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From: 2MAR$	4/22/2012 8:29:31 PM
	1 Recommendation of 100714

4/23-4/27 Busy Week Ahead on the Trading Radar Econ Data & Company Earnings Reports Monday, April 23 US Economics (Time Zone: EDT) No major reports scheduled 11:00 Fed buying $1.5b-$2b notes in 25 to 30-year range 11:30 Treasury selling $30b 3-month notes, $28b 6-month note Global Economics (Time Zone: GMT) 05:00 JPY Leading Index 07:30 EUR German PMI 08:00 EUR Euro-Zone PMI Earnings Before: BOH, BEAV, EAT, CHKP, COP, DHI, ETN, HAS, HLX, KNL, MTG, OFG, PCH, ROP, STBA, SAH, STI, TNC, WWW, XRX After: ALGN, AFOP, AGNC, AMP, BXS, BCCN, CNI, CR, CTGS, ETH, FNB, FFIN, HMA, HSTM, HTLF, HXL, IEX, ILMN, JJSF, NFLX, OMI, RCII, SANM, SFG, STM, TXN, TUES, UCTT, USTR, VLTR, WRB, WIBC, WWD, ZION Tuesday, April 24 US Economics (Time Zone: EDT) 09:00 S&P/Case Schiller Composite – consensus -3.45% 09:00 S&P/Case Schiller 20 City – consensus 0.10% 10:00 Consumer Confidence – consensus 69.6 10:00 Richmond Fed – consensus 6 10:00 House Price Index – consensus 0.1% 10:00 New Home Sales – consensus 319K 11:00 Fed to purchase $4.25b-$5b in 6 to 8-year notes 11:30 Treasury selling 4-week bills 1:00 US selling $35b 2-year notes Global Economics (Time Zone: GMT) 01:30 AUD CPI 03:00 NZD Credit Card Spending 06:00 CHF Trade Balance 06:00 CHF UBS Consumption Indicator 08:30 GBP Public Finances 12:30 CAD Retail Sales Earnings Before: MMM, AMG, APD, AKS, ALXN, AXE, ARMH, ASH, ASTE, T, BHI, BYD, CPLA, CSL, CE, CLS, CNC, CRDN, CIT, COH, DLPH, DHT, FDML, FCF, FMER, HSII, HSY, ICLR, IIVI, ITW, IMN, JNS, KSU, LCAV, LII, LXK, LRY, LECO, MHP, MLI, NVS, OSIS, PCAR, PH, PEI, PNR, PVTB, RSH, RYN, RF, RAI, R, SIAL, SBNY, STL, SNV, TROW, TWIN, X, UMBF, UTX, WAB, WAT, WFT, WU After: ACE, ACPW, AEGN, AFL, ACC, AMGN, AMSG, ANEN, AAPL, BIDU, BKI, BWLD, CHRW, BCR, CBG, CBI, CGI, CENX, CVTI, CTS, CYMI, DDIC, DV, DUF, DRCO, EW, ENTR, EEFT, FBC, FTI, HLIT, HTS, HA, HWAY, AWAY, HTCH, IPHI, IGT, IPCM, IRBT, ITC, JNPR, LIFE, MANH, MRCY, MMSI, NBR, NFX, NSC, PNRA, QEP, STP, QCOR, RSYS, RNST, RFMD, RHI, RUSHA, SGMO, SMCI, SKT, TMK, TSS, CLUB, TRMK, ULTI, UIS, USNA, VASC, VTNC, VOCS, WBSN, WIT, ZIXI Wednesday, April 25 US Economics (Time Zone: EDT) 07:00 MBA Mortgage Purchase Index 08:30 Durable Goods – consensus -1.6% 08:30 Durable Goods ex Transport – consensus 08:30 Cap Goods Nondef Ex – consensus 0.9% 12:30 FOMC Rate Decision 1:00 US to sell $35b 5-year notes Global Economics (Time Zone: GMT) 06:00 JPY Machine Tool Orders 08:30 GBP GDP 21:00 NZD Reserve Bank of New Zealand Rate Decision Earnings Before: ABB, ALR, ATI, ATMI, AUO, AN, AVY, AVX, BA, CRS, CAT, CBZ, CVE, GIB, CWEI, CNH, GLW, CFR, DAN, DAL, DEST, DHX, DBD, DPS, LLY, ECA, EGN, ENR, FMBI, FSRV, GD, GSK, GNC, HOG, HES, HST, HCBK, ICON, KFN, LCRY, LAD, LIZ, ERIC, LO, LL, MKTX, MNI, MWV, MDP, MSA, MOLX, MSI, NDAQ, NOV, NMM, NEE, NLSN, NOR, NOC, NEW, NS, OC, PAG, PX, ROK, ROC, RES, SAP, ST, SLAB, SIX, SO, S, XRS, TEL, TDY, TX, JNY, MDCO, TMO, TKR, TUP, UMC, LCC, VMED, WPI, WLP, WYN, ZIP After: AEA, AKAM, ALGT, ARII, ACOM, ATR, ACGL, ARRS, AHT, AHL, AIZ, AVB, BDN, CDNS, CMO, CAKE, CIM, CRUS, CTXS, CLW, CLF, COHU, CLGX, CSGP, CROX, CCI, DTLK, DRWI, DRE, DFT, ELX, ECPG, WIRE, EXXI, EFX, EQIX, EQR, RE, DAVE, FOE, FICO, FNF, FFBC, FTNT, GG, GGG, GPRE, GLF, HRC, HMN, HURN, INFN, INSP, ISSI, ININ, IDCC, IFSIA, ISIL, ITRI, JAH, KAI, KALU, KBR, KND, KEX, KNX, LVS, LEAP, LOGI, LOGM, LOOP, LSI, MX, MTSN, MERU, MSCC, MKSI, MRH, NKTR, NTGR, NEU, ORLY, OLL, OIS, OI, PMTC, PDLI, QGEN, QDEL, RA, RRC, RJF, RJET, RKT, RYL, SIGI, SCI, SKX, SLG, STMP, STNR, SRCL, SRDX, SUSQ, SYA, SYMM, SYNC, TER, TEX, TCBI, TWI, TSCO, TRN, TQNT, TBI, TYL, VAR, WCN, WLL, WMB, WPX, XLNX Thursday, April 26 US Economics (Time Zone: EDT) 08:30 Initial Jobless Claims – consensus 368K 08:30 Continuing Claims – consensus 3285K 10:00 Pending Home Sales – consensus 1.3% 11:00 Kansas City Fed 11:00 Fed to purchase $1.5b-$2b notes in 25 to 30-year range 1:00 Treasury selling $29b 7-year notes Global Economics (Time Zone: GMT) 04:30 JPY All Industry Activity Index 09:00 EUR Euro-Zone Consumer Confidence 09:00 EUR Euro-Zone Business Climate Indicator 12:00 EUR German CPI 23:30 JPY Jobless Rate 23:30 Household Spending Earnings Before: DDD, AET, AIXG, ALU, AFAM, MO, AM, APU, ARGN, ABC, AME, AMLN, AIT, ART, ABG, AME, AMLN, AIT, ART, ABG, AZN, AVEO, AVT, BLL, BDC, BLC, BMS, BHE, BRY, BWA, BGG, BCO, BMY BRKR, BC, BG, CAB, CCMP, CAM CRR, CRI, CSH, CELG, GTLS, CME, CMS, CCE, CL, CLP, CNMD, CNX, COR, OFC, CRY, DLX, DB, DLR, D, UFS, DOW, DNKN, ELNK, ELN, EME, ETR, EQT, EVR, XOM, FSS, FIS, FAF, FVE, F, FORR, GMT, GEL, GR, GTI, GPK, GPI, HHS, HW, HP, HERO, INCY, IART, IPG, IVC, IVZ, IRM, ESI, JBLU, JRN, KBW, K, KMT, LLL, LANC, LSTR, LAZ, TVL, LINE, LKQX, LMT, LYTS, MHO, CLI, MTRN, MJN, VIVO, MTH, MEA, PCS, MGI, MCO, MYL, BABY, NCI, NTCT, NEI, NIHD, NBL, NUS, OXY, ODFL, ORI, OCR, OSK, PACR, PMTI, PCX, PTEN, PEP, PNK, POT, PDS, PROV, PHM, RTN, REGN, O, REGN, RGS, RS, SOL, RTIX, SFE, SWY, SNH, SQNS, SHPGY, SLGN, SWI, SPNC, SAVE, HOT, STEL, STC, SWC, STRA, TSM, TASR, TLAB, TS, TWC, TRS, TYC, UGI, UBSI, UCBI, UAL, UTHR, USAP, UPS, VCI, VNTV, VDSI, VSI, VMC, WBC, WM,WST, WHR, WRLD, XEL, YNDX, ZMH After: AAN, ABAX, AEM, AIQ, AMZN, DOX, AMKR, ANGI, ANH, AMCC, ARBA, ASIA, AACC ,ATHN, AVID, AXS, BYI, BMRN, BJRI, EPAY, BBRG, CELL, CAP, CAMP, ELY, CPT, CERN, CHH, CINF, CRBC, CLWR, COHR, CSTR, COLM, CYH, CMP, CPSI, CPTS, CTCT, DECK, PROJ, DGII, DRC, DNB, EMN, ECHO, EDR, EHTH, ELGX, EPIQ, EXPE, EXTR, FII, FR, FBHS, FIO, GERN, GFIG, GILD, GDOT, HBHC, HLS, HITT, HGSI, INFA, IM, IMI, ITMN, INAP, INVN, KERX, KEG, KLAC, LEG, MTW, MXIM, MXWL, MBLX, MCRL, MCRS, MTX, MIPS, MWW, NANO, NATI, N, NSR, NR, NTRI, NXPI, OCLR, OLN, ASGN, OPWV, OFIX, PCTI, PKI, PFG, QLIK, KWR, RSG, RMD, SABA, SCSC, SBCF, SGEN, SIMO, SSD, SWKS, SONS, SPSC, SBUX, SPN, SIVB, SYNA, TAL, TNGO, TCO, TSYS, TNAV, TSRA, THRX, TPCG, UHS, UACL, WOOF, VRSN, VRTX, VPRT, WTI, WRE, WAIR, WDC, WSH, GB, WYNN, ZOLL, ZNGA Friday, April 27 US Economics (Time Zone: EDT) 08:30 Employment Cost Index – consensus 0.5% 08:30 GDP QoQ – consensus 2.5% 08:30 Personal Consumption – consensus 2.3% 08:30 GDP Price Index – consensus 2.1% 08:30 Core PCE – consensus 2.1% 09:55 University of Michigan Confidence – consensus 75.7 11:00 Fed selling $8b-$8.75b notes in 2 to 3-year range Global Economics (Time Zone: GMT) JPY Bank of Japan Rate Decision 01:30 CNY Industrial Profits 05:00 JPY Housing Starts 06:00 EUR German Gfk Consumer Confidence 07:00 CHF KOF Swiss Leading Indicator Earnings Before: AIMC, ACO, AXL, ABFS, ALV, B, CPN, CVX, CVH, COV, DTE, FLIR, GT, HELE, HMSY, IMAX, IMGN, IP, KKR, KVHI, LBY, LPNT, MGLN, HZO, MRK, MOG.A, NAFC, NWL, NEM, PPC, PG, PB, PFS, RUTH, SAIA, SNMX, SPG, TOT, VFC, VTR, WY, ZBRA After: PVR, PBI

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To: ponokee who wrote (89342)	4/22/2012 10:19:11 PM
From: Maurice Winn	2 Recommendations of 100714

Such changes as Tradable Citizenship won't come from countries which are fat, dumb and happy. They come from places in revolution or otherwise already in traumatic contention with reality such as Cuba or Greece. Imagine Cuba deciding to adopt Tradable Citizenship. At a stroke, they would be able to life border controls [especially on people leaving] and capital would start flooding in by the $billion as foreigners would want to get a piece of the action, being able to depend on citizens not killing the goose which lays the golden eggs. Americans would be wanting to buy Cuban Citizenships. The price would soar into the $millions. A tax-free actually free country just a short flight away from the USA would be very attractive to a lot of people. It has been a very long time since any Spanish-based realm has been a leader in the world, but they could do it again. The tried fascism. They had a go at communism. Socialism was a fizzer. Military dictatorship a catastrophe. They have had royalty. They have even tried regular garden-variety democracy. All have been losers. Having tried everything else, maybe they'll be first in the world to enter the New World Order of actual freedom with citizens owning the state rather than being owned by the state. It would be amusing if Cuba started giving lessons to the USA about freedom. Mqurice

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To: Maurice Winn who wrote (89346)	4/23/2012 1:12:00 AM
From: ponokee	1 Recommendation of 100714

I think TC is a good idea but it would go against the gangs of states that run quite an elaborate protection racket pushing citizens around for the greater good. One day the material world will have a reckoning and the disgruntled passengers trying to pay their debts will stop buying into it. By Whiskey ContributorJun 10th, 2011 The title of this article encompasses topics that arouse attention and criticism among persons of libertarian persuasion. The discussion of such matters usually treats each issue as though it were sui generis, independent of one another. Most of us respond as though the woman who is groped at the airport has no connection with the man who is tasered by a police officer; that the person serving time in prison for selling marijuana is unrelated to the men being held at Guantanamo. The belief that one person’s maltreatment is isolated from the rest of us, is essential to the maintenance of state power. What we have in common is the need to protect one another’s inviolability from governmental force. When we understand that the woman being groped by a TSA agent stands in the same shoes as our wife, mother, or grandmother; when the man being beaten by a sadist cop is seen, by us, as our father or grandfather, we become less willing to evade the nature of the wrongdoing by invoking the coward’s plea: “better him than me.” The state owes its very existence to the success it has had in fostering division among us, a topic I explored in my Calculated Chaos book. Divide-and-conquer has long been the mainstay in political strategy. If blacks and whites; or Christians and Muslims; or employees and employers; or “straights” and “gays”; or men and women; or any of seemingly endless abstractions, learn to identify and separate themselves from one another, the state has established its base of power. From such mutually-exclusive categories do we draw the endless “enemies” (e.g., communists, drug-dealers, terrorists, tobacco companies) we are to fear, and against whom the state promises its protection. By becoming fearful, we become existentially disabled, and readily accept whatever safeguards the institutional fear-mongers impose, . . . all for our “benefit,” of course! Look at the title of this article: do you find any governmental program or practice therein that is not grounded in state-generated fear? Each one – and the numerous others not mentioned – presumes a threat to your well-being against which the state must take restrictive and intrusive action. Terrorists might threaten the flight you are about to take; terrorist nations might have “weapons of mass destruction” and the intention to use them against you; your children might be at risk from drug dealers or from sex perverts using the Internet; driving without a seat-belt, or eating “junk” foods might endanger you: the list goes on and on, changing as the fear-peddlers dream up another dreaded condition in life. It is not sufficient to the interests of the state that you fear other groups; it is becoming increasingly evident that you must also fear the state itself! Governments are defined as entities that enjoy a monopoly on the use of violence within a given territory. Implicit in such a monopoly is the recognition that there be no limitations on its exercise, other than what serve the power interests of the state. In relatively quiet and stable periods (e.g., 1950s) the state can afford to give respect to notions of individual privacy, free speech, and limitations on the powers of the police. In such ways, the state gives the appearance of reasonableness and respect for people. But when times become more tumultuous – as they are now – the very survival of the state depends upon a continuing assertion of the coercive powers that define its very being. For a number of reasons – some of it technological – our social world is rapidly becoming decentralized. The highly- structured, centrally-directed institutions through which so much of our lives has been organized (e.g., schools, health-care, government, communications, etc.) no longer meet the expectations of many – perhaps most – men and women. Alternative systems, the control of which has become decentralized into individual hands, challenge the traditional institutional order. Private schools and home-schooling; alternative health practices; the Internet, cell-phones, and what is now known as the “social media,” are in the ascendancy. With the state becoming increasingly expensive, destructive, economically disruptive, oppressive, and blatantly anti-life, secession and nullification movements have become quite popular. Of course, such transformations are contrary to the established institutional interests that have, for many decades, controlled the state – and, with it, the monopoly on violence that is its principal asset. Having long enjoyed the power to advance their interests not through the peaceful, voluntary methods of the marketplace, but through such coercive means as governmental regulation, taxation, wars, and other violent means, the established order is not about to allow the changing preferences of hundreds of millions of individuals to disrupt its traditional cozy racket. Because the institutional order has become inseparable from the coercive nature of the state, any popular movement toward non-political systems is, in effect, a movement away from the violent structuring of society. The corporate interests that control the machinery of the state may try to convince people that government does protect their interests vis-à-vis the various fear-objects. Failing in this, the statists must resort to the tactic that sustains the playground bully: to reinforce fear of the bully, who controls his victims through a mixture of violence and degradation. Neither the TSA nor the alleged “war on terror” have anything to do with terrorism. The idea that the TSA came about as a consequence of 9/11 ignores the fact that the state’s practice of prowling through the personal belongings of airline passengers goes back many decades. I recall how upset a friend of mine was – in the early 1970s – when government officials went through his hand-luggage, and ordered him to unwrap a birthday gift he was carrying home to a relative. The purpose of such a search then, as now, was to remind passengers of the bully’s basic premise: “I can do anything I want to you whenever I choose to do so.” It is for the purpose of keeping us docile – an objective furthered by degrading and dehumanizing us – that underlies such state practices. The groping of people’s genitals and breasts is but an escalation of this premise, and should the TSA later decide that all passengers must strip naked for inspection, such a practice will go unquestioned not only by the courts, but by the mainstream media who will ask ” . . . but if you don’t have anything to hide . . . “ Those who cannot imagine state power going to such extremes to humiliate people into submission, are invited to revisit the many photographs of German army officers at such places as Auschwitz, who watched – as “full body scanners” – as naked women were forced to run by them. The extension of wars – against any enemy that any president chooses as a target – serves the same purpose. It is not necessary that there be any plausible rationale for the bombing and invading of other countries: it is sufficient that Americans and foreigners alike be reminded of the violence principle upon which government rests. “I will go to war against you if it serves my interests to do so, and any resistance on your part will only confirm what a threat you are to America!” The state directs its wars not so much against foreign populations, as against its own. War rallies people into the mindset of unquestioning obedience because, by engaging in such deadly conduct, the state reminds us of its capacities to destroy us at its will. You can apply this logic to any of the aforementioned government programs. The state – and the corporate order that depends upon the exercise of state power – is fighting for its survival. Rather than treating this as a “war against terrorism,” it is more accurate to consider it as a “war to preserve the hierarchically-structured institutional order.” There are too many trillions of dollars and too much arbitrary power at stake for those who benefit from controlling the state’s instruments of violence to await the outcome of ordinary people’s thinking. If the survival of the corporate-state power structure required the extermination oftwo billion people, such a program would be undertaken with little hesitation. Destructive violence becomes an end-in-itself to an organization that is defined in terms of its monopoly on such means. On the other hand, I continue to remain optimistic that these institutional wars against life will come to an end. I believe that the United States of America is in a terminal condition; its fate already determined. But America – whose existence predates the United States – may very well survive in a fundamentally changed form. What is helping this transformation process are innovative technological tools for the decentralized exchange of information; mankind is rapidly becoming capable of communicating with one another in the most direct ways, methods that make traditional top-down forms less and less relevant. The Internet is one system that is the tip of an iceberg whose deeper challenges have thus far not captured the attention of crew members of the ship-of-state.Wikileaks is another step in the evolution of decentralized information systems that will bring greater transparency to the activities of the ruling classes. In the process, men and women will discover just how liberating the free flow of information can be. When the rest of the world has access to the same information that political systems try to keep secret, the games played at the expense of people begin to fall apart. An awareness of the dynamics of change being brought about through decentralizing forces has not, however, managed to inform members of the established order. For all of their pretended knowledge and expertise about the world, they just don’t get it. They seem to imagine that their decline-and-fall can be prevented by keeping the Bradley Mannings and Julian Assanges locked up; and that the political ramifications can be deterred by distracting attention away from a Ron Paul – who does understand the nature and direction of these changes – and toward a comic-opera Sarah Palin. In the meantime, in an effort to keep Boobus Americanus and other members of the herd within their assigned stalls, the ever-present threat of force and its consequent degradation of the individual will be invoked as the state works feverishly – and futilely – to shore up its collapsing foundations. Regards, Butler Shaffer Butler Shaffer teaches at the Southwestern University School of Law. He is the author of the newly-released In Restraint of Trade: The Business Campaign Against Competition, 1918–1938 and of Calculated Chaos: Institutional Threats to Peace and Human Survival. His latest book is Boundaries of Order. Be Sociable, Share! whiskeyandgunpowder.com

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To: TobagoJack who wrote (89278)	4/23/2012 3:28:18 AM
From: 2MAR$	1 Recommendation of 100714

Once in a while have to throw in a little "Mish Shedlock" :o)<>*European Splintering Escalates: Dutch Government Falls; Slovakia Government Collapsed in March; Czech Government Collapse Coming Right Up* The Netherlands government has officially collapsed in a dispute over austerity measures. Elections likely in September. Meanwhile, the Czech government is also on the verge of collapse, for the same reason: austerity measures. The Financial Times reports Dutch government falls over budget talks The Dutch governing coalition collapsed on Saturday when far-right politician Geert Wilders pulled out of budget cut talks, saying it was not in the Netherlands’ interest to meet the deficit limit of three per cent imposed by the new European fiscal pact. EU-imposed austerity measures have cost leaders in southern European countries, including Greece, Italy and Spain, their jobs. With the fall of the conservative Dutch government, and the possibility that Nicolas Sarkozy may lose the French presidential election that begins on Sunday, the damage seems to have spread to Europe’s prosperous north. Highlighting widespread voter anger over EU-imposed budget cuts, Mr Wilders said he could not allow Dutch citizens to “pay out of their pockets for the senseless demands of Brussels”. “We don’t want to follow Brussels’ orders. We don’t want to make our retirees bleed for Brussels’ diktats,” Mr Wilders said. The loss of Mr Wilders’ support left the conservative government of Mark Rutte, prime minister, with just over a third of the seats in parliament. Highlighting widespread voter anger over EU-imposed budget cuts, Mr Wilders said he could not allow Dutch citizens to “pay out of their pockets for the senseless demands of Brussels”. “We don’t want to follow Brussels’ orders. We don’t want to make our retirees bleed for Brussels’ diktats,” Mr Wilders said. The loss of Mr Wilders’ support left the conservative government of Mark Rutte, prime minister, with just over a third of the seats in parliament. Mr Rutte and other party leaders said that made new elections inevitable. He is expected to offer his cabinet’s resignation to the Dutch Queen on Monday, but leave the cabinet in place as a caretaker government until elections are held, probably in September. Exiting the government at this stage will allow Mr Wilders to disclaim any responsibility for unpopular budget cuts. But the biggest winner in elections could be the far-left eurosceptic Socialist party, which has seen its support rise to as much as 20 per cent of the electorate over the past year. Meanwhile, Dutch analysts said the inability of even the prosperous, deficit-averse Netherlands to generate voter support for Europe-directed budget cuts called the sustainability of the EU fiscal pact into question. Czech Government Collapse On the Way Please consider Czech protesters stage anti-government rally The Czech government faces a test of its ability to continue governing after an ambitious fiscal tightening programme splintered the ruling coalition and brought tens of thousands of protesters on to the streets of Prague at the weekend. Petr Necas, premier, has set a Monday deadline for a breakaway group from Public Affairs – the smallest of the three parties that made up his centre-right coalition – to demonstrate that it has the support of at least 10 MPs, which would give him a working majority in the 200-member parliament. Mr Necas has sacrificed much of his popularity after introducing a series of tax increases and benefit cuts in order to keep the budget deficit below 3 per cent next year. The additional measures were brought in after the Czech Republic posted worse than expected growth numbers – largely a consequence of the slowdown in the eurozone, the country’s largest export market. “We cannot behave in a populist way and we must continue our policy of budget responsibility and debt reduction,” Mr Necas told reporters after one of the largest demonstrations in the Czech Republic’s post-communist history filled the streets of the capital on Saturday to protest at his policies and to show disgust with political corruption. Organisers estimated that about 120,000 people attended, many of them jangling keys as a signal for the government to go – an echo of the protests that ousted the communists in 1989. Slovakia Government Collapse In case you missed it, the right-wing Slovakia government collapsed in March. The Guardian reports Central Europe's centre-right teeters under corruption claims Austria, Slovakia, Croatia and Czech Republic gripped by sleaze allegations involving senior politicians and governing parties. Ruling parties, political elites and former ministers in a string of EU countries are embroiled in cash-for-influence scandals that are exposing widespread allegations of corruption, triggering public revulsion and a voters' backlash. Hunting parties, expensive gifts, drunken car crashes, secret police wiretaps, paper bags stuffed with money and public budgets being treated as private accounts all feature in the lurid revelations and allegations being leaked daily on to the front pages of central Europe. Austria, Slovakia, Croatia and the Czech Republic are in the throes of sleaze allegations involving senior politicians and governing parties said to be funded by dirty money. Tales of criminality, thuggery, and vast amounts of cash flowing to politicians from companies, lobbyists, and middlemen are dominating the newspapers and blogosphere across central Europe. In contrast, successful prosecutions are extremely rare for a political class that often seems to operate with impunity. Austria, Slovakia, Croatia, and the Czech Republic are in the throes of major sleaze allegations involving senior politicians and governing parties said to be funded by dirty money. In Austria a special parliamentary committee investigating political corruption is questioning serving and former ministers this week about a convoluted web of alleged bribery and profiteering from government tenders and skewed legislation. In an election this month next door in Slovakia, the new prime minister, Robert Fico, won a landslide after support for his rivals on the right collapsed when secret police files about the buying and selling of MPs were unearthed by a Canadian journalist and posted on the internet. The secret police files, codenamed Gorilla, featured wiretaps of leading financiers meeting discreetly with centre-right governing politicians to trade government tenders for cash. the latest scandal to rock the region centres on a Czech businessman and a former Prague mayor who are accused of in effect controlling the city's €2bn budget between them. The businessman, Roman Janoušek, had long been labelled the "shadow mayor" owing to his close links with city hall, but it was not until transcripts of what are believed to be wiretaps of conversations between him and his long-time ally, former Prague city mayor Pavel Bém, were published in the daily Mladá Fronta Dnes that the scale of their alleged rigging of the city finances started to come to light. The conversations appear to include discussions about influencing sales of city and public property, arranging expensive gifts for city officials and fixing high-ranking official posts. On May 6 the Greek government is likely to collapse, and Nicolas Sarkozy will be ousted as president of France. Meanwhile New "Temporary" Border Controls are tantamount to a Vote of No Confidence in Europe Other than four ousted governments, Troika imposed governments in Greece and Italy, huge budget misses in Spain, increased protectionist measures in France, border controls, bickering between the ECB and the German Central Bank, the Bundesbank proclamation "Not ECB's Job to Tackle Spain's Problems", Europe is holding together quite nicely. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

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