Spain banks may need money; bond spreads widen

Banks

Gold Bar Demand in China Surged 51% to 213.9 Tons In 2011

A reminder of the sharp increase in demand for gold and silver

, particularly store of wealth demand, in recent years was seen in the figures released by the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association in Shanghai today.

Homeland spies watching for words

Department of Homeland Security forced to release list following freedom of information request

looking at what is typed

"Analyst-Desktop-Binder"

Low-Tech Solutions To High-Tech Tyranny

Low-Tech Solutions To High-Tech Tyranny

So instead, Sam decides to block the camera system’s ability to use thermal vision at all. He does this with a few dollars and a hat, gluing small Infrared LED lightbulbs into the cap along with a tiny battery source. The IR lights drown out the CCTV ability to make any clear distinctions in his face, thus preventing any positive ID. Sam is clever, and plants similar IR devices on other people without their knowledge, diluting the attention of Swedish law enforcement officials who are left wondering if their cameras are malfunctioning or if their city is swarming with [protestors].

Commercial real estate problems

Greece: Bank operation update

ECB stops policy operations for some Greek banks

FLASH: Greek Banks Cut Off?

UK banks readying for Greek euro exit

Greeks pull funds from banks (Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 18:34 IST)

JP Morgan loss preview of future derivatives tumult

The 2 Billion Dollar Loss By JP Morgan Is Just A Preview Of The Coming Collapse Of The Derivatives Market

According to the Comptroller of the Currency, the "too big to fail" banks have exposure to derivatives that is absolutely mind blowing. Just check out the following numbers from an official U.S. government report....

JPMorgan Chase - $70.1 Trillion

Citibank - $52.1 Trillion

Bank of America - $50.1 Trillion

Goldman Sachs - $44.2 Trillion

So a 2 billion dollar loss for JP Morgan is nothing compared to their total exposure of over 70 trillion dollars.

Overall, the 9 largest U.S. banks have a total of more than 200 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives. That is approximately 3 times the size of the entire global economy.

It is hard for the average person on the street to begin to comprehend how immense this derivatives bubble is.

So let's not make too much out of this 2 billion dollar loss by JP Morgan.

This is just chicken feed.

This is just a preview of coming attractions.

Soon enough the real problems with derivatives will begin, and when that happens it will shake the entire global financial system to the core.

JP Morgan loses 2 billion maybe more

JPMorgan Loses $2 Billion

...and it's gone

JPM Crashing After It Convenes Emergency Call To Advise Of "Significant Mark-To-Market" Losses In Bruno Iksil/CIO Group

Now They're F*d (JPM And Probably Others)

If You’re Not Worried Yet…You Should Be

My apologies to readers of this blog: I was on vacation for 10 days.

Economic Alert

" I can say with 100% certainty that most of us will live to see the climax of the breakdown, and that this breakdown is about to enter a more precarious state before the end of this year. "

James Howard Kunstler

"The whole world, in fact, has got something like a giant hairball stuck in its craw. The hairball is composed of filaments of lies wound over a core of supernatural indebtedness. The lies are promises that the debt will be paid back."