China can now bypass Wall Street when buying U.S. government debt and go straight to the U.S. Treasury, in what is the Treasury’s first-ever direct relationship with a foreign government, according to documents viewed by Reuters.

The relationship means the People’s Bank of China buys U.S. debt using a different method than any other central bank in the world.

The other central banks, including the Bank of Japan, which has a large appetite for Treasuries, place orders for U.S. debt with major Wall Street banks designated by the government as primary dealers. Those dealers then bid on their behalf at Treasury auctions.

China, which holds $1.17 trillion in U.S. Treasuries, still buys some Treasuries through primary dealers, but since June 2011, that route hasn’t been necessary.

The documents viewed by Reuters show the U.S. Treasury Department has given the People’s Bank of China a direct computer link to its auction system, which the Chinese first used to buy two-year notes in late June 2011.

CONTINUED at Reuters.

Supporters take full control of GOP in North Star State.

Presidential candidate Ron Paul swept the board at the Minnesota State convention this past weekend, winning 12 of the 13 delegates to the Republican National Convention and effectively taking complete control of the party in the state.

Congressman Paul would have won all of the open delegate slots, for the fact that the 13th went to former presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, only after a Paul supporter withdrew his name from the ballot.

Earlier in the year, a well organized cadre of Paul supporters won 20 of 24 delegates at district conventions, meaning that in total the Paul campaign has secured 32 of the state’s 40 national delegates.

The achievement once again affirms Paul’s delegate-attainment strategy, and substantially increases the prospect for the Congressman to be able to greatly influence the party platform at the National Convention in Tampa this August.

In addition to the delegate victory for Paul, Minnesota state Rep. Kurt Bills (R), an ardent Paul supporter, soundly defeated the establishment Republican candidate in the race for the Senate.

“This is one of the greatest states that I have witnessed, where I have seen the transition, where the enthusiasm’s there,” Paul said during his speech at the Saturday convention.

CONTINUED at Prison Planet.

A preliminary count of votes for Egyptians living abroad has put Islamist candidate Abdul-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh in the lead, followed by left-leaning Hamdeen Sabahi . The online statement by the State Information Service (SIS) on Saturday added that the figures “confirmed a sharp competition” for third between Amr Moussa and Mohamed Mursi.

The note did not elaborate on the precise breakdown of votes, or how many had been counted so far. A total of 587,000 Egyptians abroad registered to participate, according to the Supreme Presidential Elections Commission (SPEC). The figure represents just 1.13 percent of citizens eligible to take part, but nonetheless gives valuable clues about the current strength of the 13 candidates running for the top job. Almost 45 percent of Egyptian voters overseas reside in Saudi Arabia, and some 119,000 in Kuwait.

Numbers have gradually been trickling in from individual consulates and embassies around the world. In a press conference on Saturday, Egypt’s ambassador to Kuwait said that Mursi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), had garnered the most votes in what appeared to be a closely-fought race. Out of a total of 55,288, Mursi secured 17,139 votes. Aboul-Fotouh came in second with 14,109, followed by Sabahi.

CONTINUED at CNBC.

Fifty percent of Americans now have a favorable opinion of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, up from 39% in February and his highest by 10 percentage points. His current 41% unfavorable rating, though, leaves him with a net score of +9, after being at -8 in February. In roughly half of the 28 measurements Gallup has taken of Romney since 2006, more Americans have viewed him negatively than positively.

The spike in Romney’s favorable rating in the May 10-13 USA Today/Gallup poll is predictable, given that he has become the presumptive Republican nominee. Presidential candidates typically get a spike in their favorable ratings in the wake of winning the nomination. Gallup’s prior measurement of Romney, in February, came as Rick Santorum was surging in the polls after a series of primary and caucus wins that made him Romney’s main challenger.

Republicans and independents are fueling the rise in Romney’s favorable rating, with Democrats’ views of him unchanged. Eighty-seven percent of Republicans now view him favorably, up from 65% in February. His favorable rating among independents is 11 points higher, and independents now view Romney more positively (48%) than negatively (43%).

CONTINUED at Gallup.

Mitt Romney continued to drive a debt-oriented message here on Wednesday morning, extending his “prairie fire” of debt metaphor with the assistance of a prop.

In a nod to the independent voters who pushed the Sunshine State into the Democratic column in 2008, Romney noted that both parties were responsible for pushing the debt to the “incomprehensible” levels – which were represented on a giant prop debt clock behind him.

CONTINUED at MSNBC.

A group of Communist Party veterans have written a daring open letter calling for the removal of China’s top security official, in the latest sign of disunity ahead of Beijing’s leadership transition.

Security chief Zhou Yongkang, one of China’s top nine rulers, is viewed as a hardliner and is linked to Bo Xilai , the charismatic party leader whose downfall earlier this year triggered the nation’s biggest political scandal in decades.

In an open letter to President Hu Jintao, published on a number of overseas websites, the veterans suggest that Zhou is part of a movement to revive the China of Mao Zedong.

Zhao Zhengrong, a retired anti-corruption official from the southwestern province of Yunnan, told the AFP news agency that he, and 15 other party members from the same province, had sent the proposal advocating Zhou’s removal to higher authorities.

Speculation has been growing about the future of Zhou since the downfall of another top politician, Bo Xilai.

Al Jazeera’s Melissa Chan said that the letter was significant because it was rare to see this type of dissent in China.

“For the first time in 20 years, we really are seeing a debate and a split in the political leadership,” she said.

Despite this divide, she said the letter was unlikely to have any impact on the national government.

“What’s lost in this entire narrative is that the next president and premier of China are not going to change,” she explained.

Source: Al Jazeera. Video at link.

My Two Cents: Is this a pick the biggest neocon douchenugget competition? End Two Cents.

With his name slated to be on every state ballot in the country in November, Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson is an important voice – bringing bold new ideas to the table that appeal to voters across the political spectrum.

Johnson, a Republican who served as governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003, is running on a platform that includes slashing government spending to balance the federal budget by 2013, ending wars the U.S. in involved in, and drug reform —  beginning with the legalization of marijuana but extending all the way to the war on drugs, drug policy, relations with Latin America, and even law enforcement policies and priorities– issues that neither of the two major candidates President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are pursuing right now.

Having received the Libertarian nomination in Las Vegas last weekend, Johnson must now cross a new threshold to ensure that his voice is heard and give these important initiatives a lot of exposure — achieving the 15 percent required by the Commission on Presidential Debates to participate.

To date, Johnson has been polling between 6 and 9 percent nationally – several points shy of what he needs.

If the two parties continue to move to the extreme left and right, and if our economic situation continues to remain bleak, it is conceivable that a fresh face emerging would find a degree of responsiveness in a political environment that is as hostile as I have ever seen.

Last weekend, voters in Greece rejected both major political parties amid a dire fiscal situation there, while a disenchanted French electorate voted out President Nicolas Sarkozy. The European elections speak to a major anti incumbency trend that  is likely to have profound implications for the 2012 presidential election.

Voters across the board are unsatisfied with the current political system. Most people think that neither party is effective at solving the country’s problems, congressional ratings are at an all-time low, and support for both the Democratic and Republican parties is on the decline.

Amid this toxic political climate, a  recent poll put out by Harvard’s Institute of Politics suggests Libertarian ideas are gaining traction with those age 18 to 29. Moreover, polling conducted by my firm, Douglas E. Schoen LLC, has found that there is a great deal of support for a third-party alternative to the current two-party system, and voters are receptive to voting for alternatives to the Democratic and Republican Presidential tickets in 2012.

With neither Obama nor Romney offering an overarching message that has been able to resonate with an electorate that is becoming increasingly cynical about anyone’s ability to fix this country’s ongoing, trenchant and most vexatious problems – Gary Johnson’s voice is one that needs to be heard.

Bottom line: At time of massive dissatisfaction with our political system, we need to expand rather than narrow the debate.

Douglas E. Schoen is a political strategist, Fox News contributor, author of the new book, “Hopelessly Divided: The New Crisis in American Politics and What it Means for 2012 and Beyond” (Rowman and Littlefield). Follow Doug on Twitter @DouglasESchoen.

Source: Fox News.

STORY 1: Obama worth as much as $10 million

Three things are apparent from President Obama’s annual financial disclosure statement, released today:

He is a wealthy man, with assets of as much as $10 million.

He has a hefty stake in JPMorgan Chase, the megabank that just made a bad $2 billion bet. Obama has an account worth between $500,000 and $1 million.

Despite the nation’s $15.6 trillion debt, he is a believer in government paper. More than half of his assets are in Treasury bills and notes.

The disclosure statement lists assets and liabilities in dollar ranges, so pinpointing the president’s net worth is difficult. His assets appear to tally between $2.6 million and $9.9 million. He holds a mortgage on his Chicago home of $500,000 to $1 million.

As was clear from Obama’s income tax filing, much of his income continues to roll in from book royalties. The disclosure form lists $100,000 to $1 million in royalties from Dreams From My Father, $100,000 to $1 million from Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, and $50,000 to $100,000 from The Audacity of Hope.

Vice President Biden, on the other hand, isn’t all that wealthy. His financial disclosure statement includes less than $1 million in assets — and as much as $1.5 million in liabilities, including between $500,000 and $1 million on his Wilmington home.

Source: USA Today.

STORY 2: Obama has up to $1 million with JPMorgan Chase

US President Barack Obama has up to $1 million in a JPMorgan Chase checking account, the White House said Tuesday as a controversy deepened over the bank’s $2 billion dollar losses.

Public figures in the United States are required by law to publish their assets and investments to avoid conflicts of interest, and the White House releases disclosures for Obama and Vice President Joe Biden each year.

As well as the between $500,000 and $1 million in the JPMorgan Chase Private Client Asset Management checking account, Obama also has millions of dollars in a variety of other accounts and funds, bonds and treasuries.

The largest holding, according to the disclosures, is between one and five million dollars in US Treasury notes.

Most of Obama’s wealth comes from book royalties, including from his best selling autobiography “Dreams From My Father.”

Obama said during a television interview with ABC’s “The View” broadcast Tuesday that the $2 billion in derivatives losses suffered by JPMorgan proved the need for tighter banking regulation.

He also said that JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon was “one of the smartest bankers we got and they still lost money.”

“They still lost $2 billion dollars and counting precisely because they were making bets in these derivative markets. This is why we passed Wall Street reform.”

The US Justice Department has opened an FBI probe into JPMorgan Chase’s more than $2 billion trading loss, a person familiar with the matter told AFP Tuesday.

News of the investigation came as Dimon, JPMorgan’s embattled chief executive, faced criticism at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Tampa, Florida, over the shock loss.

Source: Yahoo News.

The head of Greece’s Council of State will take the reins of the country until it holds new elections on June 17, state TV said a meeting of party leaders decided Wednesday, a day after power-sharing talks collapsed.

Nine days of negotiations among Greece’s bickering parties failed after May 6 inconclusive elections left no party with enough votes for a majority in parliament. The lack of a deal to share power meant the only option open was to head back to the ballot box.

The caretaker government will have no mandate to take any internationally binding commitments, with emergencies to be handled in consultation with party leaders, Communist Party head Aleka Papariga said.

“It will be a strictly caretaker government, which must not take any action at the EU or NATO that will be binding for the Greek people,” Papariga said after another meeting with other party heads, convened by President Karolos Papoulias to find agreement on who will lead the temporary government.

“If there is an emergency or unforeseen event, that can be addressed by consultation among the parties with the involvement of the president,” she said.

CONTINUED at CNBC.