Smoke and Mirrors Thursday- EU Enters 11th Hour, All Global Financial Problems Solved, Markets Rally; Initial Claims Get Swept Under Rug as They "Unexpectedly" Rise Again; Entire Memphis School District Shut Down Indefinitely; Tons of Bullish Economic News, Such as Store Closings and Mass Layoffs; Gold and Silver Still Shine; Mega Mansion Gives Marker; Much More

Updates
Update 1: You asked for it. Here it is. What does total U.S. unfunded liabilities look like in fresh clean $100 Bills you ask? Sit down and enjoy. No problem a digital dollar created out of thin air can't fix. Again, smoke and mirrors.

Main Article
As the EU enters the 11th hour and a crisis meeting is held, already KoolAid infused hope is bubbling forth that somehow, in a single brush stroke of European genius, all of Greece's problems (and by extension, all of the world's financial problems) are solved. In an instant. Poof!

The biggest news to come out of this latest "Marshall Plan" is an expansion of the EFSF which will allow Greece to borrow for 15 years at 3.5% , which oddly enough happens to be 30 basis points less than current 15yr French bonds at 3.8%. Huh? Say what? Exactly.

Most of these latest 11th hour heroics are once again based on hopium assumptions that Greece will miraculously produce outrageous 3.5% GDP growth in a years time (for those keeping track, not only did the most recent 1H data show that Greece totally bombed and experienced a huge economic contraction, they missed all revised marks set forth as part of the bailout requirements as well). Now we learn officially that Greece will be allowed to default. Act surprised. When all else fails, close your eyes. This won't hurt one bit.

On this news, "the markets" once again rally as the dollar tanks. Sure, P/E ratios of 1200x are never enough - might as well run them up to 1400x on another dose of hyperinflation hope filled expectations, because we all know how good Wall Street's finest are at making estimations. Speaking of which, the SPR oil release which did nothing for you or I made JPMorgue about $20 million richer in just a few days time - on the tax payers dime, both ways. $100pb oil is very bull...ish for the economy. Right on.

No, scratch that - fundamentals don't matter one single iota so long as Apple sells a trillion iPads to children selling their kidneys and their virginity. After all, Apple stock is a leading indicator of good times to come.

For that reason, the news out today that Initial Claims rose again "unexpectedly" by 10k to 418k means nothing. Neither does that fact that this makes it the 16th consecutive week of Initial Claims above the 400k mark - a very important marker. What's that? You went to 6 years of college, paid $140k in tuition and you still can't find a job? We heard McDonald's is hiring hamburger flippers. Oh, wait. Sorry, those positions are already filled with woodpulp.

Of course, today's Initial Claims data quickly and quietly gets swept under the rug so as not to shake your confidence in this depression recovery - just like yesterday's astoundingly horrific Housing data  where "the markets" rallied on that news as well. Pay no attention to the fact that housing just fell off a cliff. We're once again at a loss for words over this total insanity. Any wonder why retail investors have left the building? The expression that that markets "can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent" don't apply here. There are no free markets. Period.

Then again, this great illusion which continues to be sold to the public as an economic recovery, is setting the world up for a Mega Black Swan. And that will occur when everyone least expects it. And yes, we've moved higher on the GEES scale because of it.

So while Wall Street celebrates the Xanax hope drug induced rally and coming hyperinflation, we will continue to pay close attention at the real fundamental, structural changes that are taking place under everyone's noses. Consider:

-We wonder if the entire Memphis School District is celebrating the Dow(n) Jones rally today, as school has officially been indefinitely postponed over money (or lack of). One group of citizens will be celebrating however - the over 100k students who will not be going to school as planned on August 8th. Skool is officially out!

-Last year, over 1 million homes were repossessed by TBTF&TCTS banks and this year is not expected to be any different but new delays may push that out into 2012 and beyond as Bloomberg reports, is casting a real major storm cloud over housing for the foreseeable future.

-Worried about the debt ceiling drama? Don't be. The debt ceiling will be raised as we said it would and the U.S. will never be allowed to technically default thanks to the invention of the printing press. However, as Ron Paul so aptly said, "When a country is indebted to the degree that we’re indebted, the country always defaults. We will default because the debt is unsustainable [...] if we don’t understand this, this default will not be because we don’t send out the checks. We will send out the checks. It will be defaulted on because people will get their money back, or they will get their Social Security checks and it won’t buy anything." Well said. The entire basis for this blog is just that - inflation is required in order to keep the global ponzi economy going and TPTB in power. Everyone else is just another slave.

-How else can a public company keep its stock price so insiders can sellout high while the economy continues to plummet? Cut everything. All full time jobs become part time jobs with no benefits. Short term savings can be achieved by closing many stores in rapid succession, even if they are profitable long term. Now that Borders Books Stores is officially closing all 400 remaining stores (well, with a BK filing a few months ago, who could have seen that coming? Not Wall Street's finest.) and cutting the last of the 11k jobs they support, this should be worth a few hundred points on the Dow(n) Jones today. 

- Nothing is more bullish for the economy than store closings. In addition to Borders, just today we'll add 220 Gap stores, 58 nationwide Perkins restaurants, and about 3,700 U.S. Post Office locations. Stay tuned, tomorrow we'll have a few more biggies. 

- Besides the bullish store closings, Lockheed Martin is announcing 6,500 "voluntary" job layoffs which just came on the heels of a 2,700 involuntary job layoff. 

- CA Tech just reported record profits, but they'll still have to cut 500 jobs if the CEO and the other filth the other execs are to keep bonuses this year. 

- Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc.said it will layoff 60 workers. The move will save them $10 million. Ready for this? They cited "higher commodity costs and the effect of a 'challenging economy' on consumer spending habits" as the reasons for the cuts. I know a few people who will have a field day with this one.

- And on and on. We could list another dozen or so news articles just from today's tickers, but for the sake of time, we suggest you put your rose colored glasses on and enjoy "the market" rally today on this wonderfully bull...ish news. But before you do, remember that Gentworth Financial is down 20% today on "more mortgage woes and a poor outlook." Shhh, don't let this make a headline. 

Our heads are still spinning from yesterday's rally. For what it's worth, the best way to win this rigged game, is not to play at all. Gold and silver are things they don't want you to own. So think about that. 

Finally, if you're living on the west coast you're probably being radiated & radiated & radiated by Fukushima yesterday a 70,000 square foot mansion made the news and it reminded us of the time just before the French revolution in 1778 when the elite were building larger and larger palaces all over the country, while the people starved on food stamps and they suffered from a lack of jobs, lack of food and clean water, high taxes, inflation, etc. Sound familiar? We're not sure if that article about the mansion was written as propaganda to get people to get up out of their chairs and go buy a house, or to feel good because that mansion is supposed to be a signal of economic prosperity, but we will say in the terms of a temporal marker, it's obvious what is coming. Rally on, Mr. Market! 36k on the Dow(n) Jones can't come soon enough.