As a result, the labor force is now at its smallest size since the 1980s when compared to the broader working age population. "We've been getting some job growth and it's been significant, but it hasn't yet been strong enough that you start to get people re-engaging in the labor market," said Keith Hall, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center and former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A person is counted as part of the labor force if they have a job or have looked for one in the last four weeks. Only about 64% of Americans over the age of 16 currently fall into that category, according to the Labor Department. That's the lowest labor force participation rate since 1984. It's a worrisome sign for the economy and partly explains why the unemployment rate has been falling recently. Only people looking for work are considered officially unemployed.

The Chicago Fed expects the labor force participation rate will keep falling, hitting 62.4% by 2020. That poses a problem for a variety of reasons. It hits tax revenue and makes it harder to fund social safety nets like Social Security. Not to mention, it's likely to increase income inequality. Most importantly though, it makes the US economy less productive and weighs on growth.

But Martin Weiss noted last month: Four of the world’s largest central banks have gone absolutely berserk, running the money printing presses like never before in history:

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) had already been printing money like crazy ever since their bubble economy burst in the early 1990s. So when the debt crisis struck in 2008, the size of their balance sheet assets, which measure the cumulative total of a central bank’s money printing operations, was already the biggest in the world: About 20% of their economy. Then, when the shock waves of the Lehman Brothers collapse struck Japan, what did they do? They stepped up their money printing operations EVEN further — to about 30% of GDP.

At the US Federal Reserve, no Fed Chairman in history — not even notorious easy-money advocates like Arthur Burns or Allen Greenspan — had EVER run the money printing presses for any extended period of time. But Fed Chairman Bernanke changed all that. Soon after the debt crisis hit in 2008, he nearly TRIPLED the size of the Fed’s balance sheet from about 6% of GDP to almost 17% of GDP. And in the years since, he has pumped it up even further to about 20% of GDP! Last month, the International Monetary Fund released its annual review of US economic policy… The IMF has effectively pronounced the US bankrupt.

The Bank of England (BOE) has mostly been expanding its balance sheet in lock step with the Fed.

But in the global race to print money, it’s the European Central Bank (ECB) which has been leading the pack in the past year or so, suddenly expanding their balance sheet from about 20% of GDP to close to 30% GDP (blue line). This is absolutely massive!

The European Investment Bank, for example, recently required Greek borrowers to agree to a mechanism for repaying loans if Greece abandons the euro. No one knows, of course, precisely when a fatal euro-zone crisis will occur or exactly what might trigger it. And although the ultimate failure of the euro would cause immense economic and financial shocks worldwide, in the short run the US economy might actually benefit. International investors are already pulling their money out of the most troubled European countries and moving it to safer havens.

If the euro zone itself breaks up, lots of that hot money could pour into US markets. Over the longer term, though, the specific impact will depend on how the euro zone unravels. Basically, there are four scenarios, listed here from most to least likely in the short run:

1. France and other countries persuade Germany to agree to pro-growth policies.

2. Austerity policies force most of Europe into recession.

3. The weakest countries get pushed out of the euro zone one by one.

4. The euro zone splits into two separate currency areas.

There may, in fact, be no ideal solution. In all four scenarios, there is major financial disruption ahead. They differ only in the severity of the eventual crisis and its timing. The worst policies are the most extreme ones: doing nothing, or being purely harsh and punitive. The best would be to try to maintain some measure of economic growth while preventing countries that are already overindebted from adding too much to their borrowing. The most realistic goal at this point may simply be to avoid making matters worse and to try to minimize the damage.

(Full article - http://business.time.com/2012/05/02/four-ways-the-euro-could-fail/?hpt=hp_t3)

Adding their voices to the already noisy 2012 apocalypse brigade, Growing in Grace International are led by the charismatic Jose de Luis de Jesus, who openly calls himself the antichrist and makes his followers tattoo 666 onto their bodies. The Puerto Rican national states that calling himself the antichrist is appropriate because it is wrong to worship the 'Jewish teachings' of Jesus, but rather to study the teachings of the Apostle Paul, who de Jesus claims to be in direct contact with.

Antichrist according to de Jesus means 'no longer following Jesus of Nazareth as he lived in the days of his flesh.' Spreading the word about June 30th has seen the Miami based-group invest in billboards featuring a smiling de Jesus and his 666 symbols prominently displayed imploring people to phone up his group and repent.

'That day, the body of Jose de Luis de Jesus, who is a human like you and me, his flesh is going to be immortal,' said Alex Poessy, the bishop of Growing in Grace International in Canada. 'He's going to be living forever. And that will happen to him, but also his followers. All those that are not believers are going to be destroyed.' With followers in 35 different nations, 287 radio stations and a 24-hour Spanish language television network, Growing in Grace International is not the first group to pick a date this year as the end of the world,

Religious and sociological experts have expressed concern about this latest prediction of armageddon. University of Waterloo sociologist Dr Lorne Dawson explained that a deadline is a sign that the 'movement is starting to run into trouble'. 'It's a strong indicator that their authority is slipping, they're losing followers, not acquiring followers at a level that they used to. And nothing galvanises a group and galvanises attention like a new mention of an apocalypse.'

Yesterday's figures from the Bank of England show how banks have been steadily increasing overdraft rates. In March 2009 when the Bank cut the base rate to 0.5 per cent the average authorised overdraft rate was 18.62 per cent. It has been climbing steadily, reaching a high in February and going up again in March – the latest available figure – to 19.52 per cent.

That is the highest level since the data was first recorded in 1995. In a toxic combination, research published this week said millions of savers are being hit by the worst returns in history. As a result, families are seeing interest charges on their overdrafts at record highs while rates paid to savers are close to rock-bottom. The financial information firm Defaqto said the worst-hit are those who have left money to languish in the lowest-paying instant access accounts offering rates of only 0.01 per cent.

A saver who put £1,000 into such an account three years ago and left it there would by now have received interest of just 24p after basic rate tax. Simon Rose, from the campaign group Save our Savers, said: 'Rock bottom rates are causing misery to people who thought they had sensibly made provision for themselves.'

Earlier this year Britain's big five banks – HSBC, Santander, Barclays, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland – revealed they made profits of £10.7 billion between them from their high-street banking operations last year, excluding the cost of compensation to their payment protection insurance victims.

Since the banking collapse in 2008, net lending in the form of loans to firms has been negative almost every single month. Net lending is the difference between the amount of loans handed out by banks to businesses and the total amount which they pay back. On a bleak day for small firms, the shocking Bank of England figures showed the amount banks have raked in but then refused to lend reached £96.5 billion between November 2008 and March 2012.

Lord Oakeshott, a Lib Dem peer who resigned in February last year over Project Merlin – the Government's failed attempt to get banks to lend – said the consequences of the ruthless behaviour were dire. He said: 'There is no way our economy can grow when the banks keep sucking the lifeblood out of business. Around £11 billion of negative net business lending over the past three months makes it a £100 billion bank attack on business, jobs and growth over the past three-and-a-half years.'

The figures emerged just days after the Prime Minister insisted solving the small business lending crisis was one of the most urgent problems the Government needed to address.

He also said it should have done more to convince the Government to recapitalise banks sooner and said a decision to take away the power of regulation from the Bank in 1997 returned "to haunt us". Sir Mervyn said he sympathised with people who felt angry about the banking crisis, which sparked a deep recession that caused one million job losses.

He added: "To many of you, this will seem deeply unfair, and it is. I can understand why so many people are angry." The root of the last crisis was that banks over-extended their activities in the run-up to the financial crisis, with their balance sheets increasing from around a half of national income to more than five times in a generation.

"Whether they think it will come to an end through the hands of God, or a natural disaster or a political event, whatever the reason, one in seven thinks the end of the world is coming," said Keren Gottfried, research manager at Ipsos Global Public Affairs which conducted the poll for Reuters. "Perhaps it is because of the media attention coming from one interpretation of the Mayan prophecy that states the world 'ends' in our calendar year 2012," Gottfried said, adding that some Mayan scholars have disputed the interpretation.

Responses to the international poll of 16,262 people in more than 20 countries varied widely with only six percent of French residents believing in an impending Armageddon in their lifetime, compared to 22 percent in Turkey and the United States and slightly less in South Africa and Argentina. But only seven percent in Belgium and eight percent in Great Britain feared an end to the world during their lives.

But by December 2011, the number had jumped more than 14 times to more than 10,024, a Freedom of Information request shows. The Met is expected to comment later on Thursday. Baton rounds have never been used to quell disorder on the mainland of the UK. But an ex-Metropolitan Police Commander told the BBC the huge rise suggested a change of policy on the weapons and an increased willingness to use them. And the BBC has tracked down several victims of the rounds in Northern Ireland - all of whom responded with horror to the idea of rubber bullets being used in England.

Stephen McConomy was killed by a rubber bullet after being shot in the head by a soldier at a demonstration in 1982 at the age of 11. The man who pulled the trigger claimed to have fired by accident and was never prosecuted. Stephen's brother Emmett said: "I am shocked that they seem to be stockpiling these things. The injuries they can cause are absolutely horrific. They should never have been used in Northern Ireland and it would be absolutely wrong to use them in the UK - they are indiscriminate."

Meanwhile, hundreds of cases of people accused of being involved in last summer's London riots are still being prepared for trial, the BBC has learned. Figures from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) show that it has 450 cases still to deal with and that 200 are at trial stage.

The IDF has issued emergency call up orders to six reserve battalions in light of new dangers on the Egyptian and Syrian borders. And the Knesset has given the IDF permission to summon a further 16 reserve battalions if necessary, Israeli media reported on Wednesday. An IDF spokesperson said intelligence assessments called for the deployment of more soldiers.

According to 2008's Reserve Duty Law, combat soldiers can be called for active reserve duty once every three years, and for short training sessions during the other two. Rising tensions between Israel and Egypt and the ongoing unrest in Syria caused the army to ask the Knesset for special permission to call up more soldiers, more often.

The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee approved the request recently, enabling the IDF to summon up to 22 battalions for active duty for the second time in three years. Already, the army has called up six of them. “This signifies that the IDF regards the Egyptian and Syrian borders as the potential source of a greater threat than in the past,” the former deputy chief of staff, Dan Harel, said on Wednesday night.

Thousands took to the streets of American cities from coast to coast to mark May Day and call for a nationwide strike. Between 50 and 100 people joined them in London by moving into Paternoster Square with tents and supplies on Tuesday night. However they were forced to leave by City of London officers just hours later. The renewed activism comes more than six months after members of Occupy London were prevented from occupying the square in heart of the City of London. Many thought the movement appears to be on its last legs.

Jamie Kelsey-Fry from the Occupy London convinces RT otherwise: “This country last year bought large water cannons to dispense with demonstrators or activists. And I think that’s kind of a scare story – I know that it’s true that the military in the States may have bought this weapon that can use soundwaves to kind of disempower people that may be in the streets but I think that’s a symptom of something far worse that is coming. Occupy is the canary in the mine as we can see. But eventually the rest of this world will realize that they have been robbed and they have been put into subjugation by completely unjust undemocratic unsustainable financial systems. And they will all as one become furious eventually.”

“So I think those kind of weapons may well be something to take much more seriously in say six months’ time or eight months’ time. In this country the austerity measures haven’t really hit as hard as they are going to. It’s easy for people to just stay within their own “little pub” if you don’t mind the world. But when the austerity measures cut into their actual lives, come right on to their doorstep and enter their front door, and cut them away from a lot of what they are used to, there will be enormous growth in people who are trying to find this kind of economic justice that Occupy represent.”

The eurozone debt crisis has left many countries including Spain and Greece facing austerity measures and has forced many to tighten purse strings and trade within the euro rather than outside. Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said the survey was "disappointing and an early blow" to hopes the economy will return to growth, after official figures last week showed the UK was in a technical recession.

The news will add to the comments made by David Cameron who claimed that the eurozone strife would continue to effect the British economy until at least 2015. The PM said: "I don’t think we’re anywhere near halfway through it because what’s happening in the eurozone is a massive tension between the single currency that countries are finding very difficult to adapt to. I think it’s going to be a very long and painful process as they work out do they want a single currency with a single economic policy and all the things that go with it, or are they going to have something quite different.”

Economists have already raised concerns about the second quarter, as additional bank holidays for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee are expected to knock growth. Mr Archer added: "Not only is eurozone contraction and soft activity elsewhere hurting exports, but domestic demand for manufactured goods is handicapped by a still appreciable squeeze on consumers' purchasing power as well as by tighter public spending."

Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik admitted to using Call of Duty as a training aid before the Utoya massacre - and the new discovery raises fears that other groups such as Al Qaeda could use the games in the same way. Players used a pistol-shaped controller in a shoot 'em up, then a real gun on a mannequin - the gamers had 99% more hits in the head than non-gamers.

Players who had 'trained' using games also had 33% more shots that hit other parts of the body. The study found that participants who reported habitual playing of violent shooting games also were more accurate than others when shooting at the mannequin, and made more head shots. It's not surprising that video games can improve shooting accuracy - the military, police departments and others already use video games for training purposes, said Brad Bushman, co-author of the study and a professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University.

But this is the first study to show that average players using violent shooting games with realistic human targets can improve firing aim and accuracy. ‘For good and bad, video game players are learning lessons that can be applied in the real world,’ Bushman said. ‘The more frequently one plays violent shooting games, the more accurately one fires a realistic gun and aims for the head, although we can't tell from this study which factor is the cause,’ Bushman said.

Bushman said these results should give parents and policymakers pause. ‘We shouldn't be too quick to dismiss violent video games as just harmless fun in a fantasy world – they can have real-world effects,’ he said. Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik described how he became a deadly marksman by honing his gun skills by playing the violent Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare computer game. The mass killer even bought a special gun sight used on the game - and attached it to the hunting rifle he used for his deadly rampage on a Norwegian island.

“As far as I am concerned, US Treasurys are junk bonds,” Schiff said on CNBC Asia’s “Squawk Box”. “And the only reason that the US government can pay the interest on the debt, and I say ‘pay’ in quotes because we never pay our bills. We borrow the money so we pretend to pay, but the only reason we can do it is because the Fed has got interest rates so artificially low.” The Fed has been keeping rates on benchmark 10-year Treasurys low by purchasing bonds via quantitative easing (QE), and this will ultimately be the US economy’s “undoing”, Schiff said.

“Unfortunately, we are going to get more QE than Rocky movies, because the only thing keeping this phony economy going is this QE. And the minute you take it away, it’s going to collapse,” he said. Schiff’s comments come after two Fed officials warned on Tuesday that the US could be heading for a "fiscal cliff" at the end of the year if mandated tax increases and spending cuts are implemented. On the same day, fund manager Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund, told CNBC that the US will face a downgrade of its ‘AAA’ debt rating if it does not fix its fiscal 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. Both Fed officials spoke during the Milken conference in Los Angeles. Earlier Tuesday, on CNBC, both agreed the slowing US economy is disappointing, but differed on the need for continued stimulus. "I’d like nothing better than to start raising rates before late 2014 on the strength of a stronger economy," Evans told Squawk on the Street.