There's Something Strange, Wednesday- School Children Forced To Wear Protective Gear At School Over Radiation Levels, "Things Are Getting Worse"; Reactor 4 Leaning, TEPCO Considers Supporting SFP; Another Leak In Ocean; More Cargo From Japan Quarantined Due To High Radiation; New Photos From Fukushima Shows Extent Of Damage; US Postal Service Insolvent, Reports Loss Of $2.2B in Q1, Reaches Limit; BoE Sees 7% Inflation; Steve Forbes Predicts US Gold Standard In 5 Years; Greece "Absolute Nightmare" Says Martin Wolf; Much More

Updates
Update 1: "Unusual amounts of smoke billowing from reactors 3 and 4." Don't worry, TEPCO says it's "nothing to worry about"(!)

Main Article
If you knew that your child's school was covered in cancer causing asbestos, would you send your child there, even if they were wearing protective gear? That is what tens of thousands of parents are doing in Japan, as they send their children to schools with radiation levels of 20 mSv/year - that's the maximum limit for a nuclear power plant worker. Over 320 schools are experiencing 20 mSv/year radiation according to official Japanese gov't figures (if you have been connecting the dots since the start of this catastrophe, you know that the real figure is probably 5 times that). Worse still, more than 75% of the schools are receiving radiation levels equivalent to a chest X-Ray every week. And "things are getting worse," according to the vice principal of one school. That is alarming, but due to the nature of the Japanese mentality, most swallow it like good little robots fill in the blank. Remember the 20 kilometer evacuation zone? Those schools are 60 kilometers away from Fukushima. So much for that. Our hearts go out to the people who still live there.

If one needed any more proof just how bad the situation is in Japan, look outside the country and around the world; just ask the people in Rotterdam, Netherlands where 5 cargo containers were quarantined due to high levels of radiation. Sorry, that was "healthy" radiation.

Another day, another leak of highly radioactive water into the ocean. But don't worry: what's healthy for humans is healthy for aquatic life, too. After viewing these new photos of Fukushima, we can't imagine how anything healthy is leaking at all. Further, these structures look so safe, we wonder why TEPCO is considering adding supports to reactor 4 SFP. Connect the dots.

In other radioactive news, the US Postal Service is insolvent, as it reported yet another loss for another quarter. This round, the loss amounted to $2.2 Billion, putting the USPS one step away from their borrowing limit set by Congress. At this point in time, even cutting Saturday service and another 10k jobs won't put them back in black. It's all downhill from here. Definitely, bullish news for the economy.

Speaking of things to be bullish about, Steve Forbes said in a special interview with Human Events, the US will return to a "gold standard" within 5 years. Of course, this means several events will take place including 1) a confiscation of all public gold and silver by the gov't just as it occurred in the days of the Great Depression (as we are in the midst of the Greatest Depression, it makes sense) and of course, 2) gold will reach a price not seen since the Weimar Republic. Connect the dots. Of course, that wouldn't make the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King too happy because a gold standard by the US will no doubt be implemented elsewhere and a gold standard means money couldn't be inflated away. Merv loves inflation. Read it in his own words. 

Finally, we leave you with some words from Financial Times chief economic commentator Martin Wolf, who says Greece's debt crisis is an "absolute nightmare." We have to say Martin, you're a little late to the party. Nearly every savvy investor on this side of the pond knew the PIIGS were insolvent and there was no turning them around. As this article in the Financial Times highlights, the lights are almost out for Greece and Ireland. With more general strikes taking place almost on a daily basis. Portugal is well, obviously next once austerity measures begin. Greece has seen only a small portion of its austerity programs implemented so we can't wait to see how the people react when full implementation occurs. Obviously, someone forgot to tell the ECB that this is bullish for the global economy. What? Another downgrade? We would have never guessed.