New York Times

Bit by bit, we’re learning more about President Obama’s broken promise that you can keep your health insurance if you like it, which was repeated at least two dozen times in recent years... Obama’s pledge was no different to, say, JPMorgan’s misrepresentations about the toxic mortgages it sold to unwitting investors. Fraudulent mortgage claims were surely discussed within JPM, just as Obama’s team debated the health insurance promise. Moreover, any internal concerns about the mortgage fraud were certainly squashed, just like the reservations expressed by Obama’s more truthful advisers. Simply put: Obama told a blatant lie, which he then continued to repeat.  It’s not the first time he’s lied, but this was an absolute whopper.

The U.S. House just passed a bill called H.R. 992 - the Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act - that was literally written by mega-bank lobbyists. It repeals the laws passed in 2010 to prevent another meltdown like the one that crashed our economy in 2008. The repeal was co-sponsored by a former Goldman Sachs executive and passed with bipartisan support from some of the House’s largest recipients of Wall Street cash. It’s so appalling... so unbelievable... so blatantly corrupt... that you’ve got to see it to believe it...

• China premier warns against loose money policies (Reuters)
• Brussels forecasts tepid Eurozone growth (FT)
• SAC Case Began With Informant’s Tips on Cohen, Rajaratnam (BBG)
• Dirty Munich Home’s Nazi Loot Estimated at $1.35 Billion (BBG)
• Mortar hits Vatican embassy in Damascus, no casualties (Reuters)
• India Launches Mars Mission (WSJ)
• Lael Brainard to leave Treasury, heading to Fed (FT)
• U.S. Takes Aim at 'Forced' Insurance (WSJ)
• Wife of Jeff Bezos attacks book about Amazon (FT)
• Fall of Brazil’s Batista embarrasses President Dilma Rousseff (FT)
• The One Thing People Still Really Like About BlackBerry (BusinessWeek)

You didn’t want to be the guy chosen to tell Stalin that the wheat crop failed or the production quotas on trucks and cars were not met. Why? Because despots always blame people, not systems. In the same way, you don’t want to be the guy chosen to tell Obama that his health care websites are a disaster. But that’s what they are, and he’s managed to blame everyone but himself. The problem is that government is not the best means to do anything well. The problem is the absence of two crucial things: the knowledge to assemble the resources properly and the means to make the economic assessment of the value of competitive resources.

Every now and then, it is good to refresh knowledge of what is truly important in life. So it’s time to post “The Greatest Speech Ever” by Charlie Chaplin. Charlie Chaplin was known as the greatest silent actor ever. The most powerful excerpts from his speech, still very relevant today, in my opinion, are below:

• Top China Banks Triple Debt Write-Offs as Defaults Loom (BBG)
• PBOC suspends open market operations again (Global Times)
• Eurozone bank shares fall after ECB outlines health check plan (FT)
• O-Care falling behind (The Hill)
• Key House Republican presses tech companies on Obamacare glitches (Reuters)
• J.P. Morgan Faces Another Potential Huge Payouta (WSJ)
• Yankees Among 10 MLB Teams Valued at More Than $1 Billion (BBG)
• Free our reporter, begs newspaper as China cracks down on journalists (Reuters)
• Peugeot Reviews Cost-Saving Alliance With GM (WSJ)

The Spying Has Been Going On For DECADES

It would appear President Obama has another gift few are aware of. For at least the 5th time in the last few years, his oratory has forced a woman in the audience to fall to the floor. First in September 2011, twice in March 2012, then in August 2012, and now today during his latest Obamacare pitch, the President's intonations appear to disturb the brain's cortex just enough to halt the breathing (and thinking) process. Of course, the end result will be the launch of Obamafood - the non-fainting alternative to listening to his speeches/pitches, which for those who are sufficiently brain dead will come in a prechewed (by other taxpayers) variant, also known as ObamaIV.

The whole fulcrum of the bloated American state is beyond ready for a radical deconstruction. The same goes for most nation-states in the West. The continual borrowing, serviced indiscreetly by an accommodating central bank, has made an entirety of the populace fat and happy off of debt. This is no realistic method for operating any institution. Something has to give eventually. Any conservative who places high value on civil society over the intrusion of government should balk at the prospect of a higher debt load. It makes certain that the ruling political class will not cease in their effort to infiltrate private life. Unfortunately it appears as if some otherwise sharp minds have fallen prey to the liberal device of alarmism.

Bonus: Did the Saudi Intelligence Chief and Other High-Ranking Officials Trade on Inside Information Regarding 9/11?

Debunking Government’s Justification for Mass Surveillance

It's gotten beyond silly: with less than a day to go until the first X-Date, beyond which if Jack Lew is correct (he isn't) all hell will break loose if the US doesn't have a debt deal in place, stocks couldn't care less, Bills continue to sell off, carry traders only care how big the central banks' balance sheets are, all news are generally shunned and yet stocks have soared 600 DJIA points on Harry Reid's relentless optimism a deal will get done, even though so far none has. Today, as we observed on Monday, we expect more of the same: stocks and futures will ignore the reality that the midnight hour will come and go with no deal in place, but will continue to explode higher as Harry Reid's latest set of "optimism" headlines hits the tape in low volume trading. We expect the first big hope rally around POMO time, then shortly after Senate comes back in Session, around noon. Then for good measure, another one just before market close. Why not: it's not like the "market" even pretend to be one anymore. Keep an eye on today's 4-Week bill auction before noon. It should be a far bigger doozy than yesterday's longer-dated bills.

Though it has not received the same amount of media attention as Syria and Egypt, Barclays points out that Iraq has witnessed a relentless wave of bombings and shootings this year and the risks are rising of a return to serious sectarian strife and widespread civil unrest. This is raising the risk of serious sectarian strife and widespread civil unrest, with implications for oil production, exports, and regime stability.

• Headline of the day: U.S. Risks Joining 1933 Germany in Pantheon of Deadbeat Defaults (BBG)
• As Senate wrestles over debt ceiling, Obama stays out of sight (Reuters)
• The "Truckers Ride for the Constitution" that threatened to gum up traffic in the capital was a dud as of Friday afternoon (WSJ)
• China New Yuan Loans Top Estimates as Money-Supply Growth Slows (BBG)
• Vegetable prices fuel Chinese inflation (FT)
• China Slowing Power Use Growth Points To Weaker Output Data (MNI)
• London Wealthy Leave for Country Life as Prices Rise (BBG)
• Gulf oil production hits record (FT)
• Every year like clockwork, analysts start out bizarrely optimistic about future results, then “walk down” their forecasts  (WSJ)
• Weak Exports Show Limits of China’s Growth Model (WSJ)

It’s a Myth that the U.S. Has Never Defaulted On Its Debt