Economics and Investing:

Gerald Celente Hammered By Margin Call on Gold Futures With MF Global. Learn from this pundit’s mistake: Keep your precious in metals in tangible form, in your personal possession, well-hidden at home. (NOT in “bonded vault storage”, or in a brokerage account, or in any form of futures, or in an ETF, or even in a safe deposit box. Physical metal in your possession trumps all! This also illustrates that whenever there is a financial panic, a cascade of margin calls can be devastating.

California property assessments down only 4 percent from peak but home values are down by 37 percent. FHA default rates surge.

An interesting illustration of income tax inequality: What a Deal: Poker Champ Pays No Taxes on $8.7 Million. OBTW, if you are considering “voting with your feet”, there are seven States in the Union that have no personal income tax at the state level: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Additionally, New Hampshire and Tennessee tax only dividend income and interest income.

RBS spotted this piece: Tough times: Life inside the hardest hit county in the U.S.

Items from The Economatrix:

Economic Collapse?  We’re Soaking In It

Gold Rises 1.5% on European Hopes, Tracks S&P

Government Is Living in a State of Denial:  They Speak, See, Hear Nothing of a Debt Crisis

European Debt Crisis:  Deathficits

“There Is No Way Out For Europe” says Economist