the big 5 stories:

#1 - "Audit the Fed" Builds Support in Senate

The grassroots measure to give the private-owned Federal Reserve its first audit ever is building bipartisan support in the Senate. The bill, started in the House and championed by Reps. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Alan Grayson (D-FL), has gain a sponsor in Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and garnered possible advocates like Sanders is joined by four Republicans of varying politics: John McCain (AR), Jim DeMint (SC), David Vitter (LA) and Sam Brownback (KS).

If Democrats in the Senate back the measure, it would have at least 63 votes, but Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) is opposed and has argued against a broad audit. Dodd, a lame-duck who is leaving due to a conflict of interest scandal involving the financial firms he oversees, may be compromised and his opposition has not changed the public momentum for the audit.

Sen. Sanders has stated, "Let's not equate independence with secrecy. We cannot let the Fed operate in secrecy any longer. There is simply too much money at stake." Full Story

#2 - Rep. Calls for Federal Non-Cooperation with AZ Immigration Law

Outrage is growing over the passage of a controversial new measure in Arizona that forces police officers to determine the immigration status of someone they suspect of being an undocumented immigrant. We speak with Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), who is urging federal non-cooperation with the new law and is calling for a targeted economic boycott of Arizona. We also speak with Sunita Patel, an attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is filing a lawsuit demanding records related to ICE’s little known “Secure Communities” program. Full Story

RELATED: Mexico issues travel alert for Mexican citizens in Arizona

#3 - Manuel Noriega, from US Friend to Foe

(Democracy Now): The US has extradited the former Panamanian president and CIA asset Manuel Noriega to France to face trial on money laundering charges. Noriega has been jailed in Miami since 1990 after his overthrow in the US invasion of Panama that killed up to 3,000 people. Noriega’s drug trafficking sentence ended two years ago, but he’s remained in jail while fighting France’s extradition request. Noriega’s attorney, Frank Rubino, criticized the US for failing to inform him of Noriega’s extradition.

Before Saddam Hussein there was Manuel Noriega. Like Saddam, Noriega enjoyed US support until he turned into a wayward ally, then an embarrassment, and finally an "imminent danger" who had to be overthrown.

Noriega was recruited as a CIA informant while studying at a military academy in Peru. He received intelligence and counterintelligence training at the School of the Americas at Fort Gulick, Panama, in 1967, as well as a course in psychological operations at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was to remain on the CIA payroll until February 1988. Full Story

#4 - Obama Will Not Comment on Debt Until After Elections

A possible Obama Austerity plan will be revealed after the mid-terms elections and a lame-duck session of Congress may pass the law and take the heat.

The President has commissioned a debt panel and is keeping his plans secret for the next 7 months. "I'm not going to say what's in, I'm not going to say what's out," Obama said as his National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform held its first meeting. Eventually we, the public, will be allowed to know about the fiscal state of our nation. And then the President will scapegoat the Congress to implement his "difficult political decisions." Full Story

#5 - Bank Oligarchy: 60% of US is Owned by Them

Today financial power is being concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer individuals. In fact, the six biggest banks in the United States now possess assets equivalent to 60 percent of America's gross national product. Back in the 1990s that figure was less than 20 percent. These six banks - Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo - literally dictate what goes on in the U.S. banking industry. Full Story

also:
*Ninth Circuit OKs Huge Class in Wal-Mart Gender Discrimination Case

*Police State Canada 2010 and the G20 Summit

*Chernobyl Radiation Killed Nearly One Million People: New Book

*Wall Street Reform: A Big Flop for the Big Lie Strategy?

the big story (late edition)

Recessions Are the New Normal

Also, "Buy & Hold" is a thing of the past

The classic "buy and hold" strategy for stocks is officially dead, according to Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute, who sat down with Yahoo Tech Ticker recently. And, Achuthan said, investors should prepare themselves for even more frequent recessions. (We realize it's great news.)

Two big patterns moving like "big ol icebergs" will create more frequent recessions, Achuthan said. The first pattern, Achutan says, is the pace of each expansion after a recession actually gets weaker and weaker -- and this effect applies to GDP, sales and income. "On every count, the strength [of growth] weaker and weaker with each expansion," he added.

The second pattern is that volatility will be a fact of life. "We're going to see more boom and bust type cycles, I don't think it's going to be like the pre-Depression levels. It will be more like the cycles we saw in the 1970s, where we're going to have an expansion for a few years then another recession."

Read more...

earlier:

From Bowling Nights to Clowns
State Are Now Taxing Everything

It is a new era of Austerity for US as all manner of services are taxed to bring budgets into balance. With American manufacturing nearly extinct, how will state citizens react to new taxes on the nation's service-based economy? And how will business, especially small businesses - the leading employers, be able to hire?

“It’s hard enough doing what we do,” grumbled John Luke, a plumber in the Philadelphia suburbs. His services would, for the first time, come with an added tax if the governor has his way.

Opponents of imposing taxes on services like funerals, legal advice, helicopter rides and dry cleaning argue that this push comes as businesses are barely clinging to life and can ill afford to see customers further put off by new taxes. This is especially true, they say, in states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, where some of the most sweeping proposals are being considered this spring.

But this is also a period of economic gloom for states. Pension funds are in the red, federal stimulus help will soon vanish, and revenues from traditional sources like income and property taxes are slumping ever lower, with few elected officials willing to risk voter wrath by raising them.

“This is born out of necessity,” said Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, a Democrat. His proposed budget, being debated in Harrisburg, would tax services including accounting, advertising and data processing.

Read more...

the big story (late edition)

Top Ratings Agency Warns Austerity Riots Could Hit America

"Austerity" is a word you will hear more and more, especially if the economy double dips. Greece is on fire with riots right now because of austerity measures. Riots happen where ever austerity is introduced. Can our society handle this coming crisis?

Top ratings agency Moody’s has predicted that the U.S. and the UK could witness similar riots to those seen in Greece in response to emergency austerity measures imposed by governments in an effort to retain their AAA credit status.

“Growth alone will not resolve an increasingly complicated debt equation. Preserving debt affordability at levels consistent with AAA ratings will invariably require fiscal adjustments of a magnitude that, in some cases, will test social cohesion,” said Pierre Cailleteau, the chief author of the report.

Read more...


earlier:

The Queen "Deems" It So

Procedure or violation of the Constitution? Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi considers a rare move called "Deem & Pass" in which the entire House of Representatives is bypassed in the passing of the Senate's health care legislation

A newly emerging Democratic plan to vote on health care reform without really voting on health care reform has critics riled up, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her allies are accused of resorting to legislative trickery to send a bill to President Obama's desk.

Senate Democratic leaders had already drawn jeers from Republicans for a plan to try to pass a follow-up health bill with only 51 votes, as opposed to 60. Now Pelosi and Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, are cooking up a plan to pass the original health bill from the Senate side without forcing rank-and-file Democrats to technically go on record in support of it.

"Republicans believe that if the Democrats are willing to have the government take over our health care system, they should be willing to vote for it -- without any gimmicks," House Republican Leader John Boehner's office said in a statement. "Democrats wonder why people are so upset with Washington."

Here's how the maneuver would work and why Pelosi wants it:

Before Congress can consider the package of changes that many lawmakers want in exchange for their support on the original bill, the House has to first pass the original bill from the Senate side.

Problem is, even with assurances that the package of changes will be considered, many House Democrats don't want to go on record in support of the Senate bill -- what with its sweetheart deals, tax on high-value insurance plans and other controversial provisions.

Read more...



RELATED: Slaughter House Rules