SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Macro Jitters

The ECB meets on Thursday, and the US Non-Farm Payrolls for August are on Friday.

Excerpts of Alleged Letter from Troika to Greece

This appeared today on the web at Zerohedge.  It is a letter purported to be from the Troika to Greece, with the appearance of a set of demands that was leaked by an anonymous source.

If it is legitimate, and that is a big 'if' given the sources, then it is a bit of an eye-opener, perhaps not so much in the terms themselves, but in the level of micro-managing the Troika wishes to impose on a purportedly sovereign people.

As you may recall the Troika are the European Commission (EC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the European Central Bank (ECB).

From what I have read, the 'bailout' is really a bailout of the debt which is owed to the banks of France and Germany among others, incurred by corrupt administrations heavy with insiders and influenced by banks such as Goldman Sachs, much in the manner of Iceland, Ireland, and other peripheral countries.

The track record of the IMF in such proposed 'reforms' is a national devastation.

I do not believe at all that these measures are stable, practical, or given in good faith as a solution. In other words, they will be back for more. The capitulation on such draconian interference is the path to a parasitic existence, in the manner of the most servile type of colonialism.

Greece might well consider a default on the existing external debts, the issuance of a national currency, reforming the financial system, the imposition of immediate capital controls, democratic safeguards against the rise of extreme domestic elements, and self-sufficiency at any and all costs in the spirit of a war time economy of a nation under siege.

Area: Flexibility of labour arrangements

Measure: Increase flexibility of work schedules:

Increase the number of maximum workdays to 6 days per week for all sectors.

Set the minimum daily rest to 11 hours.

Delink the working hours of employees from the opening hours of the establishment.

Eliminate restrictions on minimum/maximum time between morning and afternoon shifts.

Net Asset Value Premiums of Certain Precious Metal Trusts and Funds

Gold is still outpacing silver, and PHYS has climbed to a higher level of premium, levels which are a little on the high side.

The gold/silver ratio has declined to 52.

The premium on PHYS is at levels not seen since the first quarter of this year.

As always there are several ways to resolve this.  One way of course is for the price of gold to go higher.  But PHYS can also decline in price.

Lets see if gold can break out above the psychological $1700.

Robert Johnson: Audacious Oligarchy - Unmasking Wall Street and the Decline of Confidence

Two brief excerpts from Robert Johnson's Discussion at IMPACT 2012 in NYC

"Legitimate if you can, coerce if you have to, and accommodate if you must."

Jürgen Habermas, (paraphrased)

Robert Johnson serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) and a Senior Fellow and Director of the Global Finance Project for the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in New York.

Previously, Johnson was a Managing Director at Soros Fund Management where he managed a global currency, bond and equity portfolio specializing in emerging markets. Prior to working at Soros Fund Management, he was a Managing Director of Bankers Trust Company managing a global currency fund.

Johnson served as Chief Economist of the US Senate Banking Committee under the leadership of Chairman William Proxmire (D. Wisconsin) and of Chairman Pete Domenici (R. New Mexico).

Johnson received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Princeton University and a B.S. in both Electrical Engineering and Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.