Fitch Downgrades Greece, Warns 'Even Soft Restructuring Of Greek Debt Means DEFAULT'

First Greece, then Ireland and Portugal will be restructured.  Default.  Default. Default.  Then its Spain's turn.  Viva La Revolucion Bailout!

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Strauss-Kahn Set To Receive Lifetime $320,000 Annual Pension From IMF, Heavily Funded By U.S. Taxpayers

• DSK, The IMF And BCCI
• Read his original IMF contract...
• List of retirement and employment perks...
• Get more detail at CNBC...
• Ireland bailout program off to good start: IMF
• Fitch downgrades Greece

• CHART: Who Funds The IMF?

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David Stockman Says: 'Shut The Government Down,' Geithner Says New Financial Crisis Coming, Vikram Pandit Gets Huge Pay Package, Mailman Needs A Bailout

• Amazing PICS OF Mississippi Homes Protected By Homemade Earth Dams
• David Stockman Says: 'Shut The Government Down'
• Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit Gets Huge Pay Package
• Geithner Says New Financial Crisis Coming
• Post Office warns of default on retiree benefits
• Next up on the bailout list: The Mailman
• Pile of U.S. debt would stretch beyond stratosphere - Reuters
• Default Deniers: Geithner's Debt Ceiling Deadline Is A Hoax
• Movie Review: Too Big to Fail (Bess Levin for Bloomberg)
• Tom Coburn's Budget Plan: $9 Trillion In Savings Over Ten Years
• Henry Blodget - Blackberry Maker Is Toast
• Consumer agency tests simpler mortgage forms - Elizabeth Warren
• Reuters Analysis: Fed's QE2: Miracle cure or moral hazard?
• China Gives Pakistan 50 Fighter Jets - For Free
• Sofitel waited hour to report alleged DSK crime: source
• DSK Makes Bail
• The 12 Greatest End of the World Prophecy FAILs - Hilarious
• Old Man Says Cop Beat Him for Trying to Help
• Senator questions benefits to ‘adult baby’ - MUST READ

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Barney Frank: Banks Are Winning the War (Video)

In the face of Republican opposition to derivatives reform, Barney Frank of Massachusetts makes his case for increased oversight of derivatives.

• Banks are winning the war against regulators - CNBC

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The End Of The Eurozone? - Stiglitz At European Zeitgeist 2011: "We Are Out Of Money, But We Can Pay You In Fish"

Excellent discussion.  Pretty humorous responses, with anecdotes from Iceland's response to the crisis.

• "We are out of money, but we can pay you in fish."

• "The only people I saw in Iceland who were concerned about the banking crisis were foreign bankers holed up in the local Hilton." 

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Ben Stein: Economic Village Idiot

“In life, events tend to follow patterns. People who commit crimes tend to be criminals, for example. Can anyone tell me any economists who have been convicted of violent sex crimes? Can anyone tell me of any heads of nonprofit international economic entities who have ever been charged and convicted of violent sexual crimes? Is it likely that just by chance this hotel maid found the only one in this category? Maybe Mr. Strauss-Kahn is guilty but if so, he is one of a kind, and criminals are not usually one of a kind.”

-Ben Stein, 5/17/11

Cobourg’s former economic director goes to jail for sexual assault
Economist on governor’s staff charged with child sex abuse
Former Rockford College economics professor pleads guilty to sexual abuse
W&M assistant [economics] professor charged with online sex crime
Colby [economics] professor resigns amid secret-camera flap
Economics professor caught in teen sex sting
CSUN economics professor Kenneth Ng runs Thai sex tourism website

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John Boehner Stuck Between Tea Party And A Hard Place, Pelosi's District Gets 20% Of Obamacare Waivers, Student Loan Debt Now Equals 7% OF GDP (LINKS)

May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard discusses Fed policy and the outlook for inflation. Bullard speaks with Betty Liu and Michael McKee on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop."

• John Boehner Stuck Between Tea Party And A Hard Place (Great Read)
• Bernanke Favors Exit Strategy of Higher Rates Before Asset Sales
• Student loan debt now equivalent to 7 Percent of U.S. GDP
• Bullard Says Fed on Hold Until Late This Year Amid ‘Softer’ Economic Data
• Fed’s Bullard Sees Europe Debt Crisis as Top Risk to U.S. Economic Outlook
• Japan Falls Into Recession After Economy Shrinks 3.7%
• U.S. Housing May Not Recover Until 2014: Survey
• Chinese Wealth Make Vancouver Homes Pricier Than NYC
• Chrysler refinancing to let it repay government loans
• Senate blocks bill targeting big oil subsidies
• Long Island School Official Gets $225,000 Salary While on $316,245 Pension
• Nearly 20 percent of new Obamacare waivers are gourmet restaurants, nightclubs, fancy hotels in Nancy Pelosi’s district

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• Pot Smoker Cheech Marin Beats Anderson Cooper on Jeopardy
• Denmark preparing to stake claim to North Pole
• 7 Animals That Are Evolving Right Before Our Eyes (Great Read)
• Former “alarmist” scientist says Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) based in false science

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Jon Stewart Exposes Gingrich As A Hypocritical Jack-Ass (Video & Twitter Proof)

Can't get enough of the Newt demonstrating his rare, under-appreciated intelligence?  Check out this Daily Show appearance from February 2010.

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DSK Is Done At The IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn Resigns

Breaking story.

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Christine Lagarde To Replace DSK At IMF?, Dominique Strauss-Kahn To Make Bail Thursday

• Strauss-Kahn's IMF future hinges on bail hearing
• He was like a gorilla. . . new sex claims hit IMF chief DSK
• Book Claims DSK Assaulted A Mexican Maid
• A Favorite Emerges for Helm of I.M.F. - Christine Lagarde
• Sources: DSK May Leave Rikers Island Thursday On $1 Million Bail
• New DSK Bail Plea Offer: He Will Wear An Electronic Monitoring Bracelet And Waive Extradition Rights
• Dominique Strauss-Kahn: IMF head 'hired prostitutes from Manhattan madam' - He Was Very Rough With One Of Them
• The Fabulous Life Of Dominique Strauss-Kahn (Before He Was Arrested) - Remember That He's A Socialist When You See These Photos

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MADRID AWAKENS: Aerial View Of Spanish Youth Protesting 21% Unemployment

Spain's 21.3% unemployment rate is the highest in the EU - a record 4.9 million are jobless, many of them young people.

Spanish media say the protesters are attacking the country's political establishment with slogans such as "violence is earning 600 euros", "if you don't let us dream we won't let you sleep" and "the guilty ones should pay for the crisis".

• Read more at the BBC...
• See more Spanish protest videos here...

The global banking elite has another problem... 

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Video: Iowa Voter to Gingrich: "Why don't you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself"

This is brilliant.

• Newt Gingrich apologizes to Paul Ryan

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'An executive at a small defense contractor recently joked to me, “Afghanistan is our business plan.” I asked him what he would do if the war ended. He stared at me for a moment and said, “Well, then I hope we invade Libya.”'

The 43-cents-of-every-dollar-is-borrowed war machine rolls on...

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Dylan Ratigan On War And Debt Ceiling Politics: Fearocracy or Democracy? (Guest Post)

Forget the Republicans and Democrats who are mere puppets of k-street lobbying whores and their industrial henchmen...

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