The anti-surveillance state movement is gaining traction and following Charlottesville, Virginia becoming the first city to pass anti-drone legislation, the engaged citizenry of Seattle have now succeeded in killing their city’s own drone program earlier this month.  On the state level, while legislation has been introduced in several places, it appears Florida is closest to enacting domestic surveillance drone regulations into law.  The title of the bill is the “Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act.”  From Forbes:

via Just Say NO: Seattle Residents Kill the City’s Drone Program | Zero Hedge.

Presenting The College Whose Graduates Have A 62% Student Loan Default Rate | Zero Hedge.

Yes, You ARE a Criminal…You Just Don’t Know It Yet by Mark Nestmann.

http://lewrockwell.com/paul/paul847.html

http://lewrockwell.com/rappoport/rappoport21.1.html

http://lewrockwell.com/hoppe/hoppe32.1.html

Who says Barron’s covers are only good for timing contrarian market inflection points to the millisecond? In this specific case, we learn that all hope and change roads (soon to be de-potholed following another trillion in road renewal stimulus, aka ARRA 2.0, spent shortly and paying a minimum wage of $9.00 to the depotholers) lead to, where else, Athens, Greece.

Meanwhile in Greece, free food for everyone!

via All Hope And Change Roads Lead To Greece | Zero Hedge.

Beleaguered Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy just broke another record. As if a plague of corruption scandals was not enough, Spain’s debt-to-GDP has now reached levels not seen in over 100 years. As El Pais reports, Spanish debt levels rose at an alarming EUR 400 million per day in 2012 making for the largest annual increase in debt in the nation’s history – all the while proclaiming austerity.

Continued:

via Chart Of The Day: Spanish Debt | Zero Hedge.

With the world engaged in open currency warfare, the only thing that matters are the assorted drivers that push various global currencies higher and lower. Here are the key macro/FX-related catalysts in the week ahead.

2012 Q4 GDP has been weak in G3 and indeed Europe more broadly, (however it has generally surprised to the upside in Asia), consequently, the momentum of business sentiment will be key to watch. The Euro area flash PMI, German Ifo and the Philadelphia Fed survey are released this week (the China flash PMI will be released on Feb 25). The consensus expects a further small rise in the Euro area services and manufacturing readings. The week also brings a batch of central bank commentary, where the focus will be on references to currency strength; these include the RBA minutes followed by testimony, a speech by RBNZ governor Wheeler, Bank of Thailand policy decision and Bank of England minutes. The Federal Reserve will release the minutes from the last meeting and they may contain important clues on the bias of the Committee with respect to how long it expects the current QE program to last. Additionally, the Committee may have discussed the potential merits of outcome-based guidance for balance sheet policy, which may be reflected in the minutes.

Continued:

via Key Macro Events In The Coming Week | Zero Hedge.