Halliburton campaign donations spike

(Politico) – As Congress investigated its role in the doomed Deep Horizon oil rig, Halliburton donated $17,000 to candidates running for federal office, giving money to several lawmakers on committees that have launched inquiries into the massive spill.

The Texas-based oil giant’s political action committee made 14 contributions during the month of May, according to a federal campaign report filed Wednesday — 13 to Republicans and one to a Democrat. It was the busiest donation month for Halliburton’s PAC since September 2008.

Of the 10 current members of Congress who got money from Halliburton in May, seven are on committees with oversight of the oil spill and its aftermath.

Halliburton’s political contributions in May are the highest they’ve been since September 2009, when the PAC also gave $17,000 in donations. In fact, the last time the company gave more than $17,000 in one month was when it donated $25,000 during the heat of the presidential campaign in September 2008. Read entire article

Economy

(GoldPrices) – Gold, Silver and Mining Companies Shaping Up

We will kick off with a review of the charts for gold, silver and the gold bugs index, the HUI, in an attempt to see where we are now and just where we might go from here. However, to put the charts into context we need to take into consideration the surrounding political, economic and investment landscape. These are volatile times with the financial markets in turmoil as what were perceived to be sound and secure governments now toil under the strain of their own excesses. The borrow and spend philosophies are coming back like a bad penny, to haunt not just those who caused this mess, but also for the rest of us, who are expected to clear it up. Read More Here

(InternationalForecaster) – Towards Another Stock Market Meltdown? – Bob Chapman

This past week the Dow fell 4%, S&P 4.2%, the Russell 2000 fell 6.4% and the Nasdaq 100 fell 4.4%. Banks fell 5.4%; broker/dealers 4%; cyclicals fell 5.6%; transports 5.5%; consumers 3.4%; utilities 4.3%; high tech fell 3.7%; semis 1.3%; Internets fell 4.2% and biotechs 4.2%. Gold bullion fell $56.00, the HUI gold index fell 11.4% and the USDX, dollar index, fell 0.8% to 85.38. Read More Here

(BusinessInsider) – Video: Marc Faber – “The Banks Are Gone” – (Part 1 Video Below)

Marc Faber spoke with Bloomberg Television about his bearish views on markets yesterday, and they remain as bearish as always.

“The banks are gone,” according to Marc Faber, and are only being kept alive by European Central Bank and government aid programs. Part 2 Here

(HuffingtonPost) – $1 Trillion for Wars Makes No Sense By Any Measure

This May 30 at 10:06 a.m., we will reach another dubious milestone in our almost nine years of war. At that precise moment, we will have spent $1 trillion in operational costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, tracked by the National Priorities Project’s cost of war counter. Read More Here

(SteveWatson) – Secret Clause Reveals Europe Bailout Designed To Destroy Global Economy

A secret exit clause written into the trillion dollar European bailout agreement will ensure the creation of more debt in Europe, worsening the global economy, decimating nation states and allowing power to be consolidated into fewer super-elite hands.

As the Financial Times reports today, the major German newspaper Bild says it has obtained a copy of the bailout agreement and has set about “exposing” a series of secret clauses. Read More Here

(GoldScents) – How Do You Answer The Question

Let me start off by pointing out that we did indeed break below the yearly cycle low yesterday. Read More Here

(AP) – Falling home prices stir fears of new bottom

Tax credits and historically low mortgage rates have failed to lift home prices so far this year. Prices fell 0.5 percent in March from February, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city index released Tuesday.

That marks six straight months of declines — a sign that the housing market is going in reverse. Read More Here

(BigGovernment) – Faber: Nations Will Print Money, Go Bust, Go to War…We Are Doomed

Today the leading Austrian economic think tank, the Ludwig von Mises Institute held a conference at the University Club in Manhattan in which Marc Faber, famed contrarian investor and publisher of the “Gloom, Boom and Doom Report” gave his perspective on the financial crisis and his outlook for the future. Read More Here

(CNBC) – Libor Spike Is Rekindling Fears Of Another Financial Crisis

A recent spike in the rate banks charge each other for short-term borrowing is reviving investor fears that the market is returning to the abyss of the credit crisis. Read More Here

(OilPrice) – The Hard Truth About Residential Real Estate

Anyone who believes that housing is on the rebound, and that now is the time to buy, should take a very hard look at the numbers I dredged up for my spring lecture and luncheon tour.

There are 140 million personal residences in the US. Today, there are 26 million homes either directly or indirectly for sale. Read More Here

(Cryptogon) – Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In California

Understand the purpose of the drug war with just one story. Hint: Law enforcement is used to keep supplies down and prices high.

So what changed?

California is broke and the state government wants a cut of the action. Read More Here

(RevoltofthePlebs) – Fear and Loathing (and Lost Wages)

Last week, Barrack Obama brought his stage show to a manufacturing plant in Youngstown Ohio and took credit for 290,000 new jobs added to US payrolls in April. “The fact is, our economy is growing again,” he boasted “Any fair-minded person would say that if we hadn’t acted … more people across America would be out of work today.” He’s speaking of course of the $787 billion Recovery Act that pumped even more counterfeit cash into the economy and is now redeemable (at interest) by the Federal Reserve from your American tax dollar. Read More Here

(BusinessWeek) – Christie Says N.J. ‘Careening Toward Becoming Greece’

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said the state is “careening our way toward becoming Greece” and can’t afford the cost of benefits and pensions for current workers. Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Moody’s Reiterates U.S. Spending Risks Credit Rating

The U.S. government’s Aaa bond rating will come under pressure in the future unless additional measures are taken to reduce projected record budget deficits, according to Moody’s Investors Service Inc. Read More Here

(FoxNews) – Despite Soaring National Debt, Congress Goes on Spending Spree

As the national debt clock ticked past the ignominious $13 trillion mark overnight, Congress pressed to pass a host of supplemental spending bills to, among other things, fund the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, ramp up security on the U.S.-Mexico border and prevent teacher layoffs. Read More Here

(PaulWatson)  – Video: Rothschilds Engineer Fire Sale Of UK Infrastructure To Offshore Corporations

The Rothschild banking family is pushing for the privatization of the UK’s motorway network that would force Brits, who already pay road tax, to enrich the coffers of private corporations intimately tied in with the Rothschilds by means of road tolls and pay-by-mile schemes enforced with spy cameras.

“A plan to privatize the UK’s motorway network, giving toll firms access to large swaths of road, would take place under the guise of paying down the government’s debt, British media reported Tuesday, citing a number of key officials who support the scheme, proposed to all major political parties by NM Rothschild, one of the world’s oldest, most influential and little discussed investment banks, founded by the Rothschild family,” reports Raw Story. –

Tiny Weapons, Jet Engines in Killer Drone Upgrades

Today’s killer drone is a slow-flying, easy-to-spot turboprop plane that drops relatively-crude munitions on its targets. Tomorrow’s killer drone could be a stealthy jet, firing off missiles “the size of a loaf of French bread.”