While the official number from the FMS is not out yet, according to an advance look by the CBO, the August deficit soared from a modest $70 billion to a whopping $192 billion, the highest August deficit in history, and coming at a time when traditionally the US Treasury does not generate substantial deficits.

It also means that "that" $59 billion budget surplus in April, coming after 42 straight months of deficits, and which surprised so many, was just as we suspected, nothing but a play on the temporal mismatch between treasury receipts and outlays.

This story was posted on the zerohedge.com Internet site late on Monday evening...and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for our first story of the day. The link is here.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble questioned on Tuesday how the United States could deal with its high levels of government debt after November's presidential election.

In a speech to the Bundestag lower house of parliament to open a debate on the 2013 German budget, Schaeuble said worries about U.S. debt were a burden for the global economy, hitting back at Washington which has criticized Europe for failing to get a grip on its own debt crisis.

In private, German officials often express concern about U.S. debt levels and the inability of politicians there to reach a consensus on how to reduce it, but Schaeuble's public remarks underscore the extent of the worries in Germany.

This Reuters story was filed from Berlin early yesterday morning Eastern time...and is Elliot Simon's second offering of the day. The link is here.

Former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker said he doubts the White House and Congress will agree by the end of this year to head off across-the-board spending cuts and tax increases set for January.

Congressional committees haven’t “done their work” on realistic plans to overhaul taxes and entitlement programs such as Medicare, and President Barack Obama’s administration has done little to prepare the public for spending cuts and tax increases, Walker said at a luncheon Monday in New York sponsored by the Economic Club of New York and Bloomberg News.

Congressional leaders have said they probably will wait until after the Nov. 6 election to address the George W. Bush-era tax cuts set to expire Dec. 31 and $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts set to begin taking effect in January.

Walker said he’s skeptical there will be movement toward a resolution at the end of this year when Congress meets after the election.

This story was posted on the moneynews.com Internet site late Monday afternoon...and is Elliot's third contribution in a row. The link is here.

13 months ago, in the aftermath of the debt ceiling fiasco, which we now know was a last minute compromise achieved almost entirely thanks to the market plunging to 2011 lows, S&P had the guts to downgrade the US. Moody's did not.

Now, it's Moody's turn to fire up the threat cannon with a release in which it says that should the inevitable come to pass, i.e. should congressional negotiations not "lead to specific policies that produce a stabilization and then downward trend in the ratio of federal debt to GDP over the medium term" then "Moody's would expect to lower the rating, probably to Aa1" or a one notch cut. Moody's also warns that should a repeat of last year's debt ceiling fiasco occur, it will also most likely cut the US.

This story was posted on the zerohedge.com Internet site early yesterday morning...and it's Elliot's fourth and final offering in today's column. The link is here.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. are helping clients find an extra $2.6 trillion to back derivatives trades amid signs that a shortage of quality collateral will erode efforts to safeguard the financial system.

Starting next year, new rules designed to prevent another meltdown will force traders to post U.S. Treasury bonds or other top-rated holdings to guarantee more of their bets. The change takes effect as the $10.8 trillion market for Treasuries is already stretched thin by banks rebuilding balance sheets and investors seeking safety, leaving fewer bonds available to backstop the $648 trillion derivatives market.

The solution: At least seven banks plan to let customers swap lower-rated securities that don’t meet standards in return for a loan of Treasuries or similar holdings that do qualify, a process dubbed “collateral transformation.” That’s raising concerns among investors, bank executives and academics that measures intended to avert risk are hiding it instead.

“The dealers look after their own interests, and they won’t necessarily look after the systemic risks that are associated with this,” said Darrell Duffie, a finance professor at Stanford University who has studied the derivatives and securities-lending markets. “Regulators are probably going to become aware of it once the practice gets big enough.”

This story was posted on the Bloomberg website early yesterday morning...and is a little something that I borrowed from yesterday's edition of the King Report. The link is here.

General Motors Co sold a record number of Chevrolet Volt sedans in August — but that probably isn't a good thing for the automaker's bottom line.

Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts and manufacturing experts. GM on Monday issued a statement disputing the estimates.

Cheap Volt lease offers meant to drive more customers to Chevy showrooms this summer may have pushed that loss even higher. There are some Americans paying just $5,050 to drive around for two years in a vehicle that cost as much as $89,000 to produce.

This rather longish, but very interesting Reuters piece was posted on their website early on Monday afternoon...and I thank Scott Pluschau for sending it. The link is here.

European stocks advanced after Germany’s top constitutional court allowed the country to ratify the euro-area bailout fund with certain conditions. U.S. index futures and Asian shares also gained.

Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court delivered its ruling on 500 billion-euro ($640 billion) bailout plan today in Karlsruhe. The court yesterday rejected a last-minute bid to delay a case over the European Stability Mechanism.

The Stoxx 600 climbed in late afternoon trading yesterday as speculation grew that the U.S. Federal Reserve will boost stimulus. The gauge last week surged the most since June as European Central Bank policy makers agreed to an unlimited bond- buying plan to help lower borrowing costs in the region.

This Bloomberg story, filed from London in the wee hours of this morning, was sent to me by Edmonton reader Ray Hay...and the link is here.

Surging unemployment and financial disarray have stoked a fever of separatism in Catalonia, a comparatively prosperous part of Spain whose leaders say their wealth is being sucked dry by the central government.

Crowds waved red and yellow striped Catalan flags – one of the oldest still in use in Europe – and sang the Catalan anthem on a national day marking the conquest of Catalonia by Spain's King Philip V in 1714 after a 13 month siege of Barcelona.

The regional government said the crowd was 600,000 strong. Local police gave figures as high as 1.5 million.

Marchers said the sheer size of the crowd – swollen with people from around the region who descended on its capital in bright sunshine – would at last make Madrid hear their message.

This story was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site late last night BST...and the link is here.

The world’s eyes may be focused on the Nov. 6 showdown between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, but in the larger scheme of things, the U.S. presidential election may not be the most decisive moment for the leadership of a major nation taking place this autumn.

That became abundantly clear when it emerged this week that the man widely believed to the next leader of China, Vice-President Xi Jinping, has not been seen for more than 10 days, during which he has missed important meetings with such figures as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He has not been seen in public since Sept. 1.

Mr. Xi’s disappearance provoked some unpersuasive responses on Tuesday from Beijing officials, who told reporters that the heir apparent had hurt his back while swimming. On China’s lively social-media service, Weibo, there were darker suggestions that he was seriously ill or had been shunted aside in a power struggle – although most experienced observers doubted these suggestions.

But it also drew attention to the magnitude and potential global significance of the once-in-a-decade leadership change that is expected to thrust Mr. Xi into power some time next month.

This story, filed from Toronto yesterday evening, was posted on the Globe and Mail website...and I thank Roy Stephens for sending it. The link is here.

The first blog is with Rick Rule...and it's headlined "The Big Picture on Gold, Currencies & Key Markets". Next we have the 'R' man...Richard Russell. His blog is entitled "Financial Crisis & The Bullish Case For Gold". This next blog is with Louise Yamada...and it bears the headline "Here are the Key Levels to Watch on Gold & Silver". And lastly is this audio interview with Michael Pento.

Anglo American Platinum spokesperson, Mpumi Sithole, has confirmed that the miner is trying to contain an outbreak of intimidation at its Rustenburg mines tonight and had been working 24/7 to try to prevent the unrest.

Sithole said that it was unclear how many people were involved at this stage, although it was suspected that these were not mine employees.

Police services have been deployed to try and assist with the unrest that Sithole likened to that of holding a bag of water with numerous holes in it.

This very short mineweb.com story was filed from Johannesburg yesterday...and I thank Manitoba reader Ulrike Marx for bringing it to our attention. The link is here.

Military bases have been placed on high alert following news that Julius Malema is expected to meet with soldiers at a base south of Johannesburg, a report said on Wednesday.

According to the The Times, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula issued a strongly worded statement which said, in part, that ill-discipline in the military was a direct threat to the country's security.

Malema's planned address has been slammed by the department as incitement.

This story, filed from Johannesburg, was posted on the news24.com Internet site early this morning in South Africa. I thank Ulrike Marx for sending it just as I was about to hit the 'send' button...and the link is here.

Senegal plans to review its mining code and audit existing mining contracts, the west African nation's prime minister said on Monday.

"On the instruction of head of state, the mining code will be reviewed and reconsidered and existing mining agreements will be audited," Prime Minister Abdoul Mbaye said in parliament during a question and answer session.

It's a good bet that there will be a money grab from all the current mining companies once the 'audit' is done. You've already read the entire 2-paragraph Reuters story that was posted on the mineweb.com Internet site yesterday...and I thank Donald Sinclair for sending it. The link to the hard copy is here.

With another season of festivals rolling up, India Post has offered a special discount, despite the price of gold continuing on its northward journey and scaling fresh highs at the bullion market.

Gold prices may have ended at a five-month high, marking their biggest monthly gain since January this year, but in India discounts are on offer. India Post has announced a 6.5% discount on the sale of gold coins on the occasion of Pushya Nakshatra which falls on September 12, this year.

The word `Pushya' means to strengthen, to fortify. The word etymologically means `to nourish', and traditionally a person cannot think beyond gold investments on this day. Pushya Nakshatra is considered the most auspicious day to make valuable investments and purchases. It is a customary practice for people to purchase gold and, by observing tradition, increasing their good karma and good efforts.

On the occasion of Pushya Nakshatra, a special discount is being offered, said Chief Postmaster General Poornachandra Rao. Gold coins, sold in association with Reliance Money Infrastructure, are available in denominations ranging from 0.5 grams to 50 gram denomination coins, he added.

This is another story courtesy of Donald Sinclair..and this one, too, was from the mineweb.com Internet site yesterday. It was filed from Mumbai...and the link is here.

This year's Denver Gold Forum kicked off yesterday morning and one of the early speakers was Rob McEwen of McEwen Mining. He has a great name in the industry due to his long term stewardship of Goldcorp, which was largely responsible for building the gold mining major to the strong position it holds today.

But it is perhaps as an avowed believer in gold that McEwen attracts a strong following at a conference of this type, perhaps the most significant annual gold event in the calendar- and he opened his presentation with a strong statement of his beliefs in this respect.

"Understand This! Gold is Money" was his opening statement with a strong recommendation that investors should have gold in their portfolios now, before then showing a slide giving his assessment of the loss of purchasing power of all major currencies against gold over the past 11 years of the gold bull market. According to the slide the best performing currency against gold was the Australian dollar which had only lost 68% of its purchasing power vs. gold over the period - while the joint worst performers were the U.S. dollar and the South African Rand, both of which had lost 85% against gold. This is one interpretation that can be drawn from the dramatic rise in the gold price over the period But regardless it did serve to make the point that an investment in gold would have served investors well in virtually any currency.

This is the final story from the mineweb.com Internet site. It was filed from Denver yesterday...and it's worth reading. The link is here.