RCR NEWS OUT WORTH LOOKING AT....

NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 16, 2010 Trading Symbol RCR: TSXV

Rockcliff Continues to Hit High Grade Copper-Gold at Rail Zone
3.62m Grading 5.05% Copper, 1.76g/t Gold, 2.77% Zinc and 19.4 g/t Silver
Second Drill Rig to be Added to Snow Lake Project
Toronto, Ontario. Rockcliff Resources Inc. (RCR: TSXV) is pleased to announce that drilling on the Rail Zone continues to intersect high grade copper-gold mineralization. The Rail property is part of Rockcliff’s Snow Lake Project located in central Manitoba. Hole RL10-50 intersected 3.62m of massive sulphides grading 5.05% copper, 1.76g/t gold, 2.77% zinc and 19.4g/t silver including 1.52m grading 8.01% copper, 2.45g/t gold, 2.61% zinc and 31.2g/t silver. The hole was drilled in an area 30m north of the recent high grade intersections (see release dated November 10, 2009) which included 4.74m grading 9.02% copper, 3.46g/t gold, 1.62% zinc and 36.5g/t silver. Drilling has now increased the Rail Zone to approximately 715m of strike length and up to approximately 450m deep. The Rail Zone remains open in all directions and is hosted within juvenile arc rocks of the Snow Lake camp. All VMS mines within the camp are hosted in juvenile arc rocks of the Flin Flon greenstone belt.
Drilling is continuing on the Rail Zone and results will be reported to the public when available.
Highlights from previous holes (RL07-01 to RL09-46) and additional maps completed by Rockcliff on the Rail Zone can be viewed on the Company’s website at www.rockcliffresources.com. Highlights from the recent drill holes RL10-47 to RL10-50 are tabulated below including:
• 0.46m grading 11.65% copper, 5.01g/t gold, 1.87% zinc and 49.7g/t silver (RL10-47);
• 4.42m grading 1.46% copper, 0.28g/t gold, 1.32% zinc and 6.4g/t silver including
1.34m grading 3.37% copper, 0.55g/t gold, 2.32% zinc and 13.5g/t silver (RL10-48);
• 2.91m grading 1.97% copper, 2.91g/t gold, 1.22% zinc and 11.7g/t silver including
1.01m grading 3.63% copper, 6.04g/t gold, 2.62% zinc and 18.7g/t silver (RL10-49);
• 3.62m grading 5.05% copper, 1.76g/t gold, 2.77% zinc and 19.4g/t silver including
2.10m grading 7.35% copper, 2.79g/t gold, 2.57% zinc and 28.6g/t silver including
1.52m grading 8.01% copper, 2.45g/t gold, 2.61% zinc and 31.2g/t silver (RL10-50).
Ken Lapierre, President and CEO of Rockcliff commented, “Near surface drilling continues to intersect high grade massive sulphides representing a continuation of the Rail Zone towards the north. Rockcliff is completing a DPEM geophysical survey in an untested area north of the present results which will assist in identifying any extensions to the zone of massive sulphides. One of the two drill rigs will be dedicated to the Rail Zone for the foreseeable future”.
The second drill rig will focus on targets including DPEM & BHPEM anomalies (Reed), an untested borehole anomaly (Freebeth) and untested, buried ZTEM targets (Tramping and/or Squall). Rockcliff’s properties, within its Snow Lake Project, are situated within the Flin Flon greenstone belt, one of the most prolific and the largest Proterozoic VMS District in the world.
Significant assay results from drill holes RL10-47 to RL10-50 are tabulated below along with drill hole information. The lengths reported are drill intersected core lengths and do not represent true widths.
Borehole
From (m)
To
(m)
Length
(m)
Copper
%
Gold
g/t
Zinc %
Silver
g/t
Grid N/E/Azimuth/Dip*
RL10-47
35.54
36.00
0.46
11.65
5.01
1.87
49.7
4800/5600/90/-55
RL10-48
72.57
76.99
4.42
1.46
0.28
1.32
6.4
4900/5800/270/-55
includes
75.65
76.99
1.34
3.37
0.55
2.32
13.5
RL10-49
51.74
54.65
2.91
1.97
2.91
1.22
11.7
4900/5800/270/-45
includes
53.64
54.65
1.01
3.63
6.04
2.62
18.7
RL10-50
97.57
101.19
3.62
5.05
1.76
2.77
19.4
4900/5800/270/-68
includes
98.45
100.55
2.10
7.35
2.79
2.57
28.6
includes
98.45
99.97
1.52
8.01
2.45
2.61
31.2
(m) = metres, % = percentage, g/t = grams per tonne, * Imperial grid used. Co-ordinates are approximate.
Holes 47 to 50 are the furthest north holes that have intersected the Rail Zone and extend the zone by an additional 30m of strike. The Rail Zone in this area continues to be hosted by a single, massive sulphide lens rich in copper, gold, zinc and silver and remains open along strike (715m) and at depth (450m). An extension of the surface grid north of the high grade results and a DPEM geophysical survey has been completed. Preliminary DPEM results will be reported to the public when available.
Rockcliff has the exclusive right to earn a 100% interest in the Rail Property from Hudson Bay Exploration and Development Company Limited (HBED), a wholly owned subsidiary of HudBay Minerals Inc. (HBM: TSX). If Rockcliff earns its interest in the Rail Property, HBED will receive a 2% Net Smelter Return Royalty. If Rockcliff earns a 100% interest in the Rail Property, HBED then has the right to acquire up to a 65% interest in the Rail Property. Please refer to the News Release dated March 23, 2007 for further details.
QA-QC STATEMENT
Peter Wood, P.Eng., P.Geo., VP Exploration of Rockcliff, a Qualified Person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for the technical information in this press release and is responsible for verification and quality assurance of Rockcliff’s exploration data and analytical results. Samples of half core are packaged and shipped directly from Rockcliff’s field office to TSL Laboratories (TSL), Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. TSL is a Canadian assay laboratory and is accredited under ISO/IEC 17025. Each bagged core sample is dried, crushed to 70% passing 10 mesh and a 250g pulp is pulverized to 95% passing 150 mesh for assaying. A 0.5g cut is taken from each pulp for base metal analyses and leached in a multi acid (total) digestion and then analyzed for copper, lead, zinc and silver by atomic absorption. Gold concentrations are determined by fire assay using a 30g charge followed by an atomic absorption finish. Samples greater than upper detection limit (3000 ppb) are reanalyzed using fire assay gravimetric using a 1 AT charge. Rockcliff inserted certified blanks and standards in the sample stream to ensure lab integrity.
Rockcliff Resources Inc.
Rockcliff Resources Inc. is a Canadian resource exploration company focused on discovery and advancement of its high-quality mineral assets at its Snow Lake Project. Rockcliff presently controls the Snow Lake Project totalling in excess of 600 km2 of which 440 km2 is 100% owned by Rockcliff and located within and proximal to the Snow Lake Camp. The project presently includes five historical VMS deposits (Lon, Rail, Reed, Kof and Sylvia), one former gold mine (Century Mine) and numerous additional areas with potential for VMS and gold mineralization. Rockcliff also controls (100%) the Shihan VMS Project located in Northern Ontario.
For more information please visit our website at www.rockcliffresources.com or contact Ken Lapierre, P.Geo., President and CEO of Rockcliff Resources Inc. at (416) 863-9800 or at therock@rockcliffresources.com.
Forward Looking Statement:
Some of the statements contained herein may be forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and resources, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of the Company are forward looking statements that involve various risks. The following are important factors that could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements: changes in the world wide price of mineral commodities, general market conditions, risks inherent in mineral exploration, risks associated with development, construction and mining operations, the uncertainty of future profitability and the uncertainty of access to additional capital. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events may differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Rockcliff undertakes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements if circumstances or management’s estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

THE PIGS WEDNESDAY NIGHT SWEAT HOGS

HULLO HUMANS, YOUR FAVORITE PIG IS BACK WITH ANOTHER SULTRY SELECTION OF PORK BARRELED PIGLETS TO TICKLE YOUR PICKLES AND FATTEN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. STILL BATTLING A FEVER TODAY BUT ENOUGH ENERGY LEFT TO GIVE YOU SOME PICKS OFF THE DREAM MACHINE. THE PIGS KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON THE DEVELOPING MNL/GUL SITUATION. CERTAINLY NOT ACTING LIKE A NORMAL PLAY, BUT THEN WHATS "NORMAL" IN THE STOCK MARKET ? THE PIG STILL THINKS (AND THE SCANNER/CHARTS BACK IT) THAT WE ARE IN FOR A MOVE. 

WE HERE AT THE STY WANT TO MAKE MONEY, MAY IT BE 10% OR 50% THE NAME OF THE GAME IS TURN A PROFIT. PATIENCE, CAPITAL PRESERVATION AND PERSEVERANCE ARE THE RULES !

ON WITH THE SHOW.....

 

WAR.V..ONE OF THREE BIG SCANNERS ON THE NIGHT. BEEN ON THE PIGS RADAR FOR A FEW NIGHTS, AND THE MOVE TODAY KIND OF CONFIRMED WHAT THE PIG WAS SEEING. UNDER ACCUMULATION, GREAT MOMENTUM AND MOVING AVERAGE NUMBERS  THE PIG SAYS HE LIKES IT, HAVE A LOOK, MAYBE A NEAR TERM DOUBLE IN THE OFFING. THE NUMBERS SHOUT AT THE PIG. IF MOMENTUM CONTINUES CONSIDER A FEW....

GOM.V...A STRANGE LITTLE NIPPER. THE PIG FEATURED THIS BACK ON JANUARY 21ST. RAN SOME GREAT NUMBERS TONIGHT (REALLY GREAT IN FACT) AND WAS ON THE TOP TEN FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF NIGHTS. NO STORY AND NO REAL CONFIRMATION OF ACTIVITY. LOW FLOAT, STRONG CHART. BIG AND STEADY ACCUMULATION. WATCH IT CLOSELY....IF THE LIQUIDITY CONTINUES AND THEY START TO WALK IT UP THEN MAYBE CONSIDER A FEW.  REALLY ODD......

AMH.V...A PIG PREVIOUS PICK ON FEBRUARY 4TH, AND ANOTHER NICE SCAN OF THE EVENING, STRONG NUMBERS IN SEVERAL AREAS INCLUDING VOLUME DISTRIBUTION AND NET CAPITAL FLOWS. THE PIG SAYS WOW, THIS ONE MAY BE FINALLY READY TO RAMP UP. IF THE MOMENTUM KEEPS COMING WE HAVE A POTENTIAL DOUBLE OR MORE HERE IN THE NEAR TERM. BE CAUTIOUS BUT THE NUMBERS SEEM TO TELL US TO GO FOR IT........

THE PIGS TUESDAY NIGHT CHOICE CHOPPERS

GREETINGS HUMANS, BUSY DAY HERE ON THE FARM AND THE PIG IS A LITTLE UNDER THE WEATHER. OKAY HE'S A LOT UNDER THE WEATHER, BUT SINCE HE LOVES TO WRITE THE BLOG HE'S UP AND DOING IT. AN UPDATE AS TO LAST NIGHTS GUL.V/MNL.V STORY. BIG VOLUME ON MNL TODAY AND UP A PENNY. NOT MUCH FOR VOLUME ON THE GUL BUT THE PIG SAYS ITS COMING ? WHY YOU ASK ? WELL....THE PIG DID SOME WORK. 

HE THINKS HE'S FOUND THE CLUE THAT THESE TWO COMPANIES WILL BE DRILLING A PROSPECT "TOGETHER".  IF YOU GO TO TRADING RECORDS OF THE TWO COMPANIES, IN JANUARY AND LOOK AT THE 3 MILLION IN VOLUME THAT BOTH COMPANIES DID EACH AND SEVERAL DAYS APART. YOU THEN PULL THE CHARTS AND RE-REVIEW THE SCANS FROM THOSE NIGHTS BEFORE AND AFTER..YOU KNOW SOMETHINGS UP. THE PIG FIGURES IF EVERYTHING COMES TOGETHER THAT A CHANCE FOR A TRIPLE IS THERE.....AND WHO KNOWS MAYBE A TAD MORE....

ON WITH THE SHOW... 

PBT.V...ONE OF TWO HIGH SCORERS ON THE NIGHT. DECENT ALL THE WAY AROUND AND OFF THE CHARTS ON MOMENTUM AND MOVING AVERAGE VECTORS AND ACCUMULATION DISTRIBUTION. THE PIG KNOWS LITTLE OF THE STORY, JUST THAT THE NUMBERS TELL A TALE.........AND ITS A GOOD ONE !

LMR.V....THE OTHER CHOICE CHOP SCANNER OF THE
NIGHT. AGAIN THE PIG DOES NOT KNOW THE STORY IF THERE IS ONE. BUT THE NUMBERS CAME THROUGH VERY STRONG. HUGE ACCUMULATION, AND MOMENTUM VECTORS. SEEMS LIKE A DECENT FLOAT TO IT, MANAGEMENT AND SITUATION BUT THE PIG RELIES ON THE NUMBERS AND THEY SEEM TO TELL HIM A STORY IS DEVELOPING.

THE PIGS HONORABLE MENTION......

TYE.V... A PREVIOUS PIG PICK THAT APPEARS READY TO MOVE AGAIN. BE VIGILANT !IT MAY MAKE A SUDDEN BREAK. BE ON THE TRAIN FOR ROUND TWO.

Trading day: TSX extends its winning streak to five sessions

By Gregory Thomas, Vancouver SunFebruary 16, 2010 7:02 PM

Canadian stock markets climbed for a fifth straight session Tuesday after European finance ministers gave the government of Greece 30 days to get its budget deficit under control and industrial activity in North America continued to improve. The European currency rallied against the U.S. dollar, lifting commodity prices and boosting the Canadian dollar.
The S&P/TSX Composite index jumped 116.56 points, or one per cent, to 11,586.37, while the S&P/TSX Venture composite added 21.39, or 1.4 per cent, to 1,520.14, with the energy and mining sectors advancing nearly two per cent.
Statistics Canada reported that factory sales rose 1.6 per cent in December to $43 billion, the most in a year, while inventories dropped and unfilled orders grew. The New York Federal Reserve bank said its benchmarks of factory orders and factory sales both reached their highest levels in over four years.
The April gold contract gained $29.80, or 2.7 per cent, to $1,119.80 US an ounce, while March silver rose 70.1 cents, or 4.5 per cent, to $16.48 US. March copper jumped 13.9 cents, or 4.5 per cent, to $3.2215 US a pound. March Crude oil ended the session sharply higher, up $2.88, or 3.9 per cent, at $77.01 US. The Canadian dollar added half a cent to 95.83 cents US after an extended weekend where holidays closed exchanges on both sides of the border. New Gold rose $420 cents, or 4.2 per cent, to $4.99 after closing the sale of 70 per cent of the El Morro gold project in Chile to Goldcorp. The deal gives New Gold $50 million in cash, as well as Goldcorp funding New Gold’s share of the project’s construction and development costs. New Gold exercised its right of first refusal, buying the 70-per-cent stake in El Morro from mining giant Xstrata before selling to Goldcorp.
Shares of Labrador Iron Mines added 65 cents, or 11 per cent, to $6.48. The government of Newfoundland and Labrador granted environmental approval for the company’s Schefferville iron mine project. The company signed an agreement with the Port of Sept Iles to use the Point Noire bulk shipping dock originally built for the Wabush mine in the 1960’s.
Petrobank gained $2.57, or five per cent, to $53.79. Its 67-per-cent owned Colombian junior producer Petrominerales jumped $3.03, or 13 per cent, to $26.33 after reporting daily production of 43,800 barrels a day, doubling output in the past six week with two new wells, and casing a third well.
On Wall Steet, the Dow Industrials rallied 169.67 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 10,268.81, for their biggest advance since November. The S&P 500 gained 19.36, or 1.8 per cent, to 1,094.87, while the Nasdaq composite finished up 30.66, or 1.4 per cent, at 2,214.19. Shares of Sequenom gained 74 cents, or 16 per cent, to $5.34 US. The genetics company launched a new blood test for mothers that reveals the baby’s gender in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Terra Industries popped $7.44, or 22 per cent, to $40.69 after the company accepted an all-cash bid of $4.1 billion US, or $41.10 US a share from rival fertilizer producer Yara International. The combined company, controlled by the Norwegian government, will control 30 per cent of the U.S. fertilizer market. Calgary-based Agrium rose $1.19, or 1.8 per cent, to $68.79. The Terra takeover eliminates a major obstacle for Agrium, the second-largest Canadian fertilizer company, in its bid to buy CF Industries. CF had pursued its own acquisition of Terra for more than a year. Its shares climbed Tuesday, adding $3.07, or three per cent to $103.57 US.

***

THE PIGS VIDEO OF THE WEEK.......................

http://www.wimp.com/nailart/

THE PIGS PORKY SENSE IS TINGLING.......

A FEW WEEKS BACK THE PIG PUT OUT A RECCO' ON GUL.V BASED ON SOME SCANS THAT HAD BEEN TAKING PLACE AND THEN BEING BACKED BY THE CHARTS. SOMETIMES THE PIGS NOT ALWAYS UP ON THINGS AS HE SHOULD BE IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE FRONT WITH THESE COMPANIES AND SOMETIMES TIME WON'T PERMIT HIM TO DIG TOO MUCH DEEPER. OVER THE WEEKEND THE PIG FEATURED MNL.V AND HOW IT HAD A HUGE INSIDER BUY ON ITS STOCK ON FRIDAY. WELL IT TURNS OUT THEY HAVE VIRTUALLY THE SAME MANAGEMENT (INSERT STUPID LOOKING PIG HERE). SO THE PIG MADE SOME PHONE CALLS TODAY.

 

TURNS OUT WE MAY SEE THIS SITUATION TAKE A BIG BOUNCE IN SHORT ORDER. PLANS ARE APPARENTLY IN THE WORKS FOR A DRILLING TARGET OF LARGE POTENTIAL. THE PIG WON'T GET INTO THE RUMOUR SIDE AT THIS TIME. BUT SUFFICE TO SAY THAT THESE TWO PIGLETS MAY SPROUT INTO THE TEENS OR EVEN TWENTIES ON SUBSTANTIAL NEWS. BE AWARE OF IT, WATCH IT, AND JUMP IN FOR A FEW IF YOU FEEL LIKE IT. THE PIG OWNS OWNS A SMALL AMOUNT OF GUL.V ALREADY (50k) BUT WILL BUY MORE TO ROUND OUT HIS HOLDINGS.  COULD BE EXCITING............STAY TUNED

THE PIGS SATURDAY NIGHT CHOICE CHOPS TOO....

GREETINGS HUMANS !! I WAS JUST SAYING THE OTHER DAY HOW NICE IT IS TO BE ABLE TO CONVERSE WITH SOME HUMANS AND NOT WORRY ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE THINKING OF ME IN HAM OR BACON TERMS. THE PIG HAD QUITE A BIT OF MAIL THIS WEEK. HE APOLOGIZES FOR THE DELAY IN RETURNING THE MAIL. SEEMS AS THOUGH THE MAIL SYSTEM HAS SOME ISSUES DEALING WITH A PIG. THE PIG HAD TO SET THE MEGACORP STRAIGHT. NOW DONE, WE CAN GET ON TO THE ISSUES AT HAND. 

SOME OF YOU HUMANS WANTED TO KNOW WHAT IT WAS THE PIG WAS GOING FOR IN HIS DAILY PIG PICKS. THE MAIN ANGLE OF THE PIG IS TO GET THIS SCANNER MACHINE WORKING AT A HIGH ODDS RATE. THEN ONCE WE HAVE THESE PENNY PIGLETS MAPPED OUT WITH THE DATA, INTERPRET THE DATA, AND PICK THE PIGS PICKS BASED ON THESE NUMBERS. GETTING IN EARLY, RIDING A WAVE OR TWO, AND OUT. MOVING ON TO THE NEXT ONE SO AS TO MAXIMIZE RETURNS ON CASH AND REDUCE RISK OF HAVING CASH STAGNATING. A PIG CAN ALWAYS COME BACK TO THE ORIGINAL STOCK ONCE THE SPEC CYCLE STARTS AGAIN. THE PIG CONSIDERS HIMSELF, ALL OF YOU, AS PIONEERS IN A NEW SYSTEM DESIGNED FOR YOU, AT NO COST TO YOU, AND TO MAKE MONEY FOR YOU.YES THE PIG TRADES SOME OF HIS PICKS, AND ONLY AS MANY AS TIME AND MONEY  WILL PERMIT. THE PIG WILL NEVER PUT MORE THAN $1500/$2000 IN A TRADE. SMALL BITES MAKE SMALL PROFITS THAT ADD UP TO A BIG PROFIT AT YEAR END. THE PIG PREACHES A NUMBER, CHART AND PATIENCE BASED APPROACH TO ANY TRADE THAT YOU DO. LETS HOPE WE CAN ALL BE SUCCESSFUL TOGETHER ! 

THE WEEKEND SCANS ARE UP !.....ON WITH THE SHOW....

DRL.V....ONE OF THE HIGH SCANNERS OF THE NIGHT. NO STORY AS YET BUT MONEY HAS BEEN FLOWING IN FOR A BIT AND IT HAS A VERY TIGHT FLOAT. THE HIGH SCORES IN MOMENTUM AND MOVING AVERAGES AND ABOVE AVERAGE VELOCITIES IN SENTIMENTS AND VOLUME DISTRIBUTION  HAS THE PIG WONDERING WHATS UP ? IS THERE MORE UP ? AND WHEN ?.........WATCH IT LIKE A FOX....A PIG FOX....AND MAYBE TAKE A FEW FOR THE PENDING RIDE......

GX.V...THE DEAD IS AWAKENING ? DECENT FLOAT ON THIS AND SOME REALLY NICE SCANS IN SEVERAL AREAS HAVE THE PIG WONDERING WHATS COMING DOWN THE PIPE. HUGE ACCUMULATION......CHECK THE CHART AND YOU TELL THE PIG.......GREAT NUMBERS......IF THERE IS SMOKE IS THERE PYRE ?.......

 

MNL.V...ANOTHER BIG SCANNER OF THE NIGHT. NO STORY YET, BIG INSIDER BUYS ACCORDING TO CANADIAN INSIDER, SOME BOFFO PORK SCANS ON MOMENTUM, ACCUMULATION AND VOLUME DISTRIBUTION VECTORS ! MUST BE SOMETHING COMING DOWN THE PIPE.......THE PIG SAYS NIBBLE A FEW FOR THE RIDE THAT SEEMS TO BE COMING IN OUR DIRECTION.......

MTB.V.....ANOTHER HIGH SCANNER AND OFF THE CHARTS IN VOLUME DISTRIBUTION VECTOR AND MOVING AVERAGE STRENGTH VECTOR. THIS PIGGY HAS BEEN UNDER ACCUMULATION 2 MONTHS AND NO NEWS....WHATS COMING THAT WILL SEND THIS THING UP OVER THE FENCE ? SOMEONE LIKES IT AND SO DOES THE PIG...............

 

ABE.V...LAST OF THE SELECT GROUP OF HERCULEAN SCANNERS TONIGHT. RUMOURS OF BIG GOLD HAVE THIS PIG PRIMED FOR PORK PROSPERITY.  NICE ROUND NUMBERS TONIGHT AND GREAT VALUES IN MOST OF OUR 10 VECTOR AREAS. ACCUMULATION BEEN HAPPENING, REASONABLE FLOAT AND COMPETENT MANAGEMENT AND NICE ENTRY PRICE ESPECIALLY !.......ALL THIS HAS THE PIG WONDERING....WHEN ?

Opening Ceremony attracts record viewers

13.3 million Canadians watched the entire 3 1/2-hour ceremony from beginning to end

By Alex Strachan, Canwest News ServiceFebruary 13, 2010 6:25 PM

Fireworks explode above Vancouver 2010 Olympic cauldron the end of the opening ceremonies for the 2010 games, Vancouver, February 12.

Photograph by: Gerry Kahrmann, Canwest News Service

Friday's opening ceremony at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games may not have unfolded exactly as planned, but Canadians didn't care.
A record 13.3 million Canadian viewers watched the entire 3 1/2-hour ceremony from beginning to end, according to CTV.
That figure eclipses the previous benchmark of 10.3 million viewers, set by the Olympic gold-medal hockey game between Canada and the United States at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.
About 23 million viewers - or two out of three Canadians - watched at least some of the Olympic Opening Ceremony on CTV or one of the other 10 networks that aired the event live. The opening ceremony was broadcast in Canada in 11 languages.
Friday's TV audience far outstrips those for previous opening ceremonies. Slightly more than four million viewers watched the 1988 opening ceremony in Calgary. Another four million watched the opening for the Salt Lake Games in 2002. And 1.6 million viewers watched 2008's opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics, while slightly more than one million viewers watched the opening for the last Winter Games, in Turin in 2006.
Another 33 million viewers watched the opening ceremony in the U.S. on NBC and its sister channels. That is the most-watched opening ceremony for a non-U.S. based Winter Games, second only to the U.S. audience that watched the opening of the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.

© Copyright (c) CW Media Inc.

In Depth February 11, 2010, 11:00AM EST text size: TT

The New Generation Leaving Ireland

Some 170,000 jobs vanished last year, and the lack of employment is driving a generation away

By Kerry Capell

Dublin - When Simon Phelan started a civil engineering degree at Dublin's Trinity College four years ago, he figured his biggest problem upon graduation would be deciding which job to choose. Ireland's economy was growing at 5.4%, unemployment was a mere 4.4%, and construction was booming.
Today, with graduation fast approaching, only two of Phelan's 100 classmates have even had interviews. Worse, in these recession-scarred times, just two people from the class ahead of him are employed. So Phelan and many contemporaries see emigration as the only option. "The lack of jobs is driving people away," the 20-year-old Dubliner says after trawling through the meager offerings at Trinity's career office, a small building tucked off the school's cobblestoned quadrangle. "Ireland will lose a whole generation of graduates."
It's a scenario most Irish thought had gone the way of the potato famine and two-shilling pints of Guinness. Two decades of prosperity had transformed the island nation of 4.5 million from a European laggard into the so-called Celtic Tiger. After a century and a half in which Ireland's young and energetic routinely fled to South Boston or London's Kilburn, today's twentysomethings grew up expecting to live and work at home. But with one in three males under age 25 out of work, their confidence seems to have been misplaced. "It used to be employers were fighting over graduates," says Shane King, a 22-year-old Trinity senior from County Mayo on Ireland's west coast. "Now graduates are fighting each other for jobs."
The country's budget swung from a surplus in 2007 to a deficit of nearly 12% of gross domestic product last year as the economy shrank by 7.5%. A decade-long property bubble, which saw real estate prices triple, led to a banking crisis that Standard & Poor's estimates could cost taxpayers as much as $34 billion. "Everything we have is being spent on the banks," says David Begg, head of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
Drive the 10 miles from central Dublin to Citywest, an industrial park near the border of County Kildare, and you'll see ample evidence of overbuilding. On the banks of the Liffey River, there's the half-finished shell of Anglo Irish Bank's new headquarters. Farther on, "for sale" signs dot posh developments where new homes stand unoccupied.

AUSTRALIA BOUND?

Many would-be emigrants have made the same trip. On a chilly Sunday, hundreds of people gather in a conference room at the Citywest Hotel for a seminar on emigrating Down Under. Representatives of several Aussie states sit behind foldable tables stacked with pamphlets extolling Australia's low unemployment and "no worries" outlook. Carpenter Michael McGerr, 38, drove more than 100 miles with his wife and toddler to attend. "Our goal is to go away for good," he says.
Last year emigration exceeded immigration for the first time in 15 years as 65,100 people left, outpacing arrivals by nearly 8,000. Almost half of those who decamped were recent immigrants from Eastern Europe. But with few opportunities at home, growing numbers of native Irish are also headed for the exit. "There was loads of work three years ago, then it just dried up," says Patrick Maye, an unemployed bricklayer who traveled to the Aussie seminar from Carlow, some 50 miles south of Dublin. The 22-year-old hopes to move to Australia once he finishes retraining as a fitness instructor.
With unemployment set to hit 13.8% this year, things are sure to get worse. The Economic & Social Research Institute (ESRI), an independent think tank in Dublin, predicts net outward migration of 40,000 for the year ending in April, the highest level in more than 20 years. "We are right back to the 1980s," says Piaras Mac Éinrí, a lecturer at University College Cork.

Back then, unemployment soared to 18% as the economy took a dive. Then in the 1990s, a wave of foreign investment swept Ireland, lured by low corporate taxes and inexpensive workers. Now the blue chips are scaling way back. In the past year, Intel (INTC), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and Waterford Wedgwood have downsized; Dell (DELL) moved PC production from Limerick to lower-wage Poland; and some 1,500 smaller companies have folded. Last year 170,000 Irish jobs vanished, and ESRI predicts 76,000 more will be lost in 2010.
One problem is that Ireland got too pricey. The American Chamber of Commerce Ireland estimates that from 2004 to 2008, Irish wages rose 50% faster than the average of advanced European economies. Former Intel Chairman Craig R. Barrett says that of the 14 reasons Intel came to Ireland two decades ago, only one remained: a low corporate tax rate of 12.5%. "Ireland needs a new game plan," he said at a Dublin conference in September.
In the past, the state has been a big creator of jobs by hiring civil servants and promoting investment. But to plug a yawning gap in public finances, Dublin in December announced spending cuts of $5.6 billion, including $1.4 billion from public sector pay and $1.1 billion from social welfare benefits. The tough measures have helped restore Ireland's standing among global investors, but the cuts make it difficult for the government to launch the policies that might enable people to ride out the recession, either in on-the-job training or higher education.
The biggest job casualties have been in construction. At its peak in 2007, the building trade employed 1 in 7 Irish workers. But over the past two years, the sector has shed 200,000 jobs, according to Ireland's Construction Industry Federation. "We went from being in high demand to no demand," says Gordon Cobbe, a construction manager from Cork. Out of work for a year, he plans on moving to Perth, Australia.
Many Irish aiming to get out face problems similar to workers in, say, Detroit or Toledo: They can't afford to leave their homes. John McKenna is eager to join more than a dozen friends who have moved to Australia. With business slow at the plumbing supply store where he works, "I don't know how much longer I'll have a job," the 39-year-old says. But the house he bought for $306,000 in 2006 has halved in value, so it'll be tough to depart anytime soon.
The emigration surge comes as Dublin tries to implement a program called "Smart Economy." The plan is to boost innovation through tax breaks for research, expedited visa processing for skilled workers, a $689 million fund to back promising tech startups, and other incentives. The glue holding it all together, the government says, is "the knowledge, skills, and creativity" of the Irish—a problem with so many people leaving. "There is a risk that many of the talented individuals envisioned as the foundation of the innovation economy will make their careers elsewhere," says John McHale, an economics professor at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Other economists are more optimistic. Alan Barrett, a research professor at ESRI, says the current exodus is likely to be benign. As part of the EU, Ireland will again lure immigrants from across Europe as growth picks up. And he points out that many who left in the '80s returned with better skills. "As soon as the economy recovered, people came back in droves," he says.
Kevin Carey, CEO of moving company Careline International, can attest to that. His firm helped relocate emigrants in the 1980s before bringing many back a decade later. Now most of his work is again outbound, and business was up 23% last year. His customers weren't so lucky. "They're all leaving; the cost of living here is too high," says Carey, who was manning a table at the Australian emigration event at the Citywest Hotel. For him, at least, business was good.

Capell is a senior writer in BusinessWeek's London bureau .

THE PIGS SATURDAY NIGHT CHOICE CHOPS

THE PIG IS BUSY WORKING ON SOME SERIOUS SCANS AND WILL HAVE THE WEEKEND UPDATE POSTED BY 8 PM MST TONIGHT....

THE PIGS THURSDAY NIGHT PORK PICKS

GREETINGS HUMANS, A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A PIG. WAKE UP EARLY, EAT SLOP. WANDER AROUND MEET THE FELLOW BARN MATES. EAT SLOP, WANDER AROUND AND FIND A NICE SUNNY SPOT AND SNOOZE. WAKE UP EAT SLOP. A PIGS LIFE......THANK GOD I FOUND A COMPUTER. SOME DISTURBING NEWS OUT YESTERDAY ON GREECE AND THEIR FINANCIAL TROUBLES GOT THE PIG TO THINKING, WHAT IF IT HAPPENED HERE...IN NORTH AMERICA......SEE THE END OF TONIGHT'S SCANS FOR MORE INFORMATION.

ON WITH THE SHOW...

  

EGM.V...THIS PORK CHOP WAS ONE OF THE HIGH SCANNERS OF THE NIGHT. MOVED ON NEWS TODAY OF SIGNIFICANT VALUES. BIG MOMENTUM AND SENTIMENT SCORES, DECENT FLOAT AND PROPERTY.....ACCUMULATING FOR SOME TIME BY SMART MONEY THE PIGS SCANNERS SAY IT HAS SOME UPSIDE FROM HERE. MAYBE 75% OR MORE..IF THE VOLUME KEEPS IT LIQUID.....MAYBE MORE !!

GHR.V...NOTHING LIKE GETTING IN EARLY THE PIG SAYS.THIS CHOP HAS BEEN ON THE SCANNERS FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS NOW. A COUPLE OF INDICATORS HAVE TURNED UP ENOPUGH FOR THE PIG TO WARRANT AN ALERT. THIS ONE MAY BE SOME TIME IN DEVELOPING BUT THE NUMBERS SHOW A NEW ACCUMULATION PHASE STARTING. DECENT FLOAT AND PROPERTY WITH RECENT NEWS AND INSIDER BUYING. PATIENCE WILL BE GOLDEN ON THIS PIGLET.....

 

EAG.V...ANOTHER BIG TRANSITION SCANNER TONIGHT. INTRODUCTION OF A VERY LARGE NAME TO THE BOARD. A DECENT PROPERTY AND SHARES OUT. LOOKS LIKE THE BORED GOT OUT WHILE THE GETTING WAS GOOD (OR SO THEY THOUGHT). THE NUMBERS SAY "WHOA" ! TURN AROUND IN EVERY SECTOR AND SOME WITH A VENGEANCE. PROMO COMING ? THIS ONE WILL WARRANT PATIENCE AS WELL, BUT NOTHING LIKE GETTING INTO THE RACE EARLY...

AZX.V...BIG NUMBERS TONIGHT IN MOMENTUM, NET MONEY REVERSAL,  AND WHAT THE PIG CALLS "INFLUENCE". THE PIG SAYS LETS WATCH THIS AND SEE IF THE VOLUME RETURNS TO IT, THEN WE CAN CONSIDER JUMPING IN. ITS GOT ALL THE PIG ATTRIBUTES OF A GREAT TRADE, PATIENCE REQUIRED. DECENT NUMBERS ALL THE WAY AROUND........LETS SEE IF THE SCANNER CALLS IT CORRECTLY.....THE SCANNER SAY BUY THE PIG SAYS WAIT.....FOR NOW...

Thursday, February 11, 2010 6:51 PM

A smooth transition for these TSX Venture grads

Gordon Edall

What are we looking for?
Companies that hit the ground running after they made the jump to the Toronto Stock Exchange.
After picking up on a couple of names of recent TSX Venture Exchange graduates in Thursday's screen for top performing small-cap companies, Number Cruncher decided to find out just how well graduates have done after making the move to Canada's big board.
We're not looking at returns for companies that have been acquired, merged with someone else or moved back to the junior venues, we're going to focus on companies that made the move to the TSX and are still making a go of it there.
More about today's screen
We were able to roll the clock back to the beginning of 2007 and track the performance of Venture graduates based on data provided by the TMX Group. After eliminating companies no longer listed on the TSX, we were left with a universe of 113 stocks.
Using the graduation dates provided by the market operator, we were able to use Bloomberg's data to calculate a total return for each company based on when it made its debut on the TSX. The return figures here are based on the closing price on the day of graduation or the first trading day after that – this list isolates the top 25 names, but you can visit tgam.ca/cruncher to see the returns for the entire universe.
Globe Investor provided the current share price data.
What did we find?
Obviously, some companies here have had a lot longer to make a mark, but that doesn't seem to be a driving factor behind returns here. Making a debut in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse appears to have helped since the top four names on the list happen in about a three-month window just after the investment bank's initial stumble. Open up a six-month window from that point and you find even more winners as only four of the 16 graduates in that period have stumbled.
More eye opening, in fact, is just how quickly you find names that stumbled once you get beyond this list. Looking at the entire universe, by the time you get to the 31st name on the list, you are already looking at negative returns. Before you get half-way through the full list, you are looking at negative returns in excess of 50 per cent.

Top performing graduates to the TSX since 2007
Company	Ticker	$ Price Feb. 10	52-wk high $	52-wk low $	PE
Keegan Resources Inc.	KGN-T	6.03	7.98	2.00	-
B2Gold Corp	BTO-T	1.24	1.50	0.54	-
Alter Nrg Corp.	NRG-T	2.15	2.98	0.60	-
Copper Mountain Mining Corporation	CUM-T	2.16	2.55	0.42	-
Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp	PRE-T	14.71	16.05	2.78	-
CriticalControl Solutions Corp.	CCZ-T	0.80	0.85	0.30	11.4
Nevada Copper Corp.	NCU-T	2.92	3.57	0.17	-
Avalon Ventures Ltd.	AVL-T	2.46	4.24	0.40	-
Exchange Industrial Income Fund	EIF-T	13.60	13.91	8.90	23.4
Burcon NutraScience Corporation	BU-T	9.10	10.50	4.05	-
Centric Health Corp.	CHH-T	0.80	1.06	0.19	13.3
Alliance Grain Traders Income Fund	AGT-T	33.00	35.12	7.56	11
Exeter Resource Corporation	XRC-T	8.58	9.32	2.46	-
Pediment Gold Corp	PEZ-T	1.46	1.98	0.72	-
* Total return figures assume reinvestment of dividends and distributions and have been adjusted for stock splits. Sources: TMX Group, Globe Investor, Bloomberg

View Full Table

Just How Ugly Is The Sovereign Default Truth? How Self Delusions Prevent Recognition Of Reality

By Tyler Durden

Created 02/11/2010 - 13:55

When psychologists evaluate human behavior, one of the most prevalent observations regarding any activity is the all too often flawed basis of perceived versus realistic outcomes that dictates our every action. As imperfect  creatures, we tend to construct theories that conform with our worldview, which are subsequently reinforced by our confidence (or lack thereof) in the future. This is true in any discipline: finance, politics, gambling, mating, etc. There is hardly a better example of this than the very basis of modern economic theory where assumptions about the validity of fiat currencies determine the actions of central banks, which in turn spill over into every aspect of modern society. Yet what if the very basis of core assumptions is wrong? What if every activity exhibited by humans in the post gold-standard world has a flawed assumption at its core? Austrian economists have, of course, claimed this for ages, usually seeing their efforts conclude with a dead-end as the attempt to change the status quo hits the brick wall of quadrillions of (arguably worthless) pieces of paper which dictate the status quo. However, with the recent turn for the worse, courtesy of sovereign bail outs (as confused as they may be) could the day of reckoning be fast approaching? With each passing the day an affirmative answer seems closer at hand. Today SocGen's Dylan Grice shares his perspectives on popular delusions, and why these may soon be coming to an abrupt end.
Dylan begins:

Behavioural psychology applies to central bankers, regulators and politicians as much as it does to investors. In promising to ‘fiscally retrench tomorrow’, finance ministers are exhibiting the behavioural phenomenon of overconfidence in their future self-control. The bitter fiscal medicine required to stabilise debt levels won’t become more palatable today relative to tomorrow until the bond market makes it so. It can only do this through higher yields. Thus, Ireland and perhaps now Greece lead the way. For the Japanese it’s too late.

Why should behavioural psychology be seen as something applying only to investors? "Behavioural" finance is a well defined sub-discipline in its own right. But where is ?behavioural? politics, ?behavioural? central banking, or "behavioural" regulation? Remember the Fed policy statements around the end of the 1990s? The ones that kept referring to the "technology-enhanced" rate of GDP growth? Wasn?t this herding around a bad idea the very same herding then fuelling the NASDAQ bubble?

Nowhere is self delusion more prevalent that in the workings of the Federal Reserve duo of Greenspan and Bernanke. The issue is that any weakness, or any affirmation of faulty policy by the head money printer, will immediately be seen as weakness that could destabilize the reserve currency format. For a monetary system based on flawed assumptions that would be the beginning of the end.

As the housing bubble inflated, Bernanke in a quite staggering display of logical sloppiness, concluded that the risk of a housing collapse in the future was small because there had never been one in the past [1]? Weren't they then guilty of "framing" their analysis in a way guaranteed to preclude an uncomfortable conclusion? If you don't expect to see something, you're less likely to see it. Similarly cringe worthy logic [2] was used when sub-prime rolled over, and Bernanke concluded that there was no risk of contagion to the rest of the economy because... er... there had been no contagion to the rest of the economy yet... wasn't this textbook "recency bias" whereby the importance of recent events is over-weighted?

It probably was, and it probably demonstrates that central bankers are as prone to be as systematically silly as the rest of us. Indeed, just last year a study [3]by yet more of Bernanke's "best and brightest" concluded that “monetary policy was not a primary factor in the housing bubble”. I don?t want to pretend I?m any kind of behavioural expert, but isn't this the well documented "attribution bias" by which people attribute positive outcomes to themselves, but negative ones to others?

So with nobody willing to take blame for the massive errors of the past 3 decades, and what's worse, nobody attempting to place the blame, we happily plough along as if nothing has changed.

So here we are today, with regulators rounding on investment banks, hedge funds and tax havens, apparently in denial of the reality that the problem was not the regulations but the regulators. After all, heavily regulated institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were at the epicentre of the crisis (as was AIG, whose financial services business model was the facilitation of "regulatory arbitrage [4]" around Basle capital requirements). Not that it makes any difference. The regulators are merely bowing to pressure applied by politicians whose understanding today is as flawed as Gordon Brown's was in the Mansion House back then. If this sounds like a rant then I apologise - it isn't meant to be one. We're all fallible and policy making is an impossible job. But that means policy mistakes are inevitable, and I believe we?re seeing one right now.

Before we get into the gist of Dylan's analysis, we present his example which brings the self-delusion bias down to the individual level.

Oscar Wilde said he could resist anything but temptation. But doing something you know you shouldn't is easier if you can convince yourself that this will be the last time you indulge, that you won't do it again. So we convince ourselves that since we'll be strong in the future, we can still indulge today. Whether it?s smoking, eating too much or going to the pub instead of the gym, we delude ourselves into thinking that we will take the more difficult path next time.

A few years ago, two economists actually looked at the issue using gym membership data. They found that in a club in which non-members could pay a no-strings fee of $10 per visit, people preferred to pay the $70 per month for unlimited access. And since members only attended 4.3 times a month on average, they ended up paying an average $17 per visit. The authors concluded this to be clear evidence of "overconfidence about future self control."

Investors understand the affliction all too well: a stock trades at £10 and we tell ourselves that we?re buyers at £8. But how many of us buy when it gets to £8? Some of us do, but most of us don't. Most of us (I can?t be the only one!) convince ourselves that it's going lower still: “I’ll buy at £7” becomes “I’ll buy at £6” and by the time it's back at £8 we're “waiting for a pullback” Each investor has their own way of circumventing this problem. But at root, such poor decision-making is a consequence of our fundamental underestimation today of the discipline and even courage we will require in the future.

The delusion problem becomes exponentially more complex when one adds in the concept of dependence and addiction, not so much to a substance, but to an idea.

Last weekend, the G7 "committed" itself to the path of further stimulus. As politicians are wont to do, they presented it as though it was somehow a difficult decision: "the position for most countries is to support the economies now, and get the budget deficit down as the economy recovers." said the UK's Chancellor, Alistair Darling, nodding earnestly. Am I the only one who heard a heroin addict steadfastly committing to his next fix?!

Well, it got me thinking about how much governments need to retrench to stabilise existing debt to GDP levels. And although I consider myself fortunate enough to have forgotten most of the economics I learned at university, one lesson which was useful, or in any case has stuck with me, is of the arithmetic behind government debt sustainability.

And when we begin to actually dissect numbers, as opposed to demagogic propaganda, is when we get into the meat of the problem.

There are lots of books containing lots of equations outlining lots of limits and theorems about the dynamics of government debt sustainability, but the basic intuition is that if I'm a finance minister mulling out how much money I should be borrowing, I want my GDP growth (and therefore my tax revenue growth) to pay the coupons on any debt I take on today. If the GDP growth rate equals that interest rate, the incremental revenue flowing into my coffers thanks to the incrementally higher level of GDP covers my coupon payments. I don't need to borrow any more money and my debt ratios are stable. But if the interest rate is higher than GDP growth, my incremental tax revenue won't cover interest payments. I'll be in deficit and I'll have to issue more debt to plug the gap and my debt ratio will rise. The only way I can prevent further debt growth is by running a primary budget surplus (i.e. a surplus excluding interest payments).

There are nuances and qualifications to this arithmetic, and limitations too, but in essence the fault line between sustainable and unsustainable debt dynamics can be summarised as: maintaining a stable debt to GDP ratio requires governments to run a primary balance proportionate to the difference between interest rates and GDP growth.

How does all this translate into quantifiable observations:

Before seeing how our governments compare, two qualifications are necessary. Firstly, the European estimates are distorted by the recent "convergence" within the eurozone which allowed periphery economies temporarily higher GDP growth rates and lower interest rates. This makes on-balance sheet debt loads appear more stable for those economies than they actually are. Secondly, the calculations show only those surpluses required to stabilise the debt loads which are on-balance sheet. And it's important to be clear about this. According to Gokhale, most government indebtedness is in the form of unfunded pension and health liabilities, which are unrecorded and effectively off-balance sheet (see chart below). I'll come back to these shortly.

[5]

But sticking with the on-balance sheet debt for now, the calculations shown in the following chart (over the page) use the equation in the footnote at the bottom of page 2 and give a decent first stab of who needs to do what.

The countries on the right are in the fortunate position of paying a rate of interest which is below their GDP growth rate. Provided interest rates don?t change from these (historically very low) levels, they can run deficits without increasing on-balance sheet debt. The US, the UK and Switzerland both currently fall into that category. Japan doesn't. With bond yields at around 1.5%, "trend" nominal GDP slightly negative, and on-balance sheet debt to GDP at around 200%, it should be aiming for a primary surplus of 3.3% in order to stabilise its ratio.

[6]

Now look at the next chart which shows the primary balances governments have actually achieved. I was surprised to find Belgium and Italy running such aggressive primary surpluses, but this is consistent with the broadly stable debt ratios those countries have seen recently. The US, the UK and Japan especially have been running pronounced primary deficits.

[7]

If we add both charts together we can compare the primary balances governments should be running with those which they're actually running, to get a better feel for the difficulty governments are going to have to face up to in order to merely stabilise their on-balance sheet debt ratios. The next chart does this. Those on the left have been running budget balances consistent with falling on-balance sheet debt to GDP ratios, while those on the right haven't. The US, the UK, Greece, Portugal and Norway (?) all fall into this latter category.

Eyeballing this chart, one might think governments "only" need a 3% underlying contraction of fiscal policy in order to right the ship. Wouldn't doing that over a number of years be plausible? Perhaps, but I can't find any examples of it having happened before. And while that doesn?t make it impossible it does illustrate both the political difficulty of following such a path, and the behavioural biases present in politicians? confidence that they will - if it is difficult to summon the political courage today, why will it be easier tomorrow?
[8]

And here is the crux: the black swan will be not so much a totally failed auction - we are confident the Federal Reserve will never let that be the precipitating factor for the next crisis. All that is needed is for interest rates to start going up. That's it. How much longer can money be printed out of thin air so that we can all buy each other's debt and prolong the fiat fallacy for another day or two?

But consider this: all countries, and especially those to the right in the chart, are enjoying exceptionally favourable financing positions, with government bond yields near unprecedented lows. Should anything push bond yields higher, even by just a percentage point, the onbalance sheet debt situation will become explosive. This is the situation in Japan where the 8% contraction required to rein in its already explosive debt ratio is politically  impossible. And again, remember that the estimated 8% required contraction assumes the Japanese government can continue to fund itself at a 1.4% JGB yield, which is clearly unrealistic.

If the on-balance sheet position today looks dicey for the rest of us, the off-balance sheet numbers are far more worrying. The following chart shows Gokhale's estimates of the perpetuity surpluses governments would have to run to meet the current outstanding obligations which are both on- and off-balance sheet. The chart speaks for itself. Such fiscal deflation is clearly a political impossibility.

[9]

Apparently heroin addicts can become so drug dependent their bodies cannot withstand the shock of withdrawal, and failure to continue taking the drug triggers multiple organ failures. I just wonder how apt that analogy is to our governments? debt dependency today. As long as governments think that taking these difficult decisions to end the addiction will be easier in the future than it is today, they will never take the decision "today." At the very least, there will have to be a sufficiently large bond market "event" to force the issue.

Today we finally saw a crack in the 30 Year Auction [10]. And as the crack belongs to an ever more brittle wall holding back trillions in debt just begging to be revalued to fair value, and to an unmanipulated supply and demand curve, more and more fissures in the smooth and fake facade of sovereign debt will soon appear, only this time not somewhere out of sight and out of mind like Greece, but in our own back yard. At that point the financial oligarchy will very much wish the Methadone had been administered sooner (roughly about March 2009, when we first suggested it [11]). It will however be far too late, and the decades of self delusion will finally end.

• AIG
• Alistair Darling
• American International Group
• Belgium
• Ben Bernanke
• Black Swan
• Budget Deficit
• Central Banks
• Dylan Grice
• Eurozone
• Failed Auction
• Fannie Mae
• Federal Reserve
• Freddie Mac
• Gambling
• Greece
• Gross Domestic Product
• Housing Bubble
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Monetary Policy
• NASDAQ
• Nominal GDP
• Norway
• Portugal
• Reality
• Reserve Currency
• Sovereign Debt
• Sovereign Default
• Switzerland
• Tax Revenue
• United Kingdom

---

Source URL: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/just-how-ugly-sovereign-default-truth-how-self-delusions-prevent-recognition-reality

Links:
[1] http://mises.org/story/3588
[2] http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20070517a.htm
[3] http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2009/200949/index.html
[4] http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2008/10/01/16559/aig-and-an-overlevered-europe/
[5] http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/madoff/GD 2.11-1.jpg
[6] http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/madoff/GD 2.11-2.jpg
[7] http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/madoff/GD 2.11-3.jpg
[8] http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/madoff/GD 2.11-4.jpg
[9] http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/madoff/GD 2.11-5.jpg
[10] http://www.zerohedge.com/article/pitiful-16-billion-30-year-auction-closes-4720-record-direct-take-down-2407
[11] http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/03/bailoutspotting-or-search-for-great.html