Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke yesterday at the Chicago Federal Reserve's 49th annual conference on "Bank Structure and Competition;" his Fed-speak advance text was titled, "Monitoring the Financial System," which began with how the Fed is trying to have a "macroprudential approach" to monitoring systemic vulnerabilities, beginning with overseeing SIFIs, systemically important financial instituti

Adverse weather is delaying corn planting in both the United States and China, which adds uncertainty to an already dangerously inadequate world food supply and farm capacity.

On Monday, May 6, best-selling author and widely-known television actor Richard Belzer of New York City added his name in support of the Glass Steagall bill, HR 129. Mr. Belzer is a well-known author, who was in Washington DC at the National Press Club releasing his latest book on the JFK murder conspiracy Hit List.

Her Majesty's government must be very worried about the possible implications of the agreement, earlier this week, that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made with his Russian counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, to hold a peace conference on Syria, that would bring together representatives from both the Syrian government and opposition forces.

Appearing on Fox & Friends on Friday, attorney, journalist and talk show host Geraldo Rivera questioned whether the CIA annex in Benghazi was involved in running guns through Turkey to the Syrian opposition.

The percent of working American households, which spend over half their income on housing costs, has risen from 21.8% in 2008, to 23.7% in 2011; and last year's data is expected to show a continued increase, though not yet quantified. For working renter households (as distinct from homeowners), the percentage is higher: 26.4% of them spent over half their income for housing in 2011.

The Chicago Crime Commission has named the head of the Sinaloa Mexico drug cartel, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Public Enemy No. 1. The designation was originally developed for Al Capone. Guzman's Sinaloa cartel supplies a majority of the narcotics in Chicago and has reportedly recruited 100,000 Chicago street gang members to distribute and sell its narcotics.

The following is a media release issued Friday by the Citizens Electoral Council of Australia (cecaust.com.au):

Australia Without Family Farmers Is Not "Viable"

May 10—Right now, as a consequence of political decisions, many thousands of family farmers across Australia face immediate ruin:

The head of the Portuguese Medical Association, Dr. José Manuel Silva, raised the alarm this week that the repeated cuts in the budget for Portugal's National Health System are now beginning to threaten lives.

The following letter from a former Argentine Governor was directed to the Congress of the United States.

May 9, 2013

Dear Congressmen:

For many years now, the economic, monetary, and financial system imposed on the world has been causing grave problems: it mercilessly destroys the dignity of human beings, privileges speculation and even usury while punishing real effort.