The Bankruptcy of the United States is Now Certain

by Porter Stansbury  silverbearcafe
It's one of those numbers that's so unbelievable you have to actually think about it for a while... Within the next 12 months, the U.S. Treasury will have to refinance $2 trillion in short-term debt. And that's not counting any additional deficit spending, which is estimated to be around $1.5 trillion.
Put the two numbers together. Then ask yourself, how in the world can the Treasury borrow $3.5 trillion in only one year? That's an amount equal to nearly 30% of our entire GDP. And we're the world's biggest economy. Where will the money come from?

How did we end up with so much short-term debt? Like most entities that have far too much debt - whether subprime borrowers, GM, Fannie, or GE - the U.S. Treasury has tried to minimize its interest burden by borrowing for short durations and then "rolling over" the loans when they come due. As they say on Wall Street, "a rolling debt collects no moss." What they mean is, as long as you can extend the debt, you have no problem. Unfortunately, that leads folks to take on ever greater amounts of debt... at ever shorter durations... at ever lower interest rates. Sooner or later, the creditors wake up and ask themselves: What are the chances I will ever actually be repaid? And that's when the trouble starts. Interest rates go up dramatically. Funding costs soar.
The party is over. Bankruptcy is next.

Haiti's future glitters with gold

Canadian company to explore for gold in Haiti

Port-au-Prince.– A Montreal-based mining company has announced plans to explore the mountains of north-eastern Haiti for gold and copper. Majescor Resources Inc will explore the site in a partnership with Simact Mining Holding Inc, a Long Island, New York-based consortium of Haitian-American investors.Majescor President Marc-Andre Bernier said the company is encouraged by explorations that Eurasian Minerals Inc is conducting at a nearby site.

Gold and copper were found in the Caribbean nation decades ago, but Haiti's instability and lack of infrastructure have discouraged investment. A Barrick Gold Corp site about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southeast in the Dominican Republic is estimated to contain 20.4 million ounces of gold.

LA MIEL, Haiti–Keith Laskowski bounds up the freshly-cut dirt road like a child at an amusement park. He stops at a patch of reddish rock, whacks at it with his miner's pick and slips a chunk into his pocket.
"This road exposure's great," he says, then laughs almost giddily.

The Financial Mess: How We Got Here By Abraham H. Miller

"How can you vote Republican when they so messed up the economy?" a liberal friend screams at me with such vehemence that I had to put the phone a full arms length from my ear.  Of course, my friend never heard of the Community Reinvestment Act.  He is one of those mindless liberals who thinks that George Bush and the Republicans are responsible for everything from Global Warming to Hurricane Katrina to the attempted genocide of the entire black population of New Orleans. 

He claims to be informed but he doesn't remember those dire warnings going back nine years ago that the Community Reinvestment Act would eventually cause a major financial and banking crisis in this country.   

The Community Reinvestment Act was pushed hard by Bill Clinton