Obama’s bin Laden Leaks Angered Military, As Info Came Directly and Officially from the White House – Washington Examiner   “… he revealed at a counter terrorism expo this week, the info came directly and officially from the White House, not some garbage can digging operation. “I said to him, ‘Sir, that information came officially to us from the podium at the White House,”   This Administration will do almost anything, including revealing too much military operations info, to further their political ends.

Systemic Risk Is Everywhere – USA Watchdog   “The monster downside to all the bailouts to prop up the system is the devaluing of the U.S. dollar and the destruction of the credit worthiness of America.  There is another downside to the policy of privatizing the profits and socializing the losses, and that is the loss of confidence of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency.  It will come down to the Fed choosing between the banks or the buck.  It looks like the dollar will be sacrificed on an altar of insolvency.  It is clear, systemic risk is everywhere.”

Territorial Tax System For U.S. Would Improve Global Competitiveness – Investor’s Business Daily   “This much needed reform has been advocated by the Simpson-Bowles Commission, the President’s Export Council, the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, and other prominent congressional and business leaders. Moreover, America is alone among G-8 nations in maintaining its long-arm taxation of homegrown companies.”

States and Cities Going Private With Infrastructure Investment – Real Clear Markets   “Enter the private sector, where investors are demonstrating a willingness and capability to partner with governments to modernize and expand infrastructure, according to Reason Foundation’s recent Annual Privatization Report 2011. The report finds that the amount of capital available in private infrastructure equity investment funds reached a new all-time high last year.”

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Obama Budget Defeated 99-0 in Senate – Washington Times   “President Obama’s budget suffered a second embarrassing defeat Wednesday, when senators voted 99-0 to reject it. Coupled with the House’s rejection in March, 414-0, that means Mr. Obama’s budget has failed to win a single vote in support this year.”

ECB Stops Operations with Some Greek Banks – Reuters   “The European Central Bank has stopped providing liquidity to some Greek banks as they have not been successfully recapitalized, the ECB said on Wednesday. The news sent the euro lower against the dollar, fanning concerns among investors and in Greece that the country may have to leave the euro zone.”

House Lawmakers Say No Budget, No Pay – Washington Times   “A group of Democratic and Republican House members say it’s time to punish themselves if Congress keeps failing at its basic duty of passing an annual budget — and they want to hit where it hurts: their own paychecks. This tactic might just work.”

Is Greece the Lehman of 2012? – CNN   “That seems to be Wall Street’s tune these days. Sure, investors are worried about Europe. And they should be. But so far, the market is acting as if the recent turmoil in Greece is merely a repeat of last summer — and not the second coming of 2008.”

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GOP Probe Uncovers Deal Between Obama and Drug Companies – Washington Examiner   “Three years ago, President Obama cut a secret deal with pharmaceutical company lobbyists to secure the industry’s support for his national health care law. Despite Obama’s promises during his campaign to run a transparent administration, the deal has been shrouded in mystery ever since. But internal emails obtained by House Republicans now provide evidence that a deal was struck and GOP investigators are promising to release more details in the coming weeks.”

If Greece Quits Euro, Its Ruin Will Be Pointless – Bloomberg   “Amicable? That’s one thing Greece’s exit from the euro couldn’t be. As the economist Barry Eichengreen, the leading authority on these matters, has argued, it would provoke ‘the mother of all financial crises.’ The contemplation of this possibility by EU leaders is making matters even worse. Greece has no chance of recovery while this danger hangs over its economy.”

Payback for a Facebook Tax Refugee – LA Times    “Renouncing U.S. citizenship, as Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin did, should come with tough restrictions on returning to the land that nurtured the wealth. We will simply be telling our wealthiest fellow citizens that they confront a life-defining choice: They either remain Americans or they repudiate their homeland forever. They can’t have it both ways.”

National Mood a Drag on Obama’s Re-Election Prospects – Gallup    “U.S. satisfaction and economic ratings low compared with years incumbents won.”

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Merkel, Hollande Extend Olive Branch to Greece – MoneyNews   “Requests for measures to bolster growth will be ‘considered’ and the European Union may also ‘approach Greece with proposals,’ Merkel said Tuesday at a joint press conference with Hollande during his first official visit to Berlin. ‘Greece can stay in the euro area,’ and ‘Greek citizens will be voting on exactly that.’”

Obama’s ‘Vampire’ Capitalists: Write the President a Check and Escape Eternal Damnation – Wall Street Journal   “Maybe the Obama re-election campaign isn’t the error-free juggernaut of media lore. Consider the puzzling decision to start trashing Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital on the same day that President Obama was hitting up private-equity grandees for campaign contributions. Did David Plouffe think no one would notice.”

S&P: ‘$46 Trillion Perfect Storm’ Closing in on US – Moneynews   “A new report from Standard & Poor’s estimates up to $46 trillion in refinancing and new financing needs by companies during the next four years — and credit markets may not be able to handle it, the Business Insider reports.”

Huge Sense of Doom Among ‘Grexit’ Predictions – CNBC   “Huge protests in Madrid, firebombs hitting tax offices in Italy, and voters in Northern Germany showing their anger toward an incumbent leader. Just another weekend in euro land, where the chances of economic recovery and political agreement on how to get there appear less likely by the hour.”

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Taxpayers Fund $454,000 Pay for Collector Chasing Student Loans – Bloomberg   “By law, the organizations can receive as much as 37 percent of a borrower’s entire loan amount, half in collection costs and half in taxpayer-funded commissions. ECMC says it typically collects 31 percent, or $7,750 on a $25,000 loan. That’s 31 times what it can make for preventing the default through counseling.”   Worth Reading!

Obama Campaign: New York Times Poll Is ‘Biased’ – Washington Examiner   “This isn’t he first time the Obama campaign complained of methodology problems in polls that looked bad for the president. In April, David Axelrod complained that a Gallup poll showing Romney leading Obama was ‘saddled with some methodological problems.’”   They don’t like it, when the results go against them, so they try to undermine the results!

Is the ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Just a Myth? – Washington Post   “Still, I’m not freaking out. There are reasons to doubt Congress will let the full fiscal cliff materialize and that what does happen may not be all that devastating. In fact, here and there, the benefits of tightening might outweigh the costs.”

A Censored Race War – National Review    “What the authorities and the media seem determined to suppress is that the hoodlum elements in many ghettoes launch coordinated attacks on whites in public places. If there is anything worse than a one-sided race war, it is a two-sided race war, especially when one of the races outnumbers the other several times over.”

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Merkel Tells Greece to Back Cuts or Face Euro Exit – Telegraph   “Greece may be forced to leave the euro if the country refuses to implement spending cuts agreed with the European Union, Angela Merkel warned.”

John Snow: ‘Taxmaggedon’ Is a Real Threat – Wall Street Journal   “Next year’s scheduled increases on dividends and capital gains will retard investment and derail the recovery.”

Greece Can No Longer Delay Euro Zone Exit – Der Spiegel   “After Greek voters rejected austerity in last week’s election, plunging the country into a political crisis, Europe has been searching for a Plan B for Greece. It’s time to admit that the EU/IMF rescue plan has failed. Greece’s best hopes now lie in a return to the drachma.”

Obama Attacks Private Equity, Raises Funds from Private Equity Leaders – Weekly Standard   “President Obama is attending a fundraiser today in New York City that will be hosted by Hamilton E. James, the chief operating officer and president of Blackstone. The financial firm Blackstone is ‘one of the world’s largest private equity fund businesses,’ But ironically, Obama today is using Mitt Romney’s background in private equity as the basis of an attack on his Republican rival.”   More than a little hypocritical??

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After Obama’s Decision on Marriage, a Call to Pastors – NY Times   “In the hours following Mr. Obama’s politically charged announcement on Wednesday, the president and his team embarked on a quiet campaign to contain the possible damage among religious leaders and voters. He also reached out to one or more of the five spiritual leaders he calls regularly for religious guidance, and his aides contacted other religious figures who have been supportive in the past.”

JPMorgan Loss Likely to Damage Obama – Newsmax   “JPMorgan Chase’s $2 billion trading loss could be even more damaging for President Barack Obama than it was for the bank because it indicates the financial crisis of 2008-09 failed to alter Wall Street’s behavior significantly.”

Is the Government Backing a New Housing Bubble? – Fiscal Times   “Right now, the U.S. Federal Housing Authority is offering historically low interest rates on home loans as part of an effort to kick-start the housing market. Under a plan introduced by President Barack Obama, an FHA-qualifying U.S. homebuyer can apply for a 30-year mortgage with a fixed interest rate of 3.75 percent and a 15-year fixed mortgage at 3 percent. FHA loans require as little as 3.5 percent of the home’s value up front in the form of a down payment.”

What Jamie Dimon Doesn’t Know Is Plain Scary – Bloomberg   “… Either Dimon misled the public about the gravity of the festering trades during his company’s first-quarter earnings call last month. Or he didn’t know what was happening inside the bowels of his own company. History tells us the latter is the norm for Wall Street bosses, though it’s hard to say which is worse.”

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Austerity Blow for Merkel in German State Election – Newsmax   “Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives suffered a crushing defeat on Sunday in an election in Germany’s most populous state, a result which could embolden the left opposition to step up attacks on her European austerity policies.”

Obama Pushes Latest Billion-Dollar STIMULUS Plan – Washington Times   “The president’s list includes an expanded program to help homeowners refinance their mortgages, a proposal to give small businesses tax breaks for hiring more workers, a program that would help veterans find jobs, and an extension of tax credits for clean-energy companies.”

Greece Will Run Out of Money Soon, Warns Deputy Prime Minister – Telegraph   “We will be in wild bankruptcy, out-of-control bankruptcy. The state will not be able to pay salaries and pensions. This is not recognised by the citizens. We have got until June before we run out of money.”

Reps. King, Rogers: Leak of Foiled al-Qaida Plot ‘Criminal’ – Newsmax   “A leak of the operation that kept al-Qaida bombs off jetliners headed to the United States was a criminal act that endangered national security, congressional leaders from both parties said Sunday. Rep. Peter King, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Mike Rogers all promised investigations into how information about the mission was leaked to The Associated Press early last week.”

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Report: Obama Campaign Offered Hush Money to Silence Rev. Wright – Newsmax   “A new, unauthorized biography of President Obama by Edward Klein claims supporters close to then-candidate Barack Obama attempted to pay off firebrand minister Jeremiah Wright during the 2008 campaign. … ‘He offered you money?’  ‘Not directly,’ Wright said. ‘He sent the offer to one of the members of the church, who sent it to me.’  ‘How much money did he offer you?’  ‘One hundred and fifty thousand dollars,’ Wright said.”

The End of the End of Austerity: We’re All Greeks Now – Counter Punch   “The turmoil in Europe is power politics (class struggle) hiding behind a thin veil of ideological difference.  The bankers and their Austerian apologists know what they are doing. Too bad the same can’t be said for liberal economists.”

California Deficit Has Soared to $16 Billion, Gov. Jerry Brown Says – LA Times   “Gov. Jerry Brown announced on Saturday that the state’s deficit has ballooned to $16 billion, a huge increase over his $9.2-billion estimate in January. The bigger deficit is a significant setback for California, which has struggled to turn the page on a devastating budget crisis.”  If you don’t STOP SPENDING, this is what happens!

Facebook Co-Founder Saverin Gives Up U.S. Citizenship Before IPO – Bloomberg   “Eduardo Saverin, the billionaire co-founder of Facebook Inc. (FB), renounced his U.S. citizenship before an initial public offering that values the social network at as much as $96 billion, a move that may reduce his tax bill.”

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