Gold World News Flash |
- Gold – A Brief Technical Update
- Chart: Federal Income Security Spending Since 1950 – YouTube
- Gold Market “Lacks Direction and Commitment”, Asian Physical Demand “Quiet” Ahead of Chinese New Year
- Watch The Financial Markets In Europe Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind!
- UK’s banking reforms let criminal bankers off (08Feb13) – YouTube
- Spend Your Bernanke Bux Now on PHYSICAL Gold & Silver! Here?s Why!
- New Junior Silver Miners/Explorers ETF Hanging Tough ? Check It Out
- King World News responds to attack on its Internet site
- Gold heads for 2nd weekly rise, PGMs off 17-month peak | Reuters
- More people bailing out of Facebook; is a FB collapse imminent?
- Poetry With A Punch You Can Use
- Russian Policy Study Group Notes GATA's Exposure of Gold Price Suppression
- The Spark That Ignites A Hyperbolic Rise In Silver And Gold
- Precious Metals Market Report with Franklin Sanders – February 14
- YOUR MASTER AT WORK
- New Junior Silver Miners/Explorers ETF Hanging Tough – Check It Out
- Jim's Mailbox
- Clint Eastwood Slams Congress On Debt Deadline – YouTube
- Markets Eager to Push Higher on Fresh Eurozone Hopes – YouTube
- High Yield Not Bubbling Over – YouTube
- Guest Post: The U.S. Economy Is Now Dangerously Detached From Reality
- The Fed's Bailout Of Europe Continues With Record $237 Billion Injected Into Foreign Banks In Past Month
- Spend Your Bernanke Bux Now on PHYSICAL Gold & Silver! Here's Why!
- A Quick Way To Buy The Silver Juniors
- This Past Week in Gold
- Gold And Silver - Buy! $1600 And $28 Targets?
- When Your Entire System is Backed Only By Credibility, Corruption Scandals Can Bring the Whole System Down
- Don’t Buy This Stock Market. It Isn’t Worth the Risk. Here's Why
- South America Goes Critical: Now Chavez Devalues Currency: “This May Well Be the Lighting of the Proverbial Fuse… Everywhere.”
- The Prepper Filter – 11 Questions That Will Help You Be A Better Prepper
- Watch: Greeks Fight For Food: “I Never Imagined That I Would End Up Here”
- WHY OBAMA SINGLED OUT S&P FOR RETRIBUTION
- John Williams: How to Survive the Illusion of Economic Recovery
- Authentic Market Trends and Investor Opportunities
- Gold And Silver Are A Buy! $1600 and $28 Targets?
- Nothing At All, Then All at Once
| Gold – A Brief Technical Update Posted: 09 Feb 2013 11:30 PM PST by Pater Tenebrarum, Acting-Man.com:
Something interesting is happening in gold lately – namely, the action in it has become totally uninteresting. Daily trading ranges are becoming ever smaller, as the price is pinched between the declining 50 day moving average and the flat 200 day moving average. In the process, another small triangle has been built, so to speak a triangle within the triangle. Below is a weekly chart that shows the big 18 month long triangular consolidation with the most important lateral support and resistance levels drawn in, followed by a daily chart that shows the smaller triangle. Gold in USD terms, weekly. As can be seen, the price movements over the past seven weeks have been extremely small. On the weekly chart neither MACD nor RSI are giving us a buy signal yet, but they could do so at any moment – click for better resolution. |
| Chart: Federal Income Security Spending Since 1950 – YouTube Posted: 09 Feb 2013 11:13 PM PST Check our website daily at... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.figanews.com for full Content ]]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2013 11:09 PM PST Check our website daily at... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.figanews.com for full Content ]]  |
| Watch The Financial Markets In Europe Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind! Posted: 09 Feb 2013 10:50 PM PST Check our website daily at... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.figanews.com for full Content ]]  |
| UK’s banking reforms let criminal bankers off (08Feb13) – YouTube Posted: 09 Feb 2013 10:47 PM PST Check our website daily at... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.figanews.com for full Content ]]  |
| Spend Your Bernanke Bux Now on PHYSICAL Gold & Silver! Here?s Why! Posted: 09 Feb 2013 09:59 PM PST "Follow the munKNEE" via twitter & Facebook or Register to receive our daily Intelligence Report If Venezuela were any guide, we would have to say “Buy gold and silver, right here, right now!”…For those of you who hold Bernanke Bux, aka fiat paper, pay close attention. Those Venezuelan citizens who held paper Bolivars took a 46% hit on their purchasing power. Those citizens there who held gold and silver saw an equivalent 46% jump in their holdings.* If you think it cannot happen here, you are wrong.* It already has. Words: 295 So writes Michael Noonan ([url]http://edgetraderplus.com[/url]) in edited excerpts from his original article* entitled Gold And Silver – Buy!** $1600 And $28* Targets?. [INDENT]This article is presented compliments of [B]www.FinancialArticleSummariesToday.com (A site for sore eyes and inquisitive minds) and [COLOR=#ff0000]www.munKNEE.com [/COLOR](Your Key to Making Money!) and may have been edited ([ ]), abridged (…) and/or reformatted (some... |
| New Junior Silver Miners/Explorers ETF Hanging Tough ? Check It Out Posted: 09 Feb 2013 09:59 PM PST *"Follow the [COLOR=#0000ff][U]munKNEE"[/U][/COLOR] via twitter & Facebook or Register to receive our daily Intelligence Report As with most small cap sectors, someone approaching silver juniors faces a lack of good information and massive company-specific risk that cries out for either months of in-depth research or immediate diversification….Madison NJ Pure Funds hopes to solve that problem by offering instant exposure to 26*names with the introduction of their PureFunds ISE Junior Silver Small Cap Miners Explorers ETF (SILJ). Words: 290; Table: 1 [INDENT]This article is presented compliments of [B]www.FinancialArticleSummariesToday.com (A site for sore eyes and inquisitive minds) and [COLOR=#ff0000]www.munKNEE.com [/COLOR](Your Key to Making Money!) and may have been edited ([ ]), abridged (…) and/or reformatted (some sub-titles and bold/italics emphases) for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure a fast and easy read. Please note that this paragraph must be included in a... |
| King World News responds to attack on its Internet site Posted: 09 Feb 2013 09:49 PM PST 11:44p ET Saturday, February 9, 2013 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: GATA tonight received a statement from King World News proprietor Eric King about a recent attack on his network's Internet site. As King World News distributes crucial news and commentary about the monetary metals markets to which GATA calls attention, King's statement is appended. CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer * * * STATEMENT BY ERIC KING http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/King_World_News.html Saturday, February 9, 2013 Powerful entities do not want our global audience to have access to the material that King World News provides. Each time KWN releases an interview from certain key sources, our Internet site is attacked. This is the war that King World News has been fighting behind the scenes on the Internet. At this time I have decided to break my silence on this subject because of concerns that the latest events could be part of a much broader effort to suppress content on the Internet. The Internet must remain a place for free speech and free inquiry. Let's hope it stays that way. KWN is protected by the top company in the world in this area and they now have us online with no malware and no problems. If you have been to the KWN Internet site in the past 48 hours, please erase the cookies and cache in your Internet browser and start fresh. We have incredible interviews with Eric Sprott and Art Cashin on King World News this weekend. From all of us at King World News we would like to thank our readers and listeners for their patience, and the many Internet sites around the world that reached out to assist KWN. With your help we fight on. ADVERTISEMENT How to profit in the new year with silver -- Future Money Trends is offering a special 16-page silver report with our forecast for 2013 that includes profiles of nine companies and technical analysis of their stock performance. Six of the companies have market capitalizations of less than $800 million and one company has a market cap of only $30 million. The most exciting of these companies will begin production in a few weeks and has a market cap of just $150 million. Half of all proceeds from the sale of this report will be donated to the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee to support its efforts exposing manipulation and fraud in the gold and silver markets. To learn about this report, please visit: http://www.futuremoneytrends.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=376&tmp... Join GATA here: California Resource 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 GoldMoney adds Singapore vaulting option In addition to its precious metals storage facilities in Hong Kong, Switzerland, Toronto, and the United Kingdom, now with GoldMoney you can store gold and silver in Singapore in a high-security vault operated by Brink's Singapore Pte Limited. To find out more about the new vault, please visit: http://www.goldmoney.com/singapore?gmrefcode=gata GoldMoney customers can take delivery of any number of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bars from any GoldMoney vault, as well as personally collect their bars stored in the Hong Kong, Switzerland, and U.K. vaults. It's easy to open an account, add funds, and liquidate your investment. For more information, visit: http://www.goldmoney.com/?gmrefcode=gata |
| Gold heads for 2nd weekly rise, PGMs off 17-month peak | Reuters Posted: 09 Feb 2013 08:45 PM PST Check our website daily at... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.figanews.com for full Content ]]  |
| More people bailing out of Facebook; is a FB collapse imminent? Posted: 09 Feb 2013 08:30 PM PST by PF Louis, Natural News:
Facemash was initially for Harvard students. It's name soon morphed into TheFacebook. Mark inspired technical help and financing from three other Harvard students who eventually sued him after TheFacebook became simply Facebook and went well beyond Harvard's campus with investors' money attached. Zuckerberg settled with those other three students. Everyone made money, especially Mark. As Facebook's popularity grew, other dot-com groups and individuals started buying shares at high prices, raising Facebook's value. Then Mark started selling shares of Facebook publicly in 2012. |
| Poetry With A Punch You Can Use Posted: 09 Feb 2013 08:06 PM PST by Richard Daughty, MogamboGuru.Blogspot.ca:
I am thinking of becoming a famous and influential poet. To establish my impressive credentials, here, for your pleasure, is my first poem: Roses are red, Well, I am sure that you, like poetry lovers everywhere, instantly recognize this as the absolutely best poem ever written in English, as it is the only poem that tells you how to get stinking rich by doing nothing except, as the poem makes abundantly clear, buying gold and silver to capitalize on the suicidal idiocy of the Federal Reserve creating so much currency and credit to fund the insane deficit-spending of the corrupt Congress that must, by mathematical necessity, bankrupt the whole country and cause ruinous inflation in prices, which is more precisely defined by us professional economists as The Big Crapola (TBC). |
| Russian Policy Study Group Notes GATA's Exposure of Gold Price Suppression Posted: 09 Feb 2013 07:30 PM PST by Ed Steer, Casey Research:
The gold price did nothing yesterday…and the tiny rally that developed in New York trading after the London p.m. gold fix in, wasn't allowed to amount to much…and got sold off during the following few hours, before trading sideways into the close. Gold finished the Friday session at $1,667.20 spot…down $3.80 on the day. Volume was very light…around 94,000 contracts. The silver price was more 'volatile'…but traded in exactly the same pattern as gold…with the price spike after the London p.m. gold fix being treated even more harshly than the sell-off that accompanied gold's rally at the same time. From there, silver traded sideways into the close. |
| The Spark That Ignites A Hyperbolic Rise In Silver And Gold Posted: 09 Feb 2013 06:30 PM PST by Patrick MontesDeOca , SilverBearCafe.com:
Several major fundamental factors are developing that could send precious metal prices soaring. Free Money, Inflation and the Increasing Cost of Debt The Federal Reserve sets short term rates and prints "free" money (since it is not backed by gold, silver or any other inherently valuable commodity) and purchases bonds to infuse cash into the economy. |
| Precious Metals Market Report with Franklin Sanders – February 14 Posted: 09 Feb 2013 06:00 PM PST "If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever." ~ Thomas Aquinas By Catherine Austin Fitts This Thursday, I will be joining you with Franklin Sanders at his farm Tennessee. Franklin will review the silver and gold markets. We will also discuss the explosive [...] |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2013 04:48 PM PST If you think the banksters aren't working behind the scenes to keep the world's economy afloat, think again. If you think the banksters aren't just about at the end of their rope, and all the plates they've been spinning aren't about to crash, think again. If you think banksters have your best interests at heart, and your economic stability in mind, think again. A very illuminating article about what Ben Bernanke has been doing with a vast quantity of cash lately: propping up banks in Europe. If the insolvent European banking system goes down, then the world's economy goes down. Bernanke is sticking his fingers in the dyke in a big way. Truly amazing in amount and scope ($237 billion in the past month alone). Regardless of the futile attempts to continue to prop up insolvent banks (and governments), this will come crashing down on their heads. Whether it's currency or interest rate manipulation/devaluation, propping up exports, or simply giving I.V. cash to other banksters, there seems to be no limit to what our star central bankster won't do. Ah, I'm gonna miss Ron Paul. The Fed's Bailout Of Europe Continues With Record $237 Billion Injected Into Foreign Banks In Past Month Last weekend Zero Hedge once again broke the news that just like back in June 2011, when as part of the launch of QE2 we demonstrated that all the incremental cash resulting form the $600 billion surge in the Fed's excess reserves, had gone not to domestically-chartered US banks, but to subsidiaries of foreign banks operating on US soil. To be sure, various other secondary outlets picked up on the story without proper attribution, most notably the WSJ, which cited a Stone McCarthy report adding the caveat that "interpreting the data released by the Federal Reserve is a bit challenging" and also adding the usual incorrect attempts at interpretation for why this is happening. To the contrary: interpreting the data is quite simple, which is why we made an explicit prediction: 'We urge readers to check the weekly status of the H.8 when it comes out every Friday night, and specifically line item 25 on page 18, as we have a sinking feeling that as the Fed creates $85 billion in reserves every month… it will do just one thing: hand the cash right over straight to still hopelessly insolvent European banks." So with Friday having come and gone, we did just the check we suggested. As the chart below shows, we were right.
Another way of showing what has happened: in the past 4 weeks, the Fed has injected a record $237 billion of cash into foreign banks with access to the Fed's excess reserves: a number greater than both the cash influx surge seen after the Lehman collapse, and faster and more acute than the massive build up of cash during the spring and summer of 2011 when all the Fed's brand new QE2 cash was once again, solely used to overfund European bank cash.
Another way of showing precisely what we said would happen, and what is happening: in the past month, as $237 billion in cash was being handed over by Ben Bernanke to foreign banks, cash to both small and large domestically-chartered banks declined.
The result is that of the record $1.8 trillion in cash sloshing within the US financial system (consisting of US and foreign banks), a record $955 billion, or 52.6% of total is now allocated to foreign banks.
Do we know that the cash in the US financial system is purely a result of the latest open-ended QE? Yes we do, because as the chart below shows, every dollar change in excess reserves created by the Fed is tracked tick by tick by the total amount of cash held by US and foreign banks. And as the yellow area – foreign bank cash – in chart further shows, all the cash generated by QEternity has gone straight to foreign banks.
Another way of showing this correlation: the change in excess reserves vs just the change in cash assets held by foreign banks. There is no doubt on which banks' balance sheets the Fed's "excess reserves" are appearing as cash.
Finally, as a reminder there was a second part in our forecast as to what these European banks will do with this fresh prop-trade funding cash courtesy of Bernanke – they will "push the EURUSD higher, until, as in the summer of 2011 it goes far too high, crushes German, and any other net European exports, and precipitates yet another wholesale bailout of Europe by the global central bankers. Just as the Fed did in 2011." Sure enough, it required the intervention of none other than Mario Draghi last Thursday to stop the massive, sharp ascent in the EUR in the past two months, which as we showed in the morning before the ECB's announcement on Thursday, had resulted the EUR surge by over 10% on trade-weighted terms. The reason for this intervention: to prevent the collapse of what little is left of Europe's export economy. However, unlike previously, now that Japan is also actively crushing its own currency to promote its exports over those from Germany and France, things will be just a little bit more acute as everyone scramble to be the exporter of only resort to what little import demand remains in a world where everyone is desperate to grow their trade balance through currency manipulation. So whether European banks will continue buying the EURUSD, or redirect their Fed-cash into purchasing the ES outright, or invest in other even riskier assets, remains unknown. What is, however, known beyond a reasonable doubt is that at least through this point, the sole beneficiary of the Fed's open-ended quantitative easing which launched in September of 2012, and which was supposed to help lower US unemployment and raise inflation (it will certainly succeed in that eventually, and what a smashing success it will be), are once again solely foreign – read almost exclusively European – banks. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-09/feds-bailout-europe-continues-record-237-billion-injected-foreign-banks-past-month
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| New Junior Silver Miners/Explorers ETF Hanging Tough – Check It Out Posted: 09 Feb 2013 04:11 PM PST "Follow the munKNEE" via twitter & Facebook or Register to receive our daily Intelligence Report As with most small cap sectors, someone approaching silver juniors
So writes John Rubino (www.dollarcollapse.com) in edited excerpts from his original article* entitled A Quick Way To Buy The Silver Juniors. Rubino goes on to say in further edited excerpts: The Junior Silver Miners ETF (SILJ) top ten holdings are a mix of familiar and unfamiliar names, almost all of which are closer to their 12-month lows than highs:
One of the downsides of introducing an ETF in an out-of-favor sector is that it won't have much initial trading volume [an average of 600/day over the past month on the 9 days it did trade] and, as such, SILJ is not an ETF to…buy "at the market," since "the market" might be 30% higher than the next trade. Instead, choose a reasonable price and put in a good-until-cancelled bid — and then watch it to make sure nothing crazy happens in the meantime. [Since its launch on November 29th, 2012 at $20.36 SILJ (CUSIP#: 30304R308)has fared quite well in the face of a volatile silver market down just 1.5%. By comparison, Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PHS.U) is down 7.2% and iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV) is down 8.1%. Incidentally, in the gold dominated sector BMO Junior Gold Index ETF (ZJG) is down 12.8%, Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) is down 12.2% and Global X Pure Gold Miners ETF (GGGG) is down 10.7%.] Don't expect results right away as trends have a habit of continuing, so the silver miners could easily have another crappy year. [That being said,]…at some point both silver and its derivatives (including mining shares) will start moving in the right direction….
* http://dollarcollapse.com/silver/a-quick-way-to-buy-the-junior-silver-miners/
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| Clint Eastwood Slams Congress On Debt Deadline – YouTube Posted: 09 Feb 2013 02:37 PM PST Check our website daily at... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.figanews.com for full Content ]]  |
| Markets Eager to Push Higher on Fresh Eurozone Hopes – YouTube Posted: 09 Feb 2013 02:35 PM PST Check our website daily at... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.figanews.com for full Content ]]  |
| High Yield Not Bubbling Over – YouTube Posted: 09 Feb 2013 02:02 PM PST Check our website daily at... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.figanews.com for full Content ]]  |
| Guest Post: The U.S. Economy Is Now Dangerously Detached From Reality Posted: 09 Feb 2013 01:45 PM PST Submitted by Brandon Smith from Alt-Market The U.S. Economy Is Now Dangerously Detached From Reality
Recently I was asked to give a presentation on the current state of the global economy to a local group of concerned citizens here in Northwest Montana. I was happy to oblige but when composing my bullet points I realized that, in truth, there were no legitimate economic numbers to examine anymore. You see, financial analysts have traditionally used multiple indicators of employment, profit, savings, credit, supply, and demand in their efforts to divine the often obscured facts of our financial system. The problem is, nearly every index we used in the past, every measure of capital flow and industry, is absolutely useless today. We now live in an entirely fabricated fiscal environment. Every aspect of it is filtered, muddled, molded, and manipulated before our eyes ever get to study the stats. The metaphor may be overused, but our economic system has become an absolute "matrix". All that we see and hear has been homogenized and all truth has been sterilized away. There is nothing to investigate anymore. It is like awaking in the middle of a vast and hallucinatory live action theater production, complete with performers, props, and sound effects, all designed to confuse us and do us harm. In the end, trying to make sense of the illusion is a waste of time. All we can do is look for the exits… There is some tangible reality out there, but it is difficult to find, and there are few if any mainstream numbers to verify. One has to remember always that the fundamental world of money and trade revolves around real people and real circumstances. No matter how corrupt our economic system is, as long as there are human beings, there will always be supply and demand that cannot be hidden. We have to look past the "official numbers" and look at the roots of trade. Where has demand fallen? Where has supply diminished? Where are the tangible goods and needs and how have they changed? Let's first start with the mainstream version of our system, looking at each aspect of the economy that no longer represents the truth of our situation… Employment, Savings, And Debt Much of this information is old news to those of us in the Liberty Movement, who tracked the progress of the global collapse long before the general public even knew of its existence. However, it is useful to take a step back and look at the basic picture every once in a while. According to numbers issued by the Department of Labor, weekly unemployment reports have dropped to a five year low, and the overall employment rate is holding at 7.9%. This would seem to be a vast improvement over the dreadful bloodletting in the system only a few years ago. Has the private Federal Reserve and the Obama Administration really done it? Have they turned back the tide on the greatest fiscal crisis the U.S. has seen since the Depression? No. They haven't. They have only changed how the data is disseminated to the public. In order to understand how the employment statistics con is being engineered, it is important to understand the difference between "Adjusted" and "Unadjusted" numbers. Labor Department data is "seasonally adjusted", using a series of statistical assumptions including something called "Trend Cycle Analysis". Trend Cycle Analysis is, basically, a sham, but a sham put together in a very complex and confusing manner. If you ask a mainstream economist what it is, you'll likely get a three hour long dissertation filled with financial babble and very little concrete explanation. So let me break it down as simply as I can… Imagine that you are going to estimate how much profit you plan to make in a particular month, but you don't just consider your current pay rate and pop it into a calculator; you also throw in the possibility of a few pay raises, an inheritance from a grandma who might kick the bucket, and, your exaggerated expectations of the entire year's profit on top of that. You may also take into account future bad weather, a mugging, a nuclear war….whatever. All hypothetical situations not based in reality. Basically, you decide that a particular trend in your income is inevitable, then, mold your statistical analysis around that assumption. When your real profit numbers come in (the unadjusted numbers) and they do not meet your expectations, you simply change them according to what you believe SHOULD have happened. If you insist that your profits are going to go up for the year, and they go down for a couple months instead, you change the variables you use to calculate the statistical average so that the results match your expectations, assuming that it will all balance out in the end. Now, this sounds utterly insane for the common person out there trying to make a living. If you ran your household this way, without accepting the cold hard unadjusted numbers in front of you, you'd find yourself broke and on the street in no time. Unfortunately this is EXACTLY how our government handles most financial data; by coming to a final conclusion before hand, and then forcing the numbers to fit that conclusion. This is why in February of 2013, "adjusted" first week unemployment rate was reported at 366,000 – a 5000 person drop from the week before. A seeming improvement in the trend. But, unadjusted numbers came in at 386,176 – a 16,000 person spike from the week before. When one examines real unemployment numbers, he finds that the divergence between the adjusted and unadjusted statistics is growing larger with each passing quarter. That is to say, the contradiction is becoming so blatant between the hard numbers and the Labor Department's fantasy numbers that one must question whether or not the government is lying to us outright about the state of the economy (hint – they are lying). These same methods are used by the government to calculate progress in the housing market, disposable income, etc. The claim of "recovery" in the jobs market simply doesn't jive with other indicators, like 2012 Christmas retail, which had the worst showing since the crash in 2008 (and these are still mainstream numbers!): Average household savings continue to scrape the bottom of the barrel, indicating that the public is not spending or withholding cash. They are simply broke:
And the overall GDP of the U.S. contracted in the fourth quarter of 2012 for the first time in three years (again, according to official numbers, meaning the reality is much worse): The downturn in consumption and industry also seems to be supported by the Baltic Dry Index, a measure of global shipping and rates. The BDI has fallen to near historic lows THREE TIMES in the past year, which to my knowledge, has never happened before. In the past, the BDI has been a strong prophetic indicator of future market volatility. Usually, around a year after a severe decline in the index, a dangerous economic event takes place. The BDI made its first sharp drop to all time lows at the end of January 2012, exactly a year ago. U.S. household debt was recently reported to have fallen to a 29 year low, but the ratio used by the Federal Reserve applies a statistic for disposable income that is derived from the Trend Cycle boondoggle method. While markets cheer, the truth is, the only reason household debt obligations have fallen at all is because bank lending and credit issuance remains frozen. Consumer debt falls when there is no money to borrow. In fact, the Federal Reserve actually pays large banks NOT to lend to the public; an activity which was exposed by Dennis Kucinich in 2009 on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. An activity that continued through 2012: Keep in mind, one of the primary arguments the Federal Reserve used when promoting the bailout concept was that it would "free up credit markets" so that lending could pick up again and fuel a recovery, and yet, at the same time, they were paying banks to NOT lend. Meanwhile, the supposed job recovery has produced an astonishing increase in welfare recipients in the U.S., including a record 46 million Americans on foodstamps (approximately 15% of our population): If we are to apply any "trend" to our calculations on overall economic health, then we should include the extreme level of government handouts, and poverty levels which are now at all time highs. The facts are undeniable; the number of people who have much less than they did in 2008 has grown. How then could the U.S. be considered "in recovery"? National Debt And The Fiat Lie With the Dow Index hovering near highs of 14,000 our system truly looks to be on a rocket ship to pre-2008 money market bliss. In a mere five years we have returned to equity spikes that stagger the mind and the wallet. At least, that's how it all appears… What needs to be taken into account, though, is the amount of fiat money being created by the Federal Reserve, and how much of that printed pixie dust currency is fueling our magical flight to Neverland. Since 2008, our official national debt has increased from $10 trillion to $16.4 trillion, and some estimate $17 trillion to $18 trillion by the end of 2013 (unless, of course, a collapse occurs). Which means our national debt, which took decades to reach the $10 trillion mark, will have nearly doubled in only six years! So, what has a doubling of our national debt in such a short span of time bought us? Well, credit markets remain frozen, property markets remain stagnant, poverty is at historic levels, welfare recipients are at epic highs, and consumer activity and GDP is back at 2008 lows. Where did all that printed money go? Where was it spent? To answer that question, we only need to find what area of the economy has seen the most positive (or fantastical) activity. What sector is seeing a massive boost while the rest tumbles? I suggest that a large portion of QE1 through QE3 has gone to prop up the stock market, and nothing else. I suggest that American taxpayers are fronting the bill for the equities bonanza we see today. I suggest that the Dow is being used as a Red Herring to distract the populous for as long as possible while real assets are being snapped up and hoarded by international banks and foreign entities. I suggest that we are being leached dry and that the parasites are almost ready to move on… When will it all end? Perhaps sooner than many people think. The decision by D.C. to delay talks on the so-called "Fiscal Cliff" until March may not be coincidence. Extensive cuts in federal spending are absolutely necessary and cannot be dismissed forever, but, because the last vestiges of our system that still operate do so through government money, such cuts will cause immediate damage to the economy, including possible default and dollar devaluation. Refusal to make cuts will result in credit downgrades, currency inflation, and a loss of the greenback's world reserve status. There is no "right" way out of this quandary. When this collapse is initiated, it would certainly behoove all parties involved, including central banks, international banks, and criminal politicians, to have a scapegoat handy for the citizenry to direct their rage at. Event Horizon Economics An "Event Horizon" in physics is a moment or singularity in spacetime at which a gravitational pull becomes so great that there is no way to escape it. It is a point of no return. I believe America's economy has reached its own Event Horizon. Our system is now entirely fiat driven, with very little or no true economy left. Without constant injections from the Fed, and perpetually low interest rates, the country would implode tomorrow. This is not recovery. Actually, I'm not sure what to call it. Today, independent economic analysts cannot look to the numbers to determine future trends. Most are fake, and the rest are ugly, and I'm not sure much else can be said in their regard. Instead, we must now look to events, rather than statistics, because our country has been maneuvered into a position of utmost frailty. Like an avalanche shelf waiting for that perfectly timed disturbance to trigger its roaring collapse. All that is needed is a macro-crisis, and it is no great feat for such a thing to be created in our tension filled global environment. War in Syria and Iran leading to a tripling of energy prices. Sanctions and strife with North Korea leading to Chinese economic retribution. Conflict between China and Japan, again leading to Chinese economic warfare and perhaps real warfare. An opportune "cyber attack" which could be used as an excuse for a market crash and even an internet shutdown. A "political impasse" between Reps and Dems which leads to a default of U.S. credit. Any one of these catastrophes could easily occur (with a little nudge from some well placed people) and feed a wider global tragedy. The important thing to remember is that while this event will be blamed for the breakdown, it was international banks, the Federal Reserve, and elements of our own government that made the domino effect possible. They put the pieces in place. The act that knocks them over is secondary. I have spent the past seven years writing about "potential" threats to our overall system, but these dangers were always just beyond our sight. Just around the corner. Today, it is as if the journey is over, and all those threats have materialized right before my eyes as real, and imminent. I am watching that which I warned of come to fruition, and this is certainly not a pleasant thing. What is valuable, though, is what we have all done in the Liberty Movement with the time that we had. From when I began writing for the movement until now, I have seen an overwhelming increase in public awareness. It may not be obvious to newer activists, but it is there all the same. While we still face disparaging odds, and millions upon millions of oblivious bystanders, there is, amidst these darker moments, a steadfast community of free men and women forming. I have full faith in the future. Much more so than I ever did before. Our economy may be detached from reality, but our endeavors as individuals will not be. Our resolve will be the great game changer. Not fiscal calamity. |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2013 01:20 PM PST Last weekend Zero Hedge once again broke the news that just like back in June 2011, when as part of the launch of QE2 we demonstrated that all the incremental cash resulting form the $600 billion surge in the Fed's excess reserves, had gone not to domestically-chartered US banks, but to subsidiaries of foreign banks operating on US soil. To be sure, various other secondary outlets picked up on the story without proper attribution, most notably the WSJ, which cited a Stone McCarthy report adding the caveat that "interpreting the data released by the Federal Reserve is a bit challenging" and also adding the usual incorrect attempts at interpretation for why this is happening. To the contrary: interpreting the data is quite simple, which is why we made an explicit prediction: 'We urge readers to check the weekly status of the H.8 when it comes out every Friday night, and specifically line item 25 on page 18, as we have a sinking feeling that as the Fed creates $85 billion in reserves every month... it will do just one thing: hand the cash right over straight to still hopelessly insolvent European banks." So with Friday having come and gone, we did just the check we suggested. As the chart below shows, we were right.
Another way of showing what has happened: in the past 4 weeks, the Fed has injected a record $237 billion of cash into foreign banks with access to the Fed's excess reserves: a number greater than both the cash influx surge seen after the Lehman collapse, and faster and more acute than the massive build up of cash during the spring and summer of 2011 when all the Fed's brand new QE2 cash was once again, solely used to overfund European bank cash.
Another way of showing precisely what we said would happen, and what is happening: in the past month, as $237 billion in cash was being handed over by Ben Bernanke to foreign banks, cash to both small and large domestically-chartered banks declined.
The result is that of the record $1.8 trillion in cash sloshing within the US financial system (consisting of US and foreign banks), a record $955 billion, or 52.6% of total is now allocated to foreign banks.
Do we know that the cash in the US financial system is purely a result of the latest open-ended QE? Yes we do, because as the chart below shows, every dollar change in excess reserves created by the Fed is tracked tick by tick by the total amount of cash held by US and foreign banks. And as the yellow area - foreign bank cash - in chart further shows, all the cash generated by QEternity has gone straight to foreign banks.
Another way of showing this correlation: the change in excess reserves vs just the change in cash assets held by foreign banks. There is no doubt on which banks' balance sheets the Fed's "excess reserves" are appearing as cash.
Finally, as a reminder there was a second part in our forecast as to what these European banks will do with this fresh prop-trade funding cash courtesy of Bernanke - they will "push the EURUSD higher, until, as in the summer of 2011 it goes far too high, crushes German, and any other net European exports, and precipitates yet another wholesale bailout of Europe by the global central bankers. Just as the Fed did in 2011." Sure enough, it required the intervention of none other than Mario Draghi last Thursday to stop the massive, sharp ascent in the EUR in the past two months, which as we showed in the morning before the ECB's announcement on Thursday, had resulted the EUR surge by over 10% on trade-weighted terms. The reason for this intervention: to prevent the collapse of what little is left of Europe's export economy. However, unlike previously, now that Japan is also actively crushing its own currency to promote its exports over those from Germany and France, things will be just a little bit more acute as everyone scramble to be the exporter of only resort to what little import demand remains in a world where everyone is desperate to grow their trade balance through currency manipulation. So whether European banks will continue buying the EURUSD, or redirect their Fed-cash into purchasing the ES outright, or invest in other even riskier assets, remains unknown. What is, however, known beyond a reasonable doubt is that at least through this point, the sole beneficiary of the Fed's open-ended quantitative easing which launched in September of 2012, and which was supposed to help lower US unemployment and raise inflation (it will certainly succeed in that eventually, and what a smashing success it will be), are once again solely foreign - read almost exclusively European - banks. |
| Spend Your Bernanke Bux Now on PHYSICAL Gold & Silver! Here's Why! Posted: 09 Feb 2013 12:45 PM PST "Follow the munKNEE" via twitter & Facebook or Register to receive our daily Intelligence Report If Venezuela were any guide, we would have to say "Buy gold and silver, So writes Michael Noonan (http://edgetraderplus.com) in edited excerpts from his original article* entitled Gold And Silver – Buy! $1600 And $28 Targets?.
Noonan goes on to say in further edited excerpts: Since the privately owned Federal Reserve took control over this nation's money supply in 1913, the purchasing power of the commercial debt instrument issued by the Federal Reserve – the fiat-issued Federal Reserve Note (FRN) - has declined to $0.03…. The likelihood of another devaluation of the FRN, this time an "official" one as high as 50% like what happened in Venezuela, would not be out of the realm of possibility. Anyone who still "values" the holding of valueless paper and has not purchased gold and silver in physical form, lives in denial and will "pay" dearly for that choice. Here is one more fact for you to consider: $16,483,729,858,642. That is how many fiats are outstanding, a part of which the federal government says is YOUR burden. (We warned you, FRNs are IOUs!). It is the approximate current cost of kicking the political can down the road in order to pay for all the banking failures, and government spending and…. Conclusion Let us be clear…BUY physical gold and silver, now, at any price and at any time, and put it away…NOT in a bank or some financial institution; NOT in any paper form, ETF or any "certificate of ownership" form, which is just a piece of paper. If you do not hold it, you may never get to own it! Is that worth the risk?…
* http://edgetraderplus.com/market-commentaries/gold-and-silver-buy-1600-and-28-targets
Related Articles: 1. What's Happened – and Will Continue to Happen – to the Value of the U.S. Dollar
Technically the U.S. left the gold standard in 1971 but, in reality, we abandoned it in 1913 with the creation of the Fed…setting the stage for the collapse of the dollar. [Given that this is] the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Federal Reserve, it seems only fitting that we should present a brief history of the U.S. dollar debasement since then. Words: 1144 2. Race to Debase: How Gold & Silver Have Performed vs. 75 Fiat Currencies
3. Gold & Silver vs. Fiat: Do You Live In An Imaginary World Or In Reality?
Make no mistake about it, it is the central bankers that are leading governments around by the nose, and by proxy, governments leading people around by the nose, and that "nose" is inhaling "lines" of fiat. Unless cured, all addictions end badly, and the only "cure" central bankers have for ever-increasing fiat is, ever-increasing it more. [You can protect yourself, however, by] demanding less of the valueless fiat and keeping, and growing, your wealth by buying and accumulating real value: physical gold and silver. Anything less, and you are still dealing in the imaginary world that is failing. [This article explains why that is the case.] Words: 834 4. What is Money – Really – and Why Do We Need to Own Gold – Really?
 As economic and political matters become more desperate in the U.S., so will what the government considers acceptable. If a debt default cannot be engineered via continuous inflation as the Fed's current money-printing is attempting to do, it will occur via a direct repudiation of obligations or a quasi-surreptitious one such the hypothetical one I present in this article. Here is… a look (not a prediction) at a series of not improbable events that could develop [and which] would change our economic world overnight[ - and your financial well-being too]. Words: 1365  This article clearly demonstrate how the millions of investors who invested in the stock market over the past decade actually fared when their performance was measured in gold instead of dollars. You will be shocked at how poorly they (and you?) have really done and you, too, will come to the consclusion that – investing in the stock market is for losers. Words: 790
Evidence shows that the U.S. money supply trend is in the early stages of hyperbolic growth coupled with a similar move in the price of gold. All sign point to a further escalation of money-printing in 2012…followed by unexpected and accelerating price inflation, followed by a rise in nominal interest rates that will bring a sovereign debt crisis for the U. S. dollar with it as the cost of borrowing for the government escalates…[Let me show you the evidence.] Words: 660
I expect the eventual endgame to this whole Keynesian monetary experiment that has been going on ever since World War II [will] finally terminate in a global currency crisis. [That being said,] I'm starting to wonder if we aren't seeing the first domino – the Japanese yen – start to topple…[It has] cut through not only the 2012 yearly cycle low, but also the 2011 yearly cycle low and never even blinked [and should it continue its steep decline] and break through the 2010 yearly cycle low [of 105.66] I think we have a serious currency crisis on our hands. Needless to say, if the world sees a major currency collapse… it's going to spark a panic for protection – to gold and silver. Wouldn't it be fitting that at a time when they are completely loathed by the market they are about to become most cherished? [This article analyzes the situation supported by 3 charts to make for a very interesting read.] Words: 620; Charts: 3 9. Peter Schiff: The Federal Reserve is Now 100% Committed to the Destruction of the Dollar
In order to generate phony economic growth and to "pay" our country's debts in the most dishonest manner possible, the Federal Reserve is 100% committed to the destruction of the dollar. Anyone with wealth in the U.S. dollar should be concerned that economic leadership is firmly in the hands of irresponsible bureaucrats who are committed to an ivory tower version of reality that bears no resemblance to the world as it really is. By upping the ante once again in its gamble to revive the lethargic economy through monetary action, the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee is now compelling the rest of us to buy into a game that we may not be able to afford. Words: 1410
[According to the chart in this article,] all currencies are being debauched. The price of gold in each currency approximates a parabola, meaning the use of printing presses is accelerating. Each unit of currency is losing purchasing power at an increasing rate. The trend points to a worldwide currency collapse unless the creation of money stops. [Take a look!]. Words: 282
I keep wondering to myself, do our money-printing central banks and their cheerleaders understand the full consequences of the monetary debasement they continue to engineer? [Below is what I think awaits us.] Words: 1013 |
| A Quick Way To Buy The Silver Juniors Posted: 09 Feb 2013 11:58 AM PST Trends have a habit of continuing, so the silver miners could easily have another crappy year. But at some point both silver and its derivatives (including mining shares) will start moving in the right direction. |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2013 11:53 AM PST Summary: Long term - on major sell signal. Short term - on mixed signals. Gold sector cycle - down as of Oct 13. COT data - currently not supportive of a new up cycle, caution is advised. |
| Gold And Silver - Buy! $1600 And $28 Targets? Posted: 09 Feb 2013 11:50 AM PST If Venezuela were any guide, we would have to say buy gold and silver, right here, right now! |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2013 11:21 AM PST
One of the primary focal points of our research is the corruption that has become endemic to the political and financial elites of the world. When we refer to corruption we are referring to insider deals, cronyism, lies and fraud. Since the Great Crisis began in 2008, these have become the four pillars of the financial system replacing the pillars of trust, transparency, truth and reality that are the true foundation of capitalism and wealth generation.
As we regularly note, corruption only works as long as the benefits of being “on the take” outweigh the consequences of getting caught. As soon as the consequences become real (namely someone gets in major trouble), then everyone starts to talk.
This process has now begun in Spain.
MADRID — Spain’s governing Popular Party was drawn deeper into a web of corruption scandals this past week, after the Swiss authorities informed the Spanish judiciary that the party’s former treasurer had amassed as much as 22 million euros, or $29 million, in Swiss bank accounts.
The treasurer, Luis Bárcenas, resigned from his job in 2009, after being indicted in the early stages of an investigation, which is still ongoing, into a scheme of kickbacks and illegal payments allegedly involving other conservative party politicians…
Nonetheless, the revelations have brought a fast-growing list of corruption investigations, which have unspooled across Spain, to the doorstep of the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who has so far remained silent. About 300 Spanish politicians from across the party spectrum have been indicted or charged in corruption investigations since the start of the financial crisis. Few have been sentenced so far.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/19/world/europe/corruption-scandals-widen-in-spain.html?_r=0
The above story illustrates some key elements that all investors need to be aware of:
Note in the above story that former Spanish Treasurer Luis Bárcenas has been under investigation since before 2009. The fact that the real smoking gun (his hidden Swiss bank account containing over $29 million) is only just coming to light should give you an idea of how corrupt the system in Europe has become (there is no way on earth it would take four years to find this information).
That this information is coming out now also tells us that things are getting so bad in Spain that heads are going to start to role. As we stated earlier, corruption only works until the consequences outweigh the benefits of being “on the take.” The above story tells us that we have finally reached that point in Spain. It’s taken five years for this to happen (the Crisis begin in 2008). But the system has finally reached the inflection point at which key players will face real consequences for their corruption.
With that in mind we can expect more and more such cases to begin to emerge in Europe. The fallout from this will be major both for the political class and for the financial markets.
Indeed, later in the same story we find the following tidbit:
On Wednesday, amid another property investigation, the president of Madrid’s regional government, Ignacio González, revealed that he and his wife purchased a penthouse last month in the holiday resort of Marbella for 770,000 euros, or more than $1 million. Mr. González, who earns 4,800 euros a month, about $6,380, is denying any wrongdoing, as well as any link between his acquisition and the property investigation undertaken by a local judge.
A regional President, earning less than $80K a year just bought a $1 million penthouse in a country where youth unemployment is above 50%, workers have gone over six months without being paid, and pharmacies are running out of medicine due to having not been paid some €500 million by the government.
The reason this is so important is because politics, not economics, drives everything in Europe. Please note that the entire EU banking system was pulled back from the brink of collapse last summer by Mario Draghi and other EU officials promising to do whatever it takes to end the crisis.
Since that time, the economy has actually worsened in Europe. Unemployment has hit a new record and the vast majority of the EU has re-entered recessionary territory. Thus, it has been the credibility of various EU officials, not any fundamental improvement in things that has made the whole system work
Now that major corruption scandals are breaking out regarding key EU figures, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for the EU political class to continue to convince the markets that the “everything is OK.”
With that in mind, it’s only a matter of time until the EU Crisis begins anew. We’ve already scandals roil the markets in Italy and Spain. Sooner rather than later, this situation will spread to the point that the ECB’s backstopping of the system is called into question. When that happens, things could get very ugly.
We have produced a FREE Special Report available to all investors titled What Europe’s Collapse Means For You and Your Savings.
This report features ten pages of material outlining our independent analysis real debt situation in Europe (numbers far worse than is publicly admitted), the true nature of the EU banking system, and the systemic risks Europe poses to investors around the world.
It also outlines a number of investments to profit from this; investments that anyone can use to take advantage of the European Debt Crisis.
Best of all, this report is 100% FREE. You can pick up a copy today at: http://gainspainscapital.com/eu-report/
Best Regards,
Phoenix Capital Research
PS. We also offer several other FREE reports outlining the impact of Obama’s policies on the US economy, how and why every investor should buy some bullion, and the ongoing threat of inflation to the financial system.
All of these are available at:
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| Don’t Buy This Stock Market. It Isn’t Worth the Risk. Here's Why Posted: 09 Feb 2013 09:58 AM PST "Follow the munKNEE" via twitter & Facebook or Register to receive our daily Intelligence Report Don't buy this stock market. It isn't worth the risk. Relative to earnings, So writes Mitchell Clark (www.profitconfidential.com) in edited excerpts from his original article* entitled The Great Big Stock Market Disconnect.
Ckark goes on to say in further edited excerpts: There just isn't enough real economic growth in the marketplace. Some companies are doing well (and I'd say buy great companies when they're down on the stock market) but the trouble is that the market is trading right near its high. A lot of companies reported solid earnings in the fourth quarter, and the stock market was happy about it. The problem is that revenues either came up short, or revenue outlooks weakened for 2013. The market always focuses on earnings, but the most important financial metric that's worth betting on isn't earnings—it's revenues. This is especially the case in a slow-growth environment…. This is the great big disconnect in the stock market today. Stocks are going up on better-than-expected results, but in a lot of cases, there isn't any real economic growth at all! The only reason I can think of why many stocks are going up on mediocre news is because most are trading below their historical valuations. Corporations have done an outstanding job of maintaining their earnings throughout the last recession and in the current slow growth environment. Large corporations are especially good at this through cost control but what we need to see is meaningful top-line growth, and we're not getting it consistently from industry. This is the reason why I'm not bullish on the stock market and why I wouldn't be a buyer right now…. Unless revenue growth materializes next earnings season, the stock market is dead. Because corporations are so lean now, revenue growth will translate straight to earnings, and that's what this stock market needs to stay afloat. [As such,] stock market investors need to be very cautious going forward.
*http://www.profitconfidential.com/stock-market/the-great-big-stock-market-disconnect/
Related Articles: 1. Bull Market in Stocks Isn't About to End Anytime Soon! Here's Why
As we all know, money printing always leads to inflation. It's just a matter of figuring out which assets get inflated. This time around gold is not the only beneficiary, stocks are, too, and I'm convinced that the chart below holds the key to the end of the bull market. Words: 475; Charts: 1 2. Inflation Expectations Influencing Path of Stock Prices Differently These Days
Higher (lower) inflation expectations have remained closely bound with higher (lower) stock prices [of late but] this odd connection won't last forever…[but] until that changes, it's best to go with the flow….[This article explains] the new abnormal. Words: 266 3. Insider Trading Suggests That a Market Crash Is Coming
What you are about to read below is startling. •Every time that the market has fallen in recent years, insiders have been able to get out ahead of time… •[What] is so alarming [this time round is] that corporate insiders are selling nine times as many shares as they are buying right now. •In addition, some extraordinarily large bets have just been made that will only pay off if the financial markets in the U.S. crash by the end of April. •So what does all of this mean? [Could it be that they] have insider knowledge that a market crash is coming? Evaluate the evidence below and decide for yourself. Words: 570 4. QE Could Drive S&P 500 UP 25% in 2013 & UP Another 28% in 2014 – Here's Why
Ever since the Dow broke the 14,000 mark and the S&P broke the 1,500 mark, even in the face of a shrinking GDP print, a lot of investors and commentators have been anxious. Some are proclaiming a rocket ride to the moon as bond money now rotates into stocks….[while] others are ringing the warning bell that this may be the beginning of the end, and a correction is likely coming. I find it a bit surprising, however, that no one is talking of the single largest driver for stocks in the past 4 years – massive monetary base expansion by the Fed. (This article does just that and concludes that the S&P 500 could well see a year end number of 1872 (+25%) and, realistically, another 28% increase in 2014 to 2387 which would represent a 60% increase from today's level.) Words: 600; Charts: 3 5. 5 Reasons To Be Positive On Equities
For the month of January, U.S. stocks experienced the best month in more than two decades [and the Dow hit 14,009 on Feb. 1st for the first time since 2007]. Per the Stock Traders' Almanac market indicator, the "January Barometer," the performance of the S&P 500 Index in the first month of the year dictates where stock prices will head for the year. Let's hope so…. [This article identifies f more solid reasons why equities should do well in 2013.] Words: 453 6. World Economy & Market Forecast: More Sunshine & Less Stormy Weather Ahead
It seems clear that there are a number of investors who have gained confidence in the global economy and are seeking to capture the growth opportunities taking place around the world. With the European crisis comfortably in the rear view mirror and global central banks taking the position that they will continue their easing policies, investors have taken their foot off the brake and have begun to accelerate….We see more sunshine and less stormy weather ahead [and explain why that is the case in this article]. Words: 695; Charts: 3 7. Start Investing In Equities – Your Future Self May Thank You. Here's Why
As Winston Churchill once said: "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" and in that vain I challenge all readers to fight off the negativity, see long-term opportunity in global equity markets and, most importantly, remain invested. Your future self may thank you. Words: 732; Charts: 6 8. What Recovery? Contradictions Between Reality & Political Claims Are Everywhere!
There is no recovery, regardless of what the elite and their minions in the media want you to believe. The economy is sick. It was made so by the malpractice of government and will become even weaker as government continues to administer the poison that got us to this point. The political class's version of remedy is akin to the medical profession's practice of bloodletting. Neither does any good and both, carried to extreme, are fatal. [Let me explain more fully.] Words: 548 9. Ignore Wall Street Cheerleaders: Market Technicals, Fundamentals & Other Info Says Otherwise!
[In spite of what] the typical Wall Street cheerleaders, I mean strategists, are predicting, we see the equity market ever more closer to its cyclical top, miners about to retest a major bottom and hard assets with a new catalyst. [This article analyzes 9 pieces of information, complete with charts, that show what is actually going on in the marketplace at this point in time and what the short-term future holds.] Words: 930; Charts: 8
Without economic growth, and real economic growth at that, there can be no meaningful long-term economic recovery in the developed countries. Growth or lack thereof will have to be reflected in the financial markets over time. Currently, I continue to see a disconnect between where the financial markets are pricing things, and where I think they ought to be pricing things. Words: 784
At some point we are going to see another wave of panic hit the financial markets like we saw back in 2008. The false stock market bubble will burst, major banks will fail and the financial system will implode. It could unfold something like this: Words: 660 12. 5 Sound Reasons Investors Would Be Better Off On the Sidelines Than In the Market
New year festivities have continued on the stock market even as the Christmas trees have been put away. The "death of the fiscal cliff," not horrible job numbers and supportive comments from Mario Draghi on the other side of the pond have led to bold and bullish behaviors over the last three weeks. While no one can predict the exact peak, here are five reasons you're better off on the sidelines than in the market. 13. The S&P 500 Continues to Rapidly Build Its "Domed House" As Projected
14. These Charts Suggest a Possible +/-60% Decline in the S&P 500 by 2014
15. 3 Reasons the Stock Market Could Rally & 3 Reasons to Be Cautious Near Term
16. Don't Ignore This Fact: "Greedometer Gauge" Signals S&P 500 Drop to the 500s by July-August, 2013!
17. Current Market Overvaluation (from 33% – 51%!) Suggests Cautious Long-term Outlook
18. Goldman Sachs' Leading Indicators Signal Steep Market Crash Ahead
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| The Prepper Filter – 11 Questions That Will Help You Be A Better Prepper Posted: 09 Feb 2013 08:23 AM PST  I was recently asked by someone in a conversation "What is a Prepper"? I started to answer the question with a knee jerk reaction being that a prepper is someone with a cache of bullets, band aids and beans stored away in the event that the world shows signs of coming to an end via economic collapse, EMP events, Madrid earthquakes or other major disasters. After a long pause, my definition came out of my mouth and it was that a prepper is simply one who prepares. This led to a short conversation spurred on by the person asking what they are preparing for. We talked for a little bit and ended the conversation both a bit confused because they didn't understand why someone would can meat when they can freeze it and I couldn't understand how they haven't heard about a power outage lasting for more than a week. It was not surprising to see our conversation go in that direction and end the way it did given that upwards of 95% or more of the population just don't see that there is any reason to think that society can break down, but what was surprising was the thought process I had that followed our conversation. Make no mistake about it; there will be a crash of some sort and depending on how far we fall will determine how bad it is. We are a hand to mouth society far removed from the habits of our ancestry who stored food in their cellars, produced food in fields and gardens and had food producing animals out in the back 40 to sustain them. Today procurement of food is completed via going continually to the grocery store, eating out and ordering in. Virtually no one is paying attention to how long a person's family will last if that supply chain is disrupted for any reason. Read more.... This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Watch: Greeks Fight For Food: “I Never Imagined That I Would End Up Here” Posted: 09 Feb 2013 08:15 AM PST  Once a bastion of European success and center of tourism, the country of Greece has become the harbinger of things to come for the rest of the world's developed nations. Not long ago Greeks were enjoying high paid salaries, early retirements, excess cash, and seemingly never ending economic growth. Today, just a short time after a financial collapse that rocked global financial markets, Europe's darling has turned into a frightening example of what happens when governments and their people take on more debt than they can ever hope to repay. The end result is a warning to the rest of us. Hundreds of people jostled for free vegetables handed out by farmers in a symbolic protest earlier on Wednesday, trampling one man and prompting an outcry over the growing desperation created by economic crisis. Images of people struggling to seize bags of tomatoes and leeks thrown from a truck dominated television, triggering a bout of soul-searching over the new depths of poverty in the debt-laden country. "These images make me angry. Angry for a proud people who have no food to eat, who can't afford to keep warm, who can't make ends meet," said Kostas Barkas, a lawmaker from the leftist Syriza party. Read more.... This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| WHY OBAMA SINGLED OUT S&P FOR RETRIBUTION Posted: 09 Feb 2013 08:12 AM PST Isn't it funny that Obama is going after Standard & Poors, five years after the financial crisis. Moodys and Fitch also provided AAA ratings to worthless mortgage debt in collusion with the Wall Street banks and blessing of the Federal Reserve. They were smart enough to not downgrade the debt of the United States of America. S&P and Eagan Jones made the mistake of telling the truth about our debt situation and are paying the price. This is how a fascist government operates. Why S&P is in the Crosshairs of the Department of JusticeBy Scott S. PowellThursday, February 07, 2013 What has been distinct about Barack Obama's presidency is his inclination to operate in continuous campaign mode, to deflect attention away from his policy failures and to undermine opposition by politicizing the issues and policy responses he chooses to take up. So now with the president's attorney general Eric Holder having just announced the filing of a $5 billion Department of Justice suit against Standard & Poor's—charging that fraudulent ratings were made on risky mortgage bonds that went into default during the financial crisis of 2008—one has to wonder what the political motivation might be. First, why now? Why has it taken four years for the Obama Administration to bring this case? Second, why is it that S&P is singled out for alleged wrongdoing, when Moody's and Fitch did the very same things in assigning top ratings to similar classes of dodgy mortgage securities? The plausible answer is that it's all about political calculation on manipulating perception and outcome on the central issue of our time. President Obama has been reminded from multiple quarters that the deficit spending and debt accumulation during his administration has the potential to undermine his legacy and precipitate a major financial crisis. Surely someone in the White House has paid attention to the various reports on the state of the U.S. Government debt rating, issued from all three credit rating agencies during the last few years. A January 2011 Moody's report noted that the ratio of national debt to national tax revenue in the United States is the worst of all the AAA-rated countries in the world. While the European debt crisis got more news coverage than the one brewing at home in the last three years, the U.S. fiscal condition has deteriorated to the point where its debt to revenue ratio is nearly three times higher than the AAA median, and more than twice that of Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, Switzerland and Canada. Later in 2011 Moody's and Fitch hedged their AAA-ratings of U.S. Government debt—issuing negative outlooks. But it was S&P that took the heat in August of that year, being first to actually cut the nation's rating to AA+. At the time the Obama administration lashed out at S&P, launching an unprecedented attack, specifically accusing the agency of "misleading calculations." Some now speculate that the Obama administration is merely getting revenge on S&P's downgrade by taking legal action against the rating agency. But it is also plausible that the Obama administration made a shrewd political calculation in taking this action. First, it wants to deflect attention away from its failed leadership on budgetary matters resulting in record deficits and alarming debt accumulation as the debate over the sequester and debt ceiling heats up. Second, and perhaps more important, the Obama Justice Department's suit puts Moody's and Fitch on notice that they had better behave and save Barack Obama from the historical ignominy of the one who lost America's AAA-rating. Washington is increasingly defined by hubris, but in the end financial markets will overrule politics. Politically contrived AAA ratings on U.S. Government debt will no more hold up the markets for U.S. Treasury bonds and the dollar than did the falsely rated mortgage securities hold up the banking, housing and mortgage markets in 2008. Unfortunately the magnitude of this next crisis would make the previous look like a cakewalk. _________________________________ Scott Powell is senior fellow at the Discovery Institute in Seattle. Reach him at scottp@discovery.org. |
| John Williams: How to Survive the Illusion of Economic Recovery Posted: 09 Feb 2013 05:40 AM PST There is no economic recovery, and there are no signs that a recovery is coming, says Shadowstats.com author John Williams. In this Gold Report interview, he blames mal-adjusted inflation statistics for creating an alternate reality that overestimates economic activity in a way that is unsustainable. Williams warns that eventually the painful truth will be so difficult that even government manipulation won't be able to deny it and that is when hyperinflation will take its toll on those who have not taken his advice for preserving purchasing power and securing wealth. |
| Authentic Market Trends and Investor Opportunities Posted: 09 Feb 2013 05:15 AM PST “There is no paper money in 2014 or 2015 that will be worth much of anything.” “You can’t get [silver coins]. They sell out….Several mints have run out of coins because everybody’s worried about the future of the world.” “Gold has been up 12 years in a row which is extremely unusual for anything.” “Don’t Sell Your Gold and Silver Coins: Jim Rogers The Daily Ticker, 02/07/2013 |
| Gold And Silver Are A Buy! $1600 and $28 Targets? Posted: 09 Feb 2013 04:12 AM PST If Venezuela were any guide, we would have to say buy gold and silver, right here, right now! For those of you who hold Bernanke Bux, aka fiat paper, pay close attention. Those Venezuelan citizens who held paper Bolivars took a 46% hit on their purchasing power. Those citizens there who held gold and silver saw an equivalent 46% jump in their holdings. If you think it cannot happen here, you are wrong. It already has. Since the privately owned Federal Reserve took control over this nation's money supply in 1913, today's purchasing power of the fiat-issued Federal Reserve Note, [FRN], is 3 cents, and that would be 3 cents of post-1982 pennies because pennies prior to 1983 are copper content and now worth more than 3 cents, not to put too fine a point on it. Always remember, a FRN is NOT a "dollar,' despite the false labeling. Each one is a commercial debt instrument issued by the Federal Reserve, a central bank, one of many throughout the world, all controlled by New World Order confiscators, which includes confiscation of all freedom, [read the Patriot Act and National Defense Authorization Act, and we will not even go into the organic Constitutional Republic being defunct because of them]. Still, the likelihood of another devaluation of the FRN, but an "official" one, like what happened in Venezuela, as high as 50% would not be out of the realm of possibility. Anyone who still "values" the holding of valueless paper and has not purchased gold and silver in physical form, lives in denial and will "pay" dearly for that choice. Let us be clear, once more, [with apologies to the choir members], BUY physical gold and silver, now, at any price and at any time, and put it away…NOT in a bank or some financial institution; NOT in any paper form, ETF or any "certificate of ownership" form, which is just a piece of paper. If you do not hold it, you may never get to own it! Is that worth the risk? [Just ask Germany, unable to get its gold back from central banks in NY and London.] No honor among thieves, there. Here is one more fact for you to consider: $16, 483, 729, 858, 642. That is how many fiats are outstanding, a part of which the corporate federal government says is YOUR burden. [We warned you, FRNs are IOUs]. It is approximately the current cost of kicking the political can down the road in order to pay for all the banking failures, and government spending, the cost of funding the TSA to pat you down literally while politicians do it to you figuratively, and you can see how high those figures are. The examples are endless, and mindless. As for the futures…we start each week with new charts, expecting developing market activity will lead us in the right direction. Previously, we have maintained a bullish bias when reading the charts. Not so, for this week. [The long positions, acknowledged last week, were sold on the Wednesday rally, missing the break on Thursday and Friday.] One cannot remain bullish for the near term, for futures only, when the developing market activity tells a story of price weakness. The least amount of market knowledge arises when price is in the middle of a TR. Why? The middle of anything is at a 50% point, so the odds of the market going up are equal to the odds of the market going down, while still within a trading range. As you can see from the established channel, price could decline and not find support until the $1600 area, which is where the rally began, last August. We often say how markets are always testing support/resistance areas, and that includes previous breakout areas, too. As things stand, a further decline in the futures is not far-fetched, although why gold and silver would decline by any amount, given surrounding circumstances, is a mystery. Still, it speaks to the staying power of those in power who desire to keep PMs suppressed. It is still working.
While silver had been a bit stronger than gold, recently, gold held better on the late week decline than did silver. Seeing how gold has been virtually sideways since mid-December, and trading within the first three trading days of January, it can continue to meander for several more weeks to come. One red flag was the sharp volume increase on Thursday with a close off the lows. It is the market telling us that buyers were as active as sellers, and meeting the effort of sellers at the lower end. Friday's small range does nothing to clarify the picture. Buy the physical, keep the powder dry in futures.
The weekly chart is similar in silver, but we added an "axis line," one where it acts as support and alternating resistance, and that area is around $32. The labored rally from last week fizzled, and were price to decline, an obvious target is $28, also where the rally started in last August. This is should the December lows not hold as support.
Keeping it simple, we see lower highs and lower lows, the simplest definition of a down trending market. We had been watching the formation of a coiling wedge for the past several trading days, even "hoping" for an upside breakout, but so far, the opposite has developed. The increased volume on Thursday's decline looks more like a day that sellers were in control, in contrast to the same day for gold. Friday's attempt to rally failed, volume declined, and that says demand was weak. As an otherwise inside day, it is hard to draw any meaningful conclusion. Buy the physical, and the American Eagles are such beautiful coins, but avoid futures for the near term.
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| Nothing At All, Then All at Once Posted: 09 Feb 2013 03:29 AM PST I've been reminded by a reader that it's my second anniversary at PoliticalMetals.com, a place for me to share what I've learnt regarding the true nature of the two historic monetary metals, gold and silver – that they are more political than precious. Time flies. Over the past two years, much has transpired in the [...]  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Putting Everyone to Sleep
Facebook caught on fast and furious to become the premier social networking platform in the world. In 2003, Mark Zuckerberg, depicted in the movie "The Social Network" as a brash Harvard sophomore who cared not about others' thoughts and/or feelings, started a social networking interface called Facemash.
I am seriously considering changing careers.
Yesterday in Gold and Silver
As I look back at the gold and silver market signals we recently published and our 2013 silver forecast, which predicted a price well above $50 per ounce (the high reached in April 2011), I can't help but to wonder what fundamental factors will spark this "hyperbolic" move?
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