(Note from Brian: A friend passed me this story, and I recommend reading. It is unbelievable what people do to others in pursuit of money).

How the nation’s biggest banks are ripping off American cities with the same predatory deals that brought down Greece.

If you want to know what life in the Third World is like, just ask Lisa Pack, an administrative assistant who works in the roads and transportation department in Jefferson County, Alabama. Pack got rudely introduced to life in post-crisis America last August, when word came down that she and 1,000 of her fellow public employees would have to take a little unpaid vacation for a while. The county, it turned out, was more than $5 billion in debt — meaning that courthouses, jails and sheriff’s precincts had to be closed so that Wall Street banks could be paid.

Wall Street’s Bailout Hustle

As public services in and around Birmingham were stripped to the bone, Pack struggled to,….. Full Story Here

By Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone
March 31, 2010 8:15 AM ET

CPM Group recently released their 2011 Silver Yearbook, one of the industry’s most comprehensive sources of information on the silver market. Though mostly a reference book, I uncovered some interesting facts that paint a decidedly bullish picture for the metal going forward.

If you’re a silver investor, or are concerned about the recent selloff, you may find the following data very compelling. It provides an inside track on the market and will certainly make us all more knowledgeable investors.

For fun, I put what I read into the form of a quiz. See how many you can get correct….. Full Story Here

Written by Jeff Clark Date: 06-04-2011
Subject: Casey Research Articles

When it’s completed this fall, Riverside’s Hillcrest High School will be a high-tech academic hub with wireless Internet, a robotics lab, digital smart boards in every classroom and a first-rate performance hall worthy of any “Glee” hopeful.

But no students.
Sapped by state budget cuts, the Alvord Unified School District doesn’t have the money to turn on the lights or hire staff for the $105-million campus.

There’s no guarantee it will open in 2012-13, despite being,….. Full Story Here

By Phil Willon, Los Angeles Times
May 30, 2011, 7:12 p.m.