South Carolina

A broken safety net is no safety net at all.  

Update: The focus now shifts to the mother, the first casualty of her son's murderous rampage, who was a "big, big gun fan" as the NYT explains, and who went target shooting with her children, one of whom had Asperger's.

As we reported last night, buried inside the NYT biopic of Newtown shooter Adam Lanza was arguably one of the most important missing pieces in the story, at least so far, which could provide clues into partially explaining yesterday's tragic loss of young life, namely that the 20 year old man suffered from Asperger Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism (two conditions which are being merged in the upcoming update of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) manual of mental disorders), which has been traditionally associated with social communication difficulties, including flat affect, and one which in some clinical studies has been shown to have a causal link to violence. In other words, in addition to the surge in the debate over national gun control and access limitations (ignoring that the perpetrator of the biggest school mass murder in US history - the Bath School disaster - used openly purchased dynamite and no guns, also ignoring that in the US there are roughly 300 million firearms), perhaps there should also be a broad discussion as to the risks of social misadoption of children with autism and other social and behavioral disorders.

Eleven states made Forbes' list of danger spots for investors including California, New York, Illinois, and Ohio. They warned (and with the cliff it is even more critical), if you have muni bonds in these states - clean up your portfolio; if your career takes you there - rent, don't buy! Two factors determine their list of 'fiscal hellholes'. The first is whether there are more takers (someone who draws money from the government) than makers (the gainfully employed). The second is a state credit-worthiness score (via Conning) based on large debts, uncompetitive business climates, weak home prices, and bad trends in employment. Conning rates North Dakota the safest state to lend money to, Connecticut the most hazardous. A state qualifies for the Forbes' death spiral list if its taker/maker ratio exceeds 1.0 and it resides in the bottom half of Conning’s ranking. See below for the 11 states to avoid...no matter what Bob Toll, Larry Yun, Bob Pisani, or Alexandra Lebenthal tells you..

Harry Reid's rebuttal full transcript - ES 1410 as he speaks...

*REID SAYS `WE'RE NOT GOING TO KICK THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD'
*REID SAYS HE HAD `NICE MEETING' WITH GEITHNER
*REID SAYS STILL WAITING FOR `SERIOUS OFFER' FROM REPUBLICANS

The good news is that we can't foretell the future; if we could, it wouldn't be interesting at all.

You've probably noticed the cookie-cutter format of most financial media "news": a few key "buzz words" (fiscal cliff, Bush tax cuts, etc.) are inserted into conventional contexts, and this is passed off as either "reporting" or "commentary" depending on the number of pundits sourced. Correspondent Frank M. kindly passed along a template that is "officially deny its existence" secret within the mainstream media. With this template, you could launch your own financial media channel, ready to compete with the big boys. Heck, you could hire some cheap overseas labor to make a few Skype calls to "the usual suspects," for-hire academics, hedge fund gurus, etc. and actually attribute the fluff to a real person.

Secession:  Exploding Movement, Tempest In a Teapot … Or Something Else?

Rampant Evidence of Electronic Vote Tampering

North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut

Spoiler Alert: They’re mostly still in office  (so much for building suspense).

On October 3, 2008, 338 elected officials (263 House reps, 74 Senators and 1 President) took it upon themselves to save America from certain financial doom by passing the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, completely ignoring the will of the American people,  opting instead to fulfill a Thomas Jefferson prophesy:

“The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.” 
~ Thomas Jefferson

What Do the Experts Say?  Are People Actually ACCEPTING Gold As Money?

Nuclear News Roundup

• Schäuble View on Eurozone at Odds With US (FT)
• Juncker: Euro zone leaders, ECB to act on Euro (Reuters)
• German Banks Cut Back Periphery Lending (FT)
• Monetary Policy Role in EU Debt Crisis Limited: Zoellick (CNBC)
• Bond Trading Loses Some Swagger Amid Upheaval (NYT)
• As first reported on ZH, Deflation Dismissed by Bond Measure Amid QE3 Anticipation (Bloomberg)
• Record Cash Collides With Yen as Topix Valuation Nearing Low (Bloomberg) - but, but, all the cash on the sidelines...
• Greek Leaders Agree Most Cuts, Lenders Stay On – Source (Reuters)
• Chinese Investment in US 'set for record year' (China Daily)

The Northern Hemisphere just experienced the all-time warmest June on record, at 2.34°F above average. The average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during June was 71.2°F, which is 2.0°F above the 20th century average, contributing to a record-warm first half of the year and the warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since record-keeping began in 1895. Scorching temperatures during the second half of the month led many cities to set all-time temperature records. The nation, as a whole, experienced its tenth driest June on record. Record and near-record dry conditions were present across the Intermountain West. Over 170 all-time warm temperature records were broken or tied during the month. Temperatures in South Carolina (113°F) and Georgia (112°F) are currently under review by the U.S. State Climate Extremes Committee as possible all-time statewide temperature records. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, as of July 3, 56.0 percent of the contiguous U.S. experienced drought conditions, the most since records began.

• Most Germans Reject Ceding Sovereignty to EU, Stern Poll Shows (Bloomberg)
• How Stockton went broke: A 15-year spending binge (Reuters)
• Manchester United Shoots for $100 Million IPO (WSJ)... with 4x leverage and Jefferies as underwriter
• Iran says can destroy U.S. bases "minutes after attack" (Reuters)
• Poison claims spark call for Arafat exhumation  (FT)
• Diamond Would Be Catch for Investment, Private Equity (Bloomberg)
• Investors may shun big Libor lawsuit and go it alone (Reuters)
• New Particle Found, Consistent With Higgs Boson (WSJ)
• Chinese riot police clash with protesters  (FT)
• Euro-Area June Manufacturing, Services Output Contracts (Bloomberg)
• Utilities Struggle to Restore Power in East (WSJ)
• Dark economic clouds gather anew over Obama campaign (Reuters)