fiat monetary system removed from the gold standard and by extension, the debt crisis the whole world is currently in. Now, before you go off on a tantrum and argue that the benefits outweighed the negatives, remember that gold (that yellow "tradition" which is not money per Dr. Deficit's definition) at that time was $35/oz. We don't think it necessary to reiterate the price of gold today, 40 years later (it's $1760 FWIW). Nor do we think it's necessary to remind our readers of the fact that a new Ford Mustang in 1971 cost $3,200 compared to $32,000 today. Worse still, for what a new Mustang costs today, a home could have been purchased in 1971. The list goes on.

Dr. Deficit's argument is moot is based on his own personal insanity claims that because today's Mustang has an MP3 jack, HID headlamps and 6 airbags, you are getting more so you should pay more. Sorry Jack, that bird don't fly.

Which brings us to our next point - our "Happy 40th Fiat Anniversary" card is made in China, along with dozens of components and electronics in the Mustang. Therefore, if fiat currency is declared legal tender by virtue of... well, nothing of real intrinsic value, how does a now 90% service economy "service" it's own fiat currency? One word, faith.

The problem is, bailing out the banksters means a lot more fiat is floating around today than just in 2008. You can figure out the rest. But before you do, you must read this propaganda MSM piece floating around the internet and making the front page of Yahoo News and other sites, written to disguise the ugly reality of global insanity. The article is entitled, " 'Made in China' Goods Only Small Sliver of U.S. Consumption." You did not read that incorrectly. It says, Wal-Mart is filled with American made sutff. You can figure out where this is going. In its contents, you will find "statistics" provided by two Federal Reserve "economists" (it really pains us to use that word) that show just 2.7% (that's two point seven!) of all U.S. purchases made have the "Made in China" label and an incredible 88.5% (eighty eight point five!) of consumer spending is on products "Made in the USA." If you think they are clearly lying, you're right.

A quick glance around our office reveals the complete opposite of their findings - 88.5% of all products are "Made in China" while just 2.7% are "Made in the USA." Nearly, every electronic item here - from the copy/fax/printer, to the computer monitors, to the telephones, to the computer speakers, to the mouse pads, to the keyboards, to the file organizers, to the calculators, to the IKEA lamps, to the staplers, to the surge protectors, to the paper shredder, to every electronic cable, the battery chargers, to even the coffee cup - all "Made in China." You get the point. Needless to say, every Apple product we use is also "Made in China." The list is endless, and we're sure if you were to take inventory of everything in your home or office, your results would be similar - unless you have not bought a single item since 1985.

About the only things we found in the office that are not "Made in China" are the 5 Hour Energy drinks (Yippie! Made in the USA) and various items of clothing we are wearing (Made in India, Pakistan or Vietnam). Other than that, it's all Chinese made. No wonder, the Federal Reserve has everything wrong. Wait. What's that? You mean you've been holding the charts upside down? No wonder you guys see "recovery" when we see economic depression!

Another propaganda MSM piece that stinks worse than gangrened flesh of European Banks, and yet  somehow made the top headlines in this morning's Yahoo News was this article entitled, "Futures higher despite NY factory data." The best part about this article is the fact that it does not even mention the Empire State manufacturing numbers directly, but only says they are worse than expected. Probably because they were so horrific. Ironically, the article mentions very specifically that the "S&P made gains of 5.8 points[...]" Simply amazing. The level of reporting by the MSM has gone from bad to worse these past few days and is shaping up more and more like a George Orwell novel.

Here's our take on the horrific numbers from the Empire State Manufacturing Index: 1) This is now the third consecutive month that manufacturing has plunged off a cliff, printing at -7.72 from -3.76 on "expectations" of 0.00 (that's zero). Once again, Wall Street's finest outdo themselves with precision and perfect expectations. 2) We find it hard to believe that nobody on Wall Street is talking recession given today's data - three months straight. Just ignore the cold hard facts and rally the markets on a weaker dollar and more hopium crack. 3) New Orders plunged to -7.80 and unfilled orders plunged to -15.2. Which means come next month, the economy (or what remains of it) will be screaming "depression!" and nobody will be able to deny reality. 4) Finally, straight from the horse's mouth:

"The future general business conditions index plummeted twenty-four points to 8.7, its lowest level since February 2009, and the future new orders and shipments indexes, while positive, fell to near-record lows exceeded only by their September 2001 readings. The capital expenditures index was also down sharply."

We don't think we need to add anything to this. Next.

Last week, it seemed as if the markets were about to implode over the EU's debt troubles. This week, the ECB buys up an all time record $32 Billion worth of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Irish toilet paper bonds and suddenly, market euphoria is back. Bond yields come down, stocks go up. All of the problems that were last week's news have suddenly vanished because the ECB is buying up all of the worthless debt, tearing a page straight out of Dr. Deficit's own playbook. We asked this question back in March when the Fed was the buyer of only last resort of U.S. Treasuries and we'll ask it again as it seems fitting - "If a central bank can buy up its nation's debt, why haven't they done this all along?" Got faith? We wonder how long this circus can keep going.

Speaking of faith, June's TIC data (courtesy of ZeroHedge) shows all time record amount of monthly selling of U.S. Treasuries by non-Central banks, or $18.3 Billion worth. Central banks bought $13.8 Billion worth of worthless toilet paper - simply because, just like China - they have to. It's that simple. If China was to really dump U.S. Treasuries as they have been blabbing about since 2008, they would have to call it quits as well. The whole global ponzi requires China to buy up U.S. Treasuries for all eternity. It will end in war for sure, once they say no more to the ECB's bluff and the U.S.'s games. The question is, Hu's who's debt is worse? All things being constant, the EU's debt is not only toxic, it's downright radioactive. And just wait until the Italians come back from vacationing and realize that their pensions and benefits have been wiped out due to "austerity measures," we'll be sure to see the same riots in Italy as in Greece. Perhaps worse. Guess who is buying gold? Next.

Speaking of riots, Bank of America is having a fire sale, to keep the lights on for another month or so until the the next TARP 2.5 QE3.9 bailout package is approved. Be sure to keep your eyes on BofA. We just hope Wall Street's finest scum who have been calling BofA a "Strong Buy" and who have been calling for U.S. growth of 4% or more finally get the boot. They are not worth $10/hr let alone $4.2 Million per year + bonuses for being wrong 88.5% of the time.

In other radioactive news, Fukushima is still spewing giga Becquerels of radiation around the globe and we really fear for the lives of the people of Japan who do not have the resources or means to leave those death zones while they still can. The situation continues to escalate, now even 5 months later as you will soon see.

First, we learn from a reliable source inside Japan - EX-SKF - that an astonishing 166,000,000 Bq/m² of iodine-131 and 21,200,000 Bq/m² of cesium 134 was detected by researchers 4 km from Fukushima. These numbers are more worrisome because the presence of iodine 131 which has a short 8 day half-life means nuclear fission continues to take place.

Also from EX-SKF, we learn that a hospital in Miyagi (Sendai) is reporting the typical radiation sickness symptoms - decrease in white blood cells, headache, nausea and hair falling out in clumps. One nurse reports, 

"When we wash their hair, it comes off in a clump. It is really scary. The doctor says, "I really wonder why the white blood cell count is down..." Doctor, don't be so relaxed about it. There is going to be more and more people who don't respond to treatment."

Well of course. What do they expect when they are finding radioactive iodine in 50% of the children? Certainly, the man last week in Tokyo with high levels of radiation was not a one off rarity. We suspect millions of people all over Japan are exposed to high levels of internal radiation and certainly the hot particles which kill them slowly. 

A recent ABC news Australia documentary shows the real story behind what is going on in Japan. The principal of a pre-school almost broke down in tears while discussing the high radioactivity of the school and the impact on children. Her geiger counter shows levels "off the charts" and the gov't is saying to do nothing, just go on with your lives. Very sad, but a must watch. If you need still more information on this ELE event, then we advise you to watch this documentary from 60 Minutes.