Gold World News Flash |
- Gold and Debt – What Would Benjamin Franklin Have Said?
- Has Bill Gross lost his mind?
- Silver Update 9/7/12 Biflation
- Locked and Loaded: Guess Which Industry Is Thriving While Everyone Else Teeters on the Edge of Failure
- Gold and silver pop higher again on a Friday!
- Silver steals the spotlight from gold
- The Gold Price Gained $34.80 Overnight and $48.40 this Week Closing at $1,703.20
- By the Numbers for the Week Ending September 7
- Bill Gross Goes Gloss
- Gold is 'that simple' for China, Leeb says; Bryan says gold should be at $1,900 already
- Commitments of Traders Reports
- JARED DIAMOND ON WHY SOCIETIES COLLAPSE
- Mike Niehuser's Gold Investing Lessons from Banking School
- Gold and Silver Disaggregated COT Report (DCOT) for September 7
- The Fed Is Officially Insane
- New page
- Guest Post: How "Crazy Survivalists" Make The World A Better Place
- Worse Off in a “Better Than” Economy
- Assume the Position
- Fed To Ease As Fears Continue To Propel Gold & Silver Surge
- Gold Stocks Breakout
- Gold Seeker Weekly Wrap-Up: Gold and Silver Gain 3% and 6% on the Week
- Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Another Turn in the Downward Spiral
- Update On $80 Million in Seized Gold Coins: Judge Rules They “Belong to the U.S. Government”
- COT Gold, Silver and US Dollar Index Report - September 7, 2012
- Gold-Stock Breakout
- NOT BETTER OFF
- Friday Comedy - Obama Show
- Sprott Physical Gold Trust *PHYS* Prices At 14.84 - PHYS YTD Performance
| Gold and Debt – What Would Benjamin Franklin Have Said? Posted: 07 Sep 2012 11:45 PM PDT Benjamin Franklin, one of the most eloquent wordsmiths in American history, coined one of the most famous quotations of all time in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy in 1789. "Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death [...]
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| Posted: 07 Sep 2012 11:32 PM PDT by Bill Holter, MilesFranklin.com: Bill Gross says that Gold, of all things is a better investment than bonds or stocks. Has he lost his mind? Here is a guy who manages something like $1 trillion and he thinks that GOLD is better than stocks or bonds? Uh…what if he decides to start to buy some Gold as a hedge? PIMCO of course has a "commodities" fund which has recently upped it's stake in Gold but what about the huge flagship funds? He said that "long term", stocks and bonds will not return much…so maybe he'll want to "sprinkle" a little bit of Gold dust around the portfolios to tweak his returns? Well, maybe not because of prospectus but it's certainly a humorous thought! Last month we found out that George Soros and John Paulson have exited their financials and built up their Gold positions, now this news from Bill Gross…I must be dreaming! Speaking of dreaming, I came home from my daily ride with my trusty amigo Principe' to see Gold UP $34…what's up with this? Isn't today a non farm payroll reporting day? Doesn't Gold and Silver get smashed 99% of the time before and during these reports no matter what they report? What the heck happened?
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| Silver Update 9/7/12 Biflation Posted: 07 Sep 2012 09:54 PM PDT |
| Posted: 07 Sep 2012 08:30 PM PDT by Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan:
As consumer retail giants like Best Buy, which saw a 90% decline in net income in the second quarter of 2012, struggle for survival amid the worst economic crisis to hit the globe since the Great Depression of the 1930′s, there's one industry that's not only maintained its growth, but is showing record profits month after month. This is no doubt a terrifying trend for those who'd prefer to "hug it out" with mass shooters or violent criminals in modern day domestic war zones like Chicago, Illinois. For the rest of us, however, it's a no brainer considering the rising tide of crime, the potential for an economic collapse that drives society to chaos, and a political climate that would like nothing more than to see Americans be forced into defending themselves with sticks and stones. A large number of Americans see what's coming, and they're taking their personal safety and protection into their own hands, as evidenced by the following chart showing gun manufacturer Smith and Wesson's quarterly revenue growth:
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| Gold and silver pop higher again on a Friday! Posted: 07 Sep 2012 07:45 PM PDT |
| Silver steals the spotlight from gold Posted: 07 Sep 2012 07:30 PM PDT Demand's poised to rise, but watch out for silver's volatility by Myra P. Saefong, Market Watch:
Silver has been a top performer among major metals this year, and it looks set to continue to steal the spotlight from gold, with investment and industrial demand for the white metal expected to rise. "We could see a spectacular performance in silver" during the rest of the year, said Julian Phillips, a South Africa-based editor at SilverForecaster.com. "Silver, in addition to its demand [and] supply disjoint, will attract huge investment demand." Already, silver futures prices SIZ2 +3.29% trade above $32.60 an ounce, up about 18% for the quarter to date and up 17% from the end of 2011. Gold GCZ2 +2.02% , at more than $1,700 an ounce, has seen a quarter-to-date gain of 6% and less than 9% rise for the year.
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| The Gold Price Gained $34.80 Overnight and $48.40 this Week Closing at $1,703.20 Posted: 07 Sep 2012 07:27 PM PDT Gold Price Close Today : 1703.20 Gold Price Close 31-Aug : 1654.80 Change : 48.40 or 2.8% Silver Price Close Today : 32.62 Silver Price Close 31-Aug : 30.37 Change : 2.25 or 6.9% Platinum Price Close Today : 1585.40 Platinum Price Close 31-Aug : 1502.70 Change : 82.70 or 5.2% Palladium Price Close Today : 647.00 Palladium Price Close 31-Aug : 614.90 Change : 32.10 or 5.0% Gold Silver Ratio Today : 52.21 Gold Silver Ratio 31-Aug : 54.49 Change : -2.27 or 0.96% Dow Industrial : 13,292.00 Dow Industrial 31-Aug: 13,000.71 Change : 291.29 or 2.2% US Dollar Index : 81.11 US Dollar Index 31-Aug : 81.69 Change : -0.58 or -0.7% From 7 September through 16 September Franklin Sanders will be away for a family vacation and won't publish a daily commentary during that time, but will return on 17 September. Argentum et aurum comparenda sunt -- -- Gold and silver must be bought. - Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger The-MoneyChanger.com 1-888-218-9226 10:00am-5:00pm CST, Monday-Friday © 2012, The Moneychanger. May not be republished in any form, including electronically, without our express permission. To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate bubble has burst, primary trend down. WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. Be advised and warned: Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures. NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps. NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced. NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt. What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands. One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose. No, I don't. 
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| By the Numbers for the Week Ending September 7 Posted: 07 Sep 2012 06:16 PM PDT This week's closing table is just below.
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| Posted: 07 Sep 2012 06:08 PM PDT Bill Gross Monty Pelerin reports: Bill Gross,*in this video, appears to have had a Road to Damascus conversion. He is now talking about gold as a good investment. Is he ten years too late? In the sense that he missed a move from about $250 to $1,700 over that period, it is a reasonable question to ask. *He now suggests it is a better investment than bonds or stocks. But it was during the period he neglected it. I agree with Bill that gold will outperform going forward. Will it do so to the extent that it did since this century began? Maybe, maybe not. I just find it strange that he has only recently become interested in this asset! H/T to Davos for pointing this out....
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| Gold is 'that simple' for China, Leeb says; Bryan says gold should be at $1,900 already Posted: 07 Sep 2012 06:01 PM PDT 7:49p ET Friday, September 7, 2012 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver): Turn off ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and even the Cartoon Network. Turn on King World News, where you'll find fund manager Stephen Leeb musing about the irrelevance of the national political party conventions just held in the United States. "How can you have a convention in times like this, when you are looking at record droughts, record corn prices, the marginal cost of oil at $100, where you are not hearing any of these words mentioned even once by these politicians? "Money will be worth less," Leeb adds. "So if you are China and you know you are going to have to buy resources, you know you are not going to be able to buy as many resources by sitting on the $3 trillion you have because those dollars are becoming worth less and less as we print more and more. ... You are going to be looking for something that people will accept, and that's gold. It's that simple. ... I would add silver as well because silver is a monetary metal. ... but it's also a critical industrial metal." The interview with Leeb is posted at the King World News blog here: http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/9/7_Fed... Also at King World News, Gabelli gold fund manager Caesar Bryan says the recent rise in gold has been "pretty mild" and the price right now "should already be above $1,900." Yes, and your secretary/treasurer should be rich, handsome, and 40 years younger. But as Gabelli seems to think that there's still a chance in the first respect, you can find an excerpt from his interview at King World News here: http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/9/7_Top... CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer ADVERTISEMENT Fred Goldstein and Tim Murphy open All Pro Gold Longtime GATA supporters Fred Goldstein and Tim Murphy have brought their many years of experience in the precious metals and numismatic coins to All Pro Gold as metals brokers who specialize in the delivery of gold and silver bullion bars and coins as well as numismatic gold and silver coins. Fred and Tim follow these markets closely and are assisted by a team of consultants in monitoring market trends. All Pro Gold offers GATA supporters competitive pricing on all bullion products and welcomes inquiries. Tim can be reached at 602-299-2585 and Tim@allprogold.com, Fred at 602-799-8378 and Fred@allprogold.com. Ask about their ratio strategy and the relationship of generic $20 dollar gold pieces to 1-ounce gold bullion coins. Visit their Internet site at http://www.allprogold.com/. Join GATA here: Toronto Resource Investment Conference New Orleans Investment Conference * * * Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006: http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: ADVERTISEMENT Prophecy Platinum Announces Wellgreen Preliminary Economic Assessment: Company Press Release VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada -- Prophecy Platinum Corp. (TSX-V: NKL, OTC-QX: PNIKF, Frankfurt: P94P) reports the results of an independent NI 43-101-compliant preliminary economic assessment for its fully owned Wellgreen nickel-copper-platinum group metals project in the Yukon Territory. The independent assessment, prepared by Tetra Tech, evaluated a base case of an open-pit mine (with a mining rate of 111,500 tonnes per day), an on-site concentrator (with a milling rate of 32,000 tonnes per day), and an initial capital cost of $863 million. The project is expected to produce (in concentrate) 1.959 billion pounds of nickel, 2.058 billion pounds of copper, and 7.119 million ounces of platinum, palladium, and gold during a mine life of 37 years with an average strip ratio of 2.57. The financial highlights of the preliminary economic assessment, shown in U.S. dollars, are as follows: Payback period: 3.55 years Prophecy Chairman John Lee says: "We are pleased with the preliminary economic assessment results. The numbers indicate that Wellgreen is one of most exciting mineral projects in the Yukon. The company is drilling to upgrade and expand the resource base. The infrastructure is excellent as the project is only 1,400 meters in altitude and 14 kilometers from the paved Alaska Highway, which leads to the Haines deep seaport. Discussions are under way with support from local stakeholders regarding permitting and logistics." For the complete press release, please visit: http://prophecyplat.com/news_2012_june18_prophecy_platinum_announces_res...
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| Commitments of Traders Reports Posted: 07 Sep 2012 05:22 PM PDT [url]http://www.traderdannorcini.blogspot.com/[/url] [url]http://www.fortwealth.com/[/url] Following are some charts detailing the positioning of the hedge funds in both the silver and in the gold markets. Note the build in the longs and the reduction in the shorts as those funds who gambled on a breakdown in the price of the metals and sold them down near their support levels, were caught flat-footed and forced to cover. The first chart is that of Silver: The following chart is of Gold. Note that since May of this year, when gold was trading below the $1550 level, and when hedge fund short positions were at a maximum, those hedge funds playing gold from the short anticipating a breakdown in the price, were forced out and have been covering ever since. Meanwhile, new longs are coming into the market in a big way putting further pressure on the short camp. ...
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| JARED DIAMOND ON WHY SOCIETIES COLLAPSE Posted: 07 Sep 2012 05:14 PM PDT Hat tip Stucky. http://www.ted.com/talks/jared_diamond_on_why_societies_collapse.html
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| Mike Niehuser's Gold Investing Lessons from Banking School Posted: 07 Sep 2012 04:15 PM PDT The Gold Report: You were at the Pacific Coast Banking School last Friday when gold prices dipped and then surged on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments. Why are you attending banking school? Mike Niehuser: In a former life I was a real estate construction lender; I attended a mid-career banking school and found out there that I am not a banker. I also learned how to analyze banks and in 2000 transitioned to become a bank analyst. In 2004, I found NOVAGOLD (NG:TSX; NG:NYSE.MKT) and fell in love with the mining industry. I never forgot the school and was awarded faculty status eight years ago for providing lecture capture for long-distance learning. Staying active in the school has allowed me to see outside the bubble and this I hope has made me a better mining analyst. The skills as a banker—assessing project, credit and market risk—have helped me to compete as an analyst. TGR: Regarding Bernanke's comments, how does this impact your forecast on gold prices? MN: I think...
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| Gold and Silver Disaggregated COT Report (DCOT) for September 7 Posted: 07 Sep 2012 04:13 PM PDT HOUSTON -- This week's Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) disaggregated commitments of traders (DCOT) report was released at 15:30 ET Friday. Our recap of the changes in weekly positioning by the disaggregated trader classes, as compiled by the CFTC, is just below. In the DCOT table above a net short position shows as a negative figure in red. A net long position shows in black. In the Change column, a negative number indicates either an increase to an existing net short position or a reduction of a net long position. A black figure in the Change column indicates an increase to an existing long position or a reduction of an existing net short position. The way to think of it is that black figures in the Change column are traders getting "longer" and red figures are traders getting less long or shorter. All of the trader's positions are calculated net of spreading contracts as of the Tuesday disaggregated COT report. Vultures, (Got Gold Report Subscribers) please note that updates to our linked technical charts, including our comments about the COT reports and the week's technical changes, should be completed by the usual time on Sunday (by 18:00 ET). That is all for now.
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| Posted: 07 Sep 2012 04:00 PM PDT There's an old saying that defines insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The Federal Reserve wants to test that theory. Fed officials have been all over the media for weeks, laying the groundwork for a third round of quantitative easing. By preparing markets for QE3, the Fed refuses to let real-world evidence get in the way of its beloved theories. QE operations haven't worked; they've just promoted government spending and higher savings rates to make up for low interest rates. The arrogance and groupthink among Federal Reserve officials won't allow them to diagnose the following: The Fed, by its radical actions, mutates the very economy it's trying to "boost." An honest review of the Fed's record would conclude that it's rotten. In a recent update of The Speculative Investor, Steve Saville explains why the whole concept of central banking is "rotten to the core." He describes how central banks are providers of gambling insurance to the banking system: "[The] central bank offers the equivalent of gambling insurance to the banking industry. "Imagine if an insurance company made the following deal with all patrons of a casino: In exchange for a patron's promise to gamble prudently, the insurance company promises to come to the patron's aid if he finds himself short of money. Knowing that the insurance company was essentially acting as a financial backstop, at least a few gamblers would take more risk than they would otherwise. "In a similar vein, knowing that the central bank will be ready, willing and able to provide support via emergence liquidity injections if things go wrong, some private banks will take more risks. Furthermore, due to the higher profits that tend to temporarily accrue to the banks that take more risk, most banks will eventually be drawn toward riskier business practices. This is why a mechanism supposedly (according to the propaganda) put in place to prevent banking crises ends up increasing the severity and frequency of banking crises." It's no mystery why the US banking system had built up reckless lending and securitizing practices in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis: Reckless behavior paid well. Now, instead of enabling reckless bank lending, the Fed (and other central banks) is enabling the addiction of governments to easy borrowing terms. It's now providing gambling insurance to the biggest spending addicts in history: the US government. Suppressing interest rates near zero for years and years will transfer countless wealth from savers to the government budget. As budget deficits continue to be measured in the trillions, we will see the size of central bank balance sheets grow too. Inflation will remain stubbornly high worldwide, despite sluggish economic activity. Central bankers may talk tough from time to time, but they will ultimately do the bidding of governments — and print. For years, I've expected that at the end of all this central bank printing, we'll see the end — not a reversal — of quantitative easing programs and a re-pegging of the US dollar to gold at much higher gold prices. A new gold standard would allow the Fed and other central banks to save face after the following sequence of events: 1. Central banks inflate their balance sheets and buy up many of the bonds governments issue to fund soaring budget deficits It's almost impossible to imagine the Fed managing a "soft landing" back to its pre-quantitative easing condition. I compare QE operations to a roach motel: easy to enter and impossible to exit in a practical manner. Say that the Fed doubles the size of its balance sheet yet again over the course of a QE3 operation, while the market's expectation of future inflation steadily rises. The selling pressure on Treasuries would steadily grow, undermining the value of the Treasuries already sitting on the Fed's balance sheet. On a mark-to-market basis, the equity on the Fed's balance sheet would be negative — by several hundreds of billions of dollars. How long will it take investors to realize this dilemma is incredibly bullish for gold? At the end of these money-printing operations, central banks won't be able to sell assets and shrink money supplies gracefully — or at all. Perhaps once the global paper money system is restructured, involving some sort of gold standard, sanity will return to the Fed and other central banks. Until we see more signs of sanity, hold a core position in gold, silver, and precious metal mining stocks. These asset classes will be the prime beneficiaries of future printing. Regards, Dan Amoss, The Fed Is Officially Insane originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. ".
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| Posted: 07 Sep 2012 03:59 PM PDT For all of the silver bulls out there, a new page: Featuring coin and bullion prices based on the closing silver price AND Live prices as well!! This page complements our Today's Gold Coin Prices page which receives 30,000 or more visits per day. A useful and practical addition to the USAGOLD website, we are certain you will appreciate.
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| Guest Post: How "Crazy Survivalists" Make The World A Better Place Posted: 07 Sep 2012 03:22 PM PDT Submitted by Brandon Smith from Alt-Market How "Crazy Survivalists" Make The World A Better Place
I was recently interviewed by a journalist for a local newspaper who was developing a story on the exponential rise of the "prepper lifestyle" in America, most especially in Western Montana. Being an outsider to the Liberty Movement, she was naturally curious as to what motivated us to make what some in our culture would see as a drastic and bewildering leap away from the mainstream. She was equally fascinated with our willingness to travel great distances and make substantial sacrifices to live in regions like the American Redoubt. I will not deny, Montana has indeed become a "hotbed" of survivalism and Constitutionalism, or what the Southern Poverty Law Center would call "extremism and domestic terrorism". I lived in Pittsburgh for years while writing for Neithercorp and Alt-Market and rarely ran into like minded individuals aware of the tenuous status of our society. Within days of moving to Montana, I was being recognized by complete strangers in supermarkets excited to discuss the inner workings of Keynesian monetary corruption, precious metals investment, and Alinsky disinformation tactics. Yeah…I know…it's weird. After living for a while in the Redoubt, you begin to forget that there are still many people in this country that are utterly oblivious to the epic dangers around them, as well as painfully helpless in knowing what to do when those dangers land on their doorsteps. Speaking with the newspaper reporter, and my experiences at Paulfest in Tampa, Florida, reminded me that the world has yet to be reminded of the value of survivalism. There is still a gap, a disconnect, a psychological twitch of the masses, and it compels me to explain, yet again, what they are missing. I had thought about using parables like the ancient Greek story of Cassandra, who was given the gift of foresight and prophecy, but also stricken with a curse which prevented anyone from believing her dire warnings. Or the story of Noah, who was given an omen, a vision of catastrophe, and directed by God on how to save a remnant of life, while knowing that most of the people around him would perish. And what about Galileo, who simply tried to point out the scientific operations of the universe in which we exist, only to be ostracized by his church and government? In these modern times, however, many find it increasingly difficult to relate to mythology, bible lore, or even historical precedence. Luckily, there is always cinema… While considering this topic, as if by design, I stumbled upon the film 'Take Shelter', the story of a man who suffers from acute intuition. His vivid dreams warn him of a nightmare event, but is he a prophet, or a schizophrenic with delusions of doom? Human beings hold within them a natural mechanism, a moral dynamo that compels them to alert others to the dangers they see silhouette on the horizon. Every survivalist today has at one time or another felt the overwhelming weight of responsibility that comes with knowing; not believing, but KNOWING the future. The film 'Take Shelter' illustrates the internal and external dilemmas of the survivalist in a way that is striking, beautiful, and affirming. Prophetic dreams and spoken messages from the heavens are not necessarily required to understand the dilemmas our nation faces in the new millennium. It does not take a psychic to see the mathematical certainty of dollar devaluation and loss of world reserve status. The degradation of our civil liberties in the name of state security. The formation of unaccountable supranational bodies which are quickly encroaching upon our individual sovereignty. In fact, a person would have to be mentally blind, deaf, and dumb to NOT grasp what is happening right under their noses. Sadly, this is where a majority of the American populace lives. Even at Paulfest, a convention and congregation of what I consider some of the most awake and socially aware people on the planet, I discovered that at least half of those in attendance had a minimal sense of urgency as far as a true national crisis was concerned, clinging to the assumption that they had yet more time to stab at top down solutions and political tap dancing that continually falls short of what is necessary to restore liberty. It is difficult to retain one's composure in the face of the astounding absurdity of normalcy bias. The idea that today's comforts will continue on tomorrow and forever is a powerful one. To break such apathy requires steadfast resolve. Sometimes, only startling and terrifying events are enough to rattle the mindless masses. Sometimes, you just have to let the chips fall where they may, speak the truth to the best of your ability, and let the herd sort out the rest in their own good time, whatever there is left of it. What we see as a forgone conclusion, what we passionately fight to expose, in their minds often translates into belligerence and a frightening subversion of their joyous naivety: As we invade their perfect world with the dreadful facts of life, their subconscious reflex is to regard us as a tangible threat. The first reaction is always to laugh. Ridicule without substance is the primary defense of the ignorant. But, what if you don't go away? What if your arguments are too precise? What if there is too much clarity to your position? What if you have a whole movement of people behind you? What if you are a force to be reckoned with, and cannot be refuted or dissuaded? What if logic dictates the admission that you are right, and they are wrong? Then arises fury… It is not uncommon for the truth tellers of an era to be labeled the enemies of society. To be held as criminals, traitors, and terrorists. In fact, the establishment has in the past two decades made every effort to paint survivalists as the boogeymen of our age; unstable and unpredictable wild-men hell bent on destruction in the name of some hallucinatory ideology. Using generalizations, false associations, and outright lies, corrupt governments seek to fool the citizenry into viewing survivalists as a fringe element and a dark underbelly of their otherwise serene state sponsored existence. In contrast, I would like to point out to the non-prepper populace the advantages of having some of us "loony" survivalists around. Rarely in the mainstream are we ever presented with the utility of survival proponents, and how they actually serve the interests of the "greater good" to quote a phrase often used by drooling collectivists and statists who desperately try to defame the prepper subculture… Survivalists have their own stuff, which means, they will likely not feel compelled to take your stuff, if, that is, you have any stuff worth having. In the midst of a calamity, being surrounded by preppers is one of the best insurance policies a person could acquire. Think about it; would you rather have me as a neighbor, with my guns, ammo, food supply, off-grid solar power and water, and anti-establishment angst, or, would you rather have some superficial sickly fake friendly suburban yuppie with a Mercedes, an overpriced boat, a $100,000-plus debt obligation, a repressed inferiority complex, a vicious department store-addicted trophy wife, three spoiled crusty children with a vocabulary of 80 words or less, and an empty pantry? In a crisis, who is the real threat? Come on! Advantage #2: Survivalists Keep To Themselves – Your Business Is Your Own Have you ever lived in the metro areas of California, New York, or Illinois? Ever notice how disgustingly nosy many people tend to become in the more socialist minded regions of America? Neighborhood administrations that cite you for tall grass. Permits on top of permits. Sneers when you smoke a cigarette, even outdoors. Environmental restrictions bordering on the insane. City governments telling you what you are allowed to eat and drink and how much. It's so enraging it makes you want to wrench someone's head off their neck and squeeze their skull like an oversized pimple. Survivalists respect privacy. Grow a garden on your front lawn. Smoke your cigarettes (or whatever). Drink your damned 2 liter mega-gulp. Let your kids play with the water hose for hours, or open a lemonade stand. Don't worry; the authorities will never be told, because we don't care. We have far more important things to worry about. Advantage #3: Survivalists Are Handy Ever have that one friend, or neighbor, or family member who just seems to have all the right answers when it comes to gardening, or solar power, or repairing that hunting rifle? Who knows all the best camping and fishing spots? Who always seems to be willing to go out of his way to help you set up a good emergency kit in case of that next hurricane, flood, tornado, earthquake, etc? You may very well be working with a survivalist and not even know it. Let me put it this way: who is more likely to return your environment to a livable state? Groups of survivalists with the know-how and the desire because they actually LIVE in the region? Or, a faceless government bureaucracy like FEMA with no meaningful ties to the community in which you live? Show me a survivalist that doesn't grill like an artist. I defy you! Advantage #6: Survivalists Stand Their Ground When It Counts If you ever need someone to back you up in a terrible situation, you can't do much better than a survivalist. They are used to adversity. In fact, many of us deliberately put ourselves through strenuous training environments in order to learn where we will falter. We make a point to uncover our own weaknesses and improve upon them. Our current comfort obsessed society is almost devoid of this characteristic. Finding a single person who will not let you down is a gift. Finding an entire movement of such people is a miracle. Don't let it go to waste… Advantage #7: Survivalists Are Time Capsules For Liberty Every culture needs watchmen. Not government paid watchmen who seek out power, but citizen volunteers who shun power. Without such watchmen, fundamental principles can be lost or destroyed, and the people of a nation are apt to forget where they came from, and what made them successful in the first place. Though the masses have a tendency to be lured away from the legacy of freedom which once served them towards the twisted ideologies of tyrants and collectivists, in the long run they always return, seeking the almost forgotten abundances of liberty. When the people go searching for freedom once again, the survivalists, the enduring watchmen, will be waiting to greet them. Advantage #8: Survivalists Are Not Afraid To Remind Society Of Its Mistakes It is easy to be apathetic to the criminality of government. It is easy to cocoon one's self inside his own little life, within the minor dramas of his family and of his job. It is easy to turn away from the big picture and hope that the monsters of the world sort themselves out, or overlook us entirely. Unfortunately, this is not how human history has ever been resolved. The worst problems never disappear on their own. Survivalists understand this and are willing to take personal risks in order to uncover the nature of the beast for anyone willing to listen. They understand that their best chance of survival is to preempt a disaster before it ever occurs. The value of this to the longevity of our species cannot be calculated. Without those who can overcome the fears created by conformity, mankind is lost. Our very future depends upon the principles of survivalism, which teaches us to embrace our individuality, love the individualism within others, stand unyielding in the face of oppression, and fight to our dying breath to see that the best in all of us is one day fully realized.
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| Worse Off in a “Better Than” Economy Posted: 07 Sep 2012 02:57 PM PDT "Easy credit also engenders a systematic redistribution of social wealth in favor of…the central bank, and the commercial banks within [its] cartel." — Hans-Hermann Hoppe, author of the new book, The Great Fiction —————————————————— Yesterday we examined Bernanke's dishonesty; today we'll examine his insanity. If the definition of "insanity" is, as Albert Einstein asserted, "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is insane. And if he is insane, he deserves our pity, rather than our scorn. Therefore, your editors here at The Daily Reckoning pity the Federal Reserve Chairman…poor ol' "Crazy Ben." They also pity the rest of the folks on the Federal Open Market Committee who repeatedly endorse Crazy Ben's failing tactics. After several years of pursuing "nontraditional policy tools," as Chairman Bernanke described them in his speech last week at Jackson Hole, the US economy continues to exhibit a nontraditional lethargy. Nevertheless, Crazy Ben credits his non-traditional — we call them "wacky" — tools for making the economy stronger than it would otherwise have been. And if the economy doesn't improve soon, Ben promises to do more of what hasn't worked. In simple English, Bernanke's non-traditional policy tools consist of manipulating and/or "communicating" his intention to do so. [Other tools include clandestine market manipulations that do not make their way into the minutes of FOMC meetings or the transcript of Jackson Hole addresses]. "Now, with several years of experience with nontraditional policies both in the United States and in other advanced economies," the Chairman explained last week at Jackson Hole, "we know more about how such policies work. It seems clear, based on this experience, that such policies can be effective, and that, in their absence, the 2007-09 recession would have been deeper and the current recovery would have been slower than has actually occurred…" The Chairman even goes so far as to put hard numbers on the "better than" economy he claims to have produced. "Model simulations conducted at the Federal Reserve generally find that the [Fed's] securities purchase programs have provided significant help for the economy," Bernanke asserted. "For example, a study using the Board's FRB/US model of the economy found that, as of 2012, the first two rounds of LSAPs [large-scale asset purchases] may have raised the level of output by almost 3 percent and increased private payroll employment by more than 2 million jobs, relative to what otherwise would have occurred." (Hmmm…that's interesting because model simulations here at The Daily Reckoning found that the Fed's activities during the crisis raised the earnings of Goldman Sachs by infinity percent, while also increasing the compensation of Goldman's CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, by more than $200 million.) So there you have it; the US economy is better by three percentage points of growth and by 2 million jobs, thanks to the fact that Bernanke printed $2 trillion and used the funds to purchase distressed bonds from Wall Street banks. Even if we were to accept Bernanke's guesses as Gospel, the results would be pathetic. In round numbers, Bernanke printed up dollars equivalent to about 15% of GDP and, therefore, enabled the nation's GDP to grow by 3%. That's called a "bad trade." Here's a "model simulation" to consider: What would have happened to the economy if Bernanke had taken those $2 trillion he printed up and mailed the money to every household in America, instead of funneling it to Wall Street banks? Under this simulation, each American household would have received a check for about $17,507. Just maybe, a $17,500 windfall per household would have produced something better than a 3% bounce in GDP. But that's not what happened. Instead, the Chairman squandered all that cash buying the distressed bonds the Wall Street banks couldn't sell to anyone else. This "policy tool" was not capricious, mind you. Bernanke explained that his non-traditional tools were all "guided by general principals and some insightful academic work." Still not convinced? Let's take a look at the "better than" economy Ben Bernanke has produced and see what it looks like… 1) On average, every cohort of working-age Americans is worse off today than it was in 2009, which is roughly when Bernanke began firing up his non-traditional policy tools. Median incomes are down in every age group from 25 to 64. Even so, Bernanke says working-age Americans are better off than they would have been.
2) The nation's (official) unemployment rate can't seem to break below 8%. Further, the total number of employed Americans today is still below what it was at the end of 2008, even though the size of the American workforce has continued to grow during that timeframe. Even Bernanke admits that the nation's employment growth is "far from satisfactory." Nevertheless, the Chairman says the unemployment rate would have been even worse without the help he provided. 3) Over in the manufacturing sector, the ISM Index of manufacturing activity in the US has been slumping for 19 months, and has achieved zero net improvement during the last four years. The Chairman says that's a better result than what would have been. 4) Many of America's leading companies are reporting poor profitability…and forecasting more of the same. McDonald's recently announced its worst quarterly sales in two years. Priceline, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble all announced similarly downbeat results. "Bad news to be sure," Bernanke would probably say, "but be happy you didn't see what would have happened." Maybe so. But who's to say what's "better than"? As the Chairman himself admits, "While there is substantial evidence that the Federal Reserve's asset purchases have lowered longer-term yields and eased broader financial conditions, obtaining precise estimates of the effects of these operations on the broader economy is inherently difficult, as the counterfactual — how the economy would have performed in the absence of the Federal Reserve's actions — cannot be directly observed." In other words, unborn statistics tell no tales. The only thing we know for certain is that the Fed's balance sheet is MUCH larger than it would otherwise have been…and that the economy is still stuck in neutral.
As the nearby chart illustrates, the Federal Reserve's balance sheet has more than tripled during the last four years. And yet, during that identical timeframe, the ISM Manufacturing Index has achieved zero net growth. Intriguingly, despite the Fed's multi-trillion-dollar hyperactivity and market manipulations, US manufacturing activity is not performing any better than manufacturing activity in Europe and China. In fact, all three are tracking each other very closely. So just maybe, the economy would be much better off today if the Chairmen had spent the last four years playing golf, instead of overtly and covertly manipulating the financial markets. Just maybe the time has come to draft a simple "Thank you" note to the Chairman. Dear Ben, Thanks so much for all your help. But you can take a break now. Really, it's okay. Sincerely, Impoverished Masses Unfortunately, Crazy Ben has no intention of taking a vacation. To the contrary, he continuously promises to do more of the same stuff that may or may not be helpful or harmful. As only the Chairman could put it, "[B]oth the benefits and costs of nontraditional monetary policies are uncertain; in all likelihood, they will also vary over time…[Therefore], taking due account of the uncertainties and limits of its policy tools, the Federal Reserve will provide additional policy accommodation as needed to promote a stronger economic recovery and sustained improvement in labor market conditions in a context of price stability." In other words, "We have no idea if what we are doing is helpful or harmful, but we promise to do more of it if conditions worsen." If this is the cure, should we try the disease for a while? Eric Fry Worse Off in a "Better Than" Economy originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. ".
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| Posted: 07 Sep 2012 02:54 PM PDT September 7, 2012 [LIST] [*]Working stiffs, business owners, savers, investors: How everyone stands to be punished when Congress sends us over the "fiscal cliff" at year's end [*]Freaky Friday: The 5 follows the breadcrumbs, from a rotten jobs report to a dollar chart that says, "Look out below"... [*]"A hot topic in the next 24 months": Steve Forbes on the gold standard [*]It's good to be a banksta: Law enforcement looks the other way at trashing of property... McDonald's most-daring attempt at "brand extension" ever... a reader who wants Ben Bernanke's email address... and more! [/LIST] "The federal tax system is about to start robbing graves again," warns Byron King, referring to what he dubs the "Countdown to Taxmageddon" Yesterday, we had Byron over to explain what we have to (not) look forward to come New Year's Day. Today, he's back and ready to discuss what this means for you... and what you can do about it before it's too late....
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| Fed To Ease As Fears Continue To Propel Gold & Silver Surge Posted: 07 Sep 2012 02:42 PM PDT  Today acclaimed money manager Stephen Leeb told King World News, "Right now you are seeing fear ... This is why you are getting this kind of surge in the gold and silver markets because investors are realizing that policymakers are in trouble." Leeb also reiterated what he predicted in his last KWN interview, which is that the Fed will ease at its September meeting. It is now looking like he was correct on that prediction. Here is what Leeb had to say: "Today a rally in gold and silver was sparked when the US reported terrible jobs numbers, and no gains in wages. But we've seen lots of gains in energy prices lately, and this move in gold comes on top of a great deal of stimulus. Europe, this week, announced unlimited bond purchases, whatever that means. We do know that means they are going to be buying a lot of bonds."
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| Posted: 07 Sep 2012 02:39 PM PDT After weathering a long consolidation followed by a major correction, gold stocks remain deeply out of favor today. But this bearish sentiment is slowly yielding as gold powers higher in its usual autumn rally. Gold stocks are starting to show signs of life again. And after their strong advance since late July, they are now on the verge of a major upside breakout. Odds are this event will herald a major new upleg.
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| Gold Seeker Weekly Wrap-Up: Gold and Silver Gain 3% and 6% on the Week Posted: 07 Sep 2012 02:24 PM PDT Gold dropped $11.30 to $1689.00 in Asia, but it then jumped to as high as $1740.98 in New York and ended with a gain of 2.13%. Silver soared to as high as $33.707 and ended with a gain of 3.09%.
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| Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Another Turn in the Downward Spiral Posted: 07 Sep 2012 02:22 PM PDT |
| Update On $80 Million in Seized Gold Coins: Judge Rules They “Belong to the U.S. Government” Posted: 07 Sep 2012 01:54 PM PDT  Given that tens of millions of Americans cheered in blissful agreement when a Democratic National Convention promotional video claimed that the only thing we all belong to is the government, it would make perfect sense that everything else belongs to the government as well.Case in point: In July of 2011 a jeweler's heirs found ten double eagle $20 gold coins in a family safe that dated back to the Roosevelt administration. They then sent the coins to be authenticated and appraised by the Philadelphia Mint. The coins come from a batch that were struck but melted down after President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the country off the gold standard in 1933. Two were preserved for the Smithsonian Institute. But a handful more mysteriously got out. Because the coins had never been released into circulation and were struck after Roosevelt's gold confiscation executive order #6102 in April of 1933, the Treasury Department assumed they had originally been stolen from the mint. Without any evidence or consideration given to statute of limitations, the government seized the coins – valued at $80 million. The family sued in federal court and a judge has finally handed down a ruling. A judge ruled that 10 rare gold coins worth $80 million belonged to the U.S. government, not a family that had sued the U.S. Treasury, saying it had illegally seized them. Read more...... 
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| COT Gold, Silver and US Dollar Index Report - September 7, 2012 Posted: 07 Sep 2012 01:33 PM PDT COT Gold, Silver and US Dollar Index Report - September 7, 2012
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| Posted: 07 Sep 2012 01:10 PM PDT After weathering a long consolidation followed by a major correction, gold stocks remain deeply out of favor today. But this bearish sentiment is slowly yielding as gold powers higher in its usual autumn rally.
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| Posted: 07 Sep 2012 01:04 PM PDT Funny, I didn't hear about this during either campaign; tent cities. They're everywhere, but don't fit into the talking points and platform of either candidate. Seems the 2.7 million people in the last bullshit BLS jobs report that "left the workforce", the ones that didn't sign up for the gold standard of entitlement programs (disability), [...]
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| Posted: 07 Sep 2012 01:00 PM PDT I buy every month, and I will never, ever sell it as long as people such as Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Obama, Biden, Bernanke, and Geithner are in government. I will never sell it. Never. - Marc Faber, Swiss Investor, King World NewsI couldn't let the monthly Non-Farm Payroll Report go by without shooting it down, however an easy target it may be. It's easier than shooting fish in a barrel, really. At first blush on the headlines, in which the supposed number of jobs gained, 96k, badly missed the consensus expectation by 29k, I was shocked that Obama would let the BLS release a number that was that bad on the heels of his big teleprompter reading last night. But then the unemployment rate crossed that tape at 8.1% vs. 8.3% last month and 8.3% expected. It then occurred to me that it was a perfect number for Obama. Perfect because the supposed jobs "growth" is slow enough to justify a lot more economic stimulus - at least from a political standpoint, certainly not from a law of economics standpoint - and the supposed decline in unemployment rate is the perfect marketing device for Obama. Now, we know there's no such thing as a free lunch, but our Ministry of Truth (Bureau of Labor Statistics) has written a free lunch script that will be heartily consumed by many. It so closely follows the Orwellian script, laid out by George (Eric A. Blair) in the late 1940's, that it's frightening how prophetically accurate his vision was. Let me shed some truth on the numbers, at least on the statistical vomit thrown at us by the Obama Team. I say this because the data sampling and mathematical calculations used to produce the report are largely accepted as being wildly inaccurate by most who have studied them with an eye for truth and accuracy rather than the goal of public perception management. The headline number was 96k jobs added in August. Supposedly 103k private sector jobs were added vs. 142k expected. Of that, 87k came from the nefariously fraudulent "birth/death" model. The durable goods manufacturing sector actually lost 17k jobs. The number of people employed in residential construction jobs is down 20k from August 2011. Do you really believe the reports that the housing market has bottomed? Really? The unemployment rate supposedly dropped to 8.1% from 8.3%. But remember, this number is calculated using the Government's very narrow definition of "those looking for a job" divided by the total workforce. If you can make the numerator decrease relative to the size of the denominator, or vice versa, you can statistically engineer a lower unemployment rate. Follow that? Here's how Team Obama engineered a lower unemployment rate: They claim that the civilian employment workforce (the denominator) declined in size by .2%; however, they decided that the number of unemployed declined by 2%. Voila! A smaller numerator relative to the change in size of the denominator! All of the hypothetical action in the employment numbers can be found here: LINK The saddest part of this is that the casualty in these calculations - a casualty of which zero reporting is done by the mainstream media - is the labor force participation rate, which is the number of people working or want work as a percent of the definitional workforce. This metric declined to 63.5% - the portrait of a tragic and catastrophic decline in the number of people who actually work in this country. Where do the rest go? Well, in the context of all the entitlement programs run by the Government and financed by the Taxpayers, the Chinese and the Japanese, 165 million people in this country are to some degree dependent on Government handouts to make ends meet: LINK Last month under Obama's stewardship, food stamp usage spiked up to a new record: LINK Did Barack happen to mention that metric in his full-of-bullshit speech last night? I've discussed the Social Security disability program on this blog. The number of people, and especially younger people, claiming disability and sponging off this program has climbed significantly under Obama. I'm dead serious about this, about all you have to do is claim chronic head-aches that prevent you from working and you can qualify. And I know a doctor who tells me new medicaid horror stories every time I see him. Did Obama happen to mention that? Finally, this one really blew my mind: the Government announced recently that it will be giving $100 million to States in order to prevent State Governments from laying off employees: LINK Ummm, did Obama happen to mention that? Talk about getting paid not to work...I guess these facts didn't scroll across his teleprompter. The reason Obama has ramped up the entitlement programs and Student Loan lending is that any new recipient of something like social security disability or a SLMA guaranteed student loan immediately gets dropped from the Labor Force metric. The amount of SLMA loans has soared to $1 trillion during the last 4 years. This will be more defaulted debt guaranteed by the Government. These programs enable the Government to somewhat justify showing a smaller number of unemployed and a lower unemployment rate. The rest is statistical fairy tales told with a very Orwellian spin. Even the Government's own U-6 report, buried in the BLS report, admits to a more realistic unemployment number of 14.7% Newspapers and cable news shows will not report this number. Given the bulge in the various entitlement program participation, I would bet the true unemployment number is north of 20%. As many know, John Williams (Shadow Statistics), calculates an alternative unemployment number which is north of 20%. Have a great weekend, it's the start of NFL football!!!! GO BRONCOS!  
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| Sprott Physical Gold Trust *PHYS* Prices At 14.84 - PHYS YTD Performance Posted: 07 Sep 2012 12:37 PM PDT |
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