Note: This is no surpise to us, in fact this is yet another reason to hold your wealth in REAL money outside of the banking institutions – gold and of course SILVER. – StraightSilver.com

The image of banks locking their doors to keep customers from making withdrawals during a bank run is what immediately came to mind when we heard that Citigroup was telling customers it has the right to prevent any withdrawals from checking accounts for seven days.

“Effective April 1, 2010, we reserve the right to require (7) days advance notice before permitting a withdrawal from all checking accounts. While we do not currently exercise this right and have not exercised it in the past, we are required by law to notify you of this change,” Citigroup said on statements received by customers all over the country.

What’s going on? It seems that this is something of an error. The seven day notice policy only applies to customers in Texas, Ira Stoll reports at The Future of Capitalism. It was accidentally included on customer statements nationwide.

“Whatever the explanation, it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in Citi,” Stoll writes. “But it’s hard to believe a bank would be sending out a notice like that on its statements.”

Freddie Mac will begin takeovers of a raft of delinquent mortgages. The move appears to be a follow-up to the Christmas decision to enable unlimited Fannie & Freddie credit lines. The USTreasury will be buying failed mortgages, after the USFed basically ruined its own balance sheet with toxic bonds. What has occurred over two decades is abuse of Fannie & Freddie as the nexus for several gargantuan federal programs spanning three decades, with claimed fraud and missing funds valued perhaps over $2 trillion. The Powerz had to nationalize Fannie & Freddie. They are not just mortgage programs. Their supply cannot be shut off without disturbing the massive channels of tainted funds, well placed under USGovt finance operations. Answering questions where the money went would bring about an extreme shift in US perceptions, probably deep global changes in recognition of the US governing bodies.

The USEconomy slides further into a masked depression, still not recognized, as morale is on the decline. Moves toward cost savings and improved productivity are backfiring. Worker morale is a sneaky undermine to productivity. The January official Jobs Report hid some deep wounds. Meanwhile, home foreclosures and home loan delinquencies continue unabated with new records, and bank credit remains on a strong decline. No recovery in sight. The tragedy of home foreclosures continues unabated except by moratoriums imposed. The national tragedy continues. Federal home loan modification programs continue to be inadequate, with lost opportunities at investor lawsuits. Forecasts call for much worse foreclosures in the current 2010 year. David Rosenberg expects a further decline in home prices, and a second stage of economic recession. He forecasts 50% of US households will be insolvent on home loans by end 2011. Rosenberg is chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff & Assoc in Toronto. Small businesses are not in recovery. They are cutting capital spending. National economic statistics do not capture small business activity properly. Their optimism is at the historical low of the past four recessions.

The fiscal and political plight of California worsens. Look for their state bond yields to reach at least 2009 high levels. USGovt assistance seems at best too little too late. The biggest state in the nation offers major clues to the plight of the states. The seven most crippled US states compare worse to some European nations, but with 35% of its national population involved. Given the PIIGS nations are small, the United States is hampered by a much larger looming state problem than what unfolds in Europe. The states in the crisis list are California, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, and New Jersey. Each distressed case state has a population above 8 million people. Each state has been forced to borrow more than $1 billion dollars, to pay for unemployment benefits. Each state currently registers broad unemployment over 15%. Each state is a large net importer of energy sources.

-JW-

China…

A riddle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in an enigma?

Not really, especially if you know your history.

Fact #1: China knows all about the long term instability of make believe money – after all they invented it and have more experience with it than anyone else. (They called it “fly away” money.)

Fact #2: China is the longest continuously running culture on the planet. Its historical memory is calculated in the thousands of years.

Fact #3: No county suffered more profoundly in the last 100 years than China. Weakened by corruption, it was for all practical purposed torn limb from limb by the Japanese during WW II. The Nazis in Europe were timid gentlemen by comparison.

In China, you have the combination of an incredibly sophisticated culture, with a long memory, that has recently been horrifically traumatized.

Anyone who thinks China is just hacking around without a plan is either ignorant or just stupid (i.e. the entire US news media and political structure.)

China is ENCOURAGING its citizens to buy gold & Silver. The government is even producing educational television programs on the subject.

Do you think they’re doing that because they can’t think of anything else to do with their free time?

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.” 
–Edward Bernays, Propaganda, P.37