There is nothing quite like a $70 billion debt auction settlement at the last day of a month to bring total US debt to a record $15.692 trillion, which happens to be just $600 billion shy of the $16.394 trillion debt ceiling.

Now that the end of month auction has settled, one can easily see why the Treasury forecast of debt issuance through the end of September will only be correct if somehow the Treasury finds a way to print its own money without reliance on the Fed, or else every US taxpayer somehow hikes their tax payments by 15% voluntarily. Good luck on both counts.

This zerohedge.com story from yesterday was sent to me by Phil Barlett...and the link is here.

Two Federal Reserve officials warned Tuesday that the U.S. could be heading for a "fiscal cliff" at year's end if mandated tax increases and spending cuts are implemented.

Charles Evans of the Chicago Fed called the cliff a "big uncertainty" while Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said there could be a "financial shock" if markets begin to anticipate that Congress and the White House do little to address this situation.

The expected tax increases and spending cuts were triggered when a congressional "super committee" failed to come up with a way of closing the federal budget deficit.

This cnbc.com story was sent to me by West Virginia reader Elliot Simon...and the link is here.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the main U.S. derivatives regulator, may propose within months which swaps must be guaranteed by central clearinghouses, said Gary Barnett, the agency’s director of swap dealer and intermediary oversight.

The CFTC may seek comment about which types of swaps will face the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act’s clearing mandate that is designed to reduce risk in the $708 trillion global market, Barnett said at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association Inc.’s annual meeting in Chicago.

“We hope that in the next couple of months we will move in that direction,” Barnett said. Clearinghouses seek to reduce risk in swaps by accepting margin, or collateral, from trading parties in the transactions.

Dodd-Frank was enacted after largely unregulated swaps helped fuel the 2008 credit crisis.

This 4-paragraph story was posted over at the Bloomberg website yesterday afternoon...and you just read them all. It's another contribution from Elliot Simon...and the link to the hard copy is here.

In a brazen criminal scheme to defraud taxpayers, one of the highest-ranking officials in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to helping embezzle $600,000 from the federal government.

Over three years, James Woosley and at least five other ICE employees scammed the agency by fabricating expenses for trips that were never taken and for hotel, rental car and restaurant expenses that did not exist, according to court records.

His son and Woosley's live-in girlfriend, Lateisha Rollerson -- both ICE employees -- allegedly ran the scam out of the elder Woosley's two Virginia homes.

You can't make this stuff up...and I thank Washington state reader S.A. for bringing it to my attention. It's posted over at the foxnews.com Internet site...and the link is here.

Congressman Paul just makes so much sense, it's impossible to believe that anyone would take that little weasel Krugman seriously. This Bloomberg video from Monday runs just under 21 minutes...and I thank reader Federico Schiavio for sending it along. The link is here.

Of all the people rocked by the debt and austerity tumult rattling Europe, the famously prudent but prosperous Dutch were seldom on anybody’s watch list. Until now.

This bastion of probity became a flash point of euro zone turmoil last week, when the government fell in a showdown over how to cut the budget to keep the nation from getting caught in Europe’s long-running debt crisis. The action focused fears in other European capitals that austerity, rather than helping to put countries back on their feet, will impede growth and make it harder for them to recover.

It is the Netherlands’ toughest test of economic resolve since the nation became a founding member of the euro currency union in 1999. Last week, facing a crisis that could have tarnished the country’s sparkling credit rating, a caretaker government maneuvered to pass a 14 billion euro ($18.5 billion) plan for spending cuts and tax increases. Political leaders acknowledge that the belt-tightening will further retard an economy already in recession.

This 2-page story was posted in The New York Times yesterday...and I thank Phil Barlett for sending it our way. The link is here.

While Europe’s financial overlords debate the wisdom of spurring growth by letting the European Central Bank print more money, some enterprising sorts in this semi-urban sprawl northwest of Naples are taking matters into their own hands and printing reams of counterfeit euros.

The Campania region of southern Italy is known for its sunny skies, fresh mozzarella and organized crime, but it has a different kind of cottage industry that accounts for more than half of the 550,000 to 800,000 fake euro notes pulled from circulation annually by European central banks.

“In Italy, there’s a great, ancient and august tradition: Here, they make fake money, done well,” said Col. Alessandro Gentili, the head of the Italian Carabinieri’s Currency Anti-counterfeiting Unit in Rome. “Giugliano is still the capital. It has the best professionals.”

Well, dear reader, I wonder they don't throw the banksters in jail for conjuring money up out of thin air as well, as it's nothing more than legalized counterfeiting. This second 2-page New York Times offering in a row was also sent to me by reader Phil Barlett...and the link is here.

For Iranians, whose country’s borders have shrunk in the past 200 years after wars and unfavorable deals by corrupt shahs, territorial issues are a delicate matter. So a renewed claim by the United Arab Emirates to the tiny island of Abu Musa in the Persian Gulf has touched a raw nerve.

But many here say that may just be the point.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his reactionary agenda tend to be unpopular among the urban middle classes, but he is enjoying a rare surge of support even in those inhospitable quarters in the growing dispute with Iran’s Persian Gulf neighbors — one that he touched off by making a surprise visit to the island last month, a first by an Iranian president.

This interesting piece of Persian Gulf trivia was posted in The New York Times this morning...and I thank Roy Stephens for sending it. The link is here.

The first one is headlined "Iran signs €16 billion oil deal with Spanish firm". The second item is entitled "IMF snubs pressures to suspend Iran". And lastly is this article headlined "Iran seeks 200,000 tonnes of barley, offers payment via India". All stories are courtesy of Roy Stephens.

Bolivian President Evo Morales ordered his military to seize the local assets of Spanish energy company Red Electrica, in the latest example of muscle-flexing by a South American leader.

Mr. Morales said the expropriation of Transportadora de Electricidad (TDE), which runs most of Bolivia's power grid, was "in honour of all Bolivian people who have struggled to recuperate our natural resources and basic services". He timed the seizure for May Day.

TDE is 99.94pc owned by Spain's Red Electrica and, according to El Pais, accounts for about 1.5pc of the company's business. Accusing Red Electrica of underinvestment in TDE, Mr. Morales said: "We do this...for the benefit of the Bolivian people."

This story showed up in The Telegraph yesterday evening...and is Roy Stephens final offering of the day. The link is here.

Jean Marie Eveillard oversees $50 billion at First Eagle Funds. Eveillard told KWN that the authorities should not be in the business of manipulating equity prices because it is extremely dangerous. He also discussed the gold market. The link to this KWN blog is here.

This is the title of another King World News blog that was posted on their website yesterday. It's certainly worth the read...and the link is here.

This longish 4-page interview is posted in the clear at the gata.org website...and I'll leave the introduction and the rest of the preamble up to Chris. The link to this must read interview is here.