Gold World News Flash

---

• Kotlikoff Warns: $17 Trillion U.S. National Debt? Try $211 Trillion
• Why Gold Prices May Be Poised to Go Higher
• Euro falls as Draghi strikes a dovish tone
• Women That Are Man Enough: Girls Who Run the World
• Two Astonishing Charts Show Gold & Silver Now Ready To Soar
• Noonan: The Fed Will Never Ever Taper & What That Means For Gold
• Manage Your Money Without Breaking A Sweat – Here’s How
• Step Aside Trillion Dollar Coin, Here Comes The Trillion Dollar Bill
• Gold Daily And Silver Weekly Charts - Tomorrow is COMEX Precious Metal Options Expiry
• Gold Daily And Silver Weekly Charts - Tomorrow is COMEX Precious Metal Options Expiry
• Bernanke Stock-Boost Busted, Bonds Best Bid
• The Big-Picture Economy, Part 1: Labor, Imports And The Dollar
• Mapping The Collapse Of European Democracy
• A Cure for the Paper Money Disease
• Bubbles, Pins & Debt
• Bubbles, Pins & Debt
• FOMC Tapering? Send in the Clowns!
• FOMC Tapering? Send in the Clowns!
• The Fed's Fairy Story
• The Fed's Fairy Story
• Avalanche of propaganda accompanies Fed's failure, Embry tells KWN
• Chinese Housewives vs. Goldman Sachs: No Contest
• One, Big Steal?
• This Will End In Catastrophic Collapse & Tragedy For The West
• Gold and Silver "Back to Status Quo" After Fed Surprise
• The Relationship Between Financial Assets, Time And Gold
• The Daily Market Report
• The Fed Surprise and a Weaker Dollar Could be Very, Very Good for Precious Metals
• Market Monitor – September 23rd
• Gold Price "Back to Status Quo" Say Analysts as "Fed Fever Breaks", Reprieve "Only Temporary"
• Gold Seen Dropping by Citigroup, Morgan Stanley on Fed Taper
• Gold edges lower on caution over U.S. policy outlook
• Gold easier at 1323.00 (-2.00). Silver 21.70 (-0.05). Dollar easier. Euro steady. Stocks called lower. US 10yr 2.74% (unch).
• Gold price in a range of currencies since December 1978 XLS version
• Sprott's Charles Oliver Sees the Shine Returning to Metals
• Sprott's Charles Oliver Sees the Shine Returning to Metals
• Sprott's Charles Oliver Sees the Shine Returning to Metals
• 4 Clues That a Stock Market Collapse Is Coming
• ERIC SPROTT : Bonds Are for Losers - We Will See People Moving Into Gold and Silver
• Australia's Gold Symposium interviews GATA secretary
• Academic study admits possibility of gold market rigging but can't confirm it
• Precious Metals and the Broad Stock Market Indices Update: Not What You Think Will Happen
• Bank of Thailand gets suspicious about paper gold
• GATA secretary to speak in Auckland, New Zealand, on October 13
• Rickards expects world monetary system to be rebuilt around gold
• Fed duplicitious on bond buying, Portola Group's Fitzwilson says
• Ben Is Still in Charge
• Precious Metals “Back to Status Quo” After Fed Surprise, Say Analysts
• A Shake-up for the Dow

Kotlikoff Warns: $17 Trillion U.S. National Debt? Try $211 Trillion Posted: 23 Sep 2013 03:20 PM PDT from Gold Seek: … When Standard & Poor’s reduced the U.S.'s credit rating from AAA to AA-plus, it was the first time the U.S. ever suffered a downgrade to its credit rating. The S&P took this action despite the plan Congress passed last week to raise the debt limit. The downgrade, S&P said, “reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics.” It’s those medium- and long-term debt problems that also worry economics professor Laurence J. Kotlikoff, who served as a senior economist on President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers. He says the national debt, which the U.S. Treasury has accounted at about $14 trillion, is just the tip of the iceberg. Read More @ GoldSeek.com

Why Gold Prices May Be Poised to Go Higher Posted: 23 Sep 2013 02:37 PM PDT 23-Sep (Bloomberg) — Pension Partners’ Michael Gayed discusses why he’s investing in gold. He speaks with Trish Regan and Adam Johnson on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.” [video]

Euro falls as Draghi strikes a dovish tone Posted: 23 Sep 2013 02:30 PM PDT 23-Sep (Reuters) — The euro fell broadly on Monday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the central bank is willing to flood the market with cheap loans and euro zone interest rates should remain at current or even lower levels for some time. Europe’s common currency hit session lows against the dollar and yen after Draghi told the European Parliament that the central bank is ready to offer banks more long-term loans to keep money-market interest rates from rising to levels that could push inflation too low. Draghi’s remarks extended earlier losses stemming from worries about how long it will take Angela Merkel to form a coalition government after her party’s victory in Sunday’s German election. [source]

Women That Are Man Enough: Girls Who Run the World Posted: 23 Sep 2013 02:12 PM PDT Follow ZeroHedge in Real-Time on FinancialJuice Men have had their stab at making the world into what they wanted and they made a pretty poor show of it all we might say when we look at the economy. Except men being men, they think that they came out tops, most probably. Men still run the show for the moment, but it's the women that are moving up the ranks and soon, the most influential women in the world be so because it's women that either hold or look as if they will get to hold the real positions of authority in the world. From running countries to controlling the money supply and dictating to governments about what they should do, the most influential organizations and institutions in the world are already run by women or will be most probably in the next few years. But, do the women have what it takes to run the show and make a better hash of what the men have done? So, who are or will most likely be the women that run the world tomorrow? What effect will they have rather than the Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Larry Summers types, the alpha testosterone-filled males, when it comes to dealing with a debt crisis in China, the housing bubble in the UK, the on-going Eurozone crisis and the vulnerability of the US economy and generalized stagnation of employment in the Western world? Will they have just what it takes? 1. Yellen Larry Summers withdrew from the Federal-Reserve-chairmanship race just a few days ago amid screaming and shouting that he wasn't the man that would be able to do the job. But, will Janet Yellen be man enough now that she looks as if she is a top contender? If you fancy a bet, the odds stand at 7 to 1 chance of her being appointed. Some might argue that she is just damaged goods because she has been the Federal Reserve Vice-Chairman and must be partly (at least) responsible for the foul-ups that have taken place over the past few years working under Ben Bernanke. Nobody likes getting dished up left-overs and being forced fed them, do they? Yellen might be the favorite of the stock market (according to recent polls because she is unlikely to implement tapering), but it has been reported that favoritism doesn't wash with President Obama. Apparently, he hasn't taken favorably to the fact that the people's choice might have gone with Yellen. He may end up looking somewhere else to get the Federal Reserve hot-seat filled. But, quite honestly, who would want the job? You are hardly going to redress the predicament that has been brought on by the Fed and by Bernanke, are you? Yellen has been Vice-Chairman since October 2010 and if she does get appointed she will become the first No. 2 to get elevated to the ranks of No. 1 at the Federal Reserve for nearly 100 years. There has never been a single Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve out of a total of 19 that has ever got to the top position. The Vice-Chairman have just been forgotten to collect dust like old books. Who remembers Ronald Ransom or C. Canby Balderston? Who will remember Janet Yellen, unless she gets appointed of course? Nice to keep on a shelf, but it's only dirty books that don't gather dust I heard it once said. But, the chances look as if she will be appointed as the White House has started to gauge support for her and she looks as if she's getting it. Senator Charles Schumer (No.3 Democrat in the Senate and member of the Banking Committee) stated that Yellen would be an 'excellent choice'. Whatever happens, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve has to be one of the most powerful economic positions in the world, doesn't it? 2. Merkel Angela Merkel is considered to be the most powerful women in the entire world as Chancellor of Germany. On Sunday September 22nd her fate will be sealed as the German people go to the polls. Germany is the European Union's largest economy and the latest polls tip Angela Merkel to be reelected at the head of the country and retain her position as the most powerful woman in the world today. But she only has 38% of the votes in recent polls that were published today. If she is reelected for her third mandate then that in itself will be a historic sign of what the Germans actually think of her since the majority of leaders were ousted in the elections that followed the financial crisis. She does look as if she may have to share power with the Social Democrats (as she did during her first mandate in 2005-2009. The question is not so much whether or not she will get in but with whom she will be running the country. Merkel might well be able to boast the advantage of having one of the lowest levels of unemployment in the European Union (currently at around 6.8%), but she will have trouble defending the fact that there are 7 million people in Germany that earn less than 8.5 euros per hour and that is one of the lowest salaries in the EU today. She may be powerful, but when that power only means that people are reduced to positions of slavery to the state, that power is not worth giving to anyone. Germany is one of the most-powerfully economic countries in the world. It exported more goods than any other country in the world except for China and it has a share of world trade that stands at 9% in the global rankings. China exports to the tune of about $1, 202 billion while Germany exports about $1, 121 billion of goods. 3. Lagarde Christine Lagarde is considered the 7th most powerful woman in the world as the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. The International Monetary Fund must most certainly be one of the most powerful institutions in monetary terms on the global financial scene today. The IMF is the third largest holder (officially) of gold in the world, with 90.5 million troy ounces (or 2, 814.1 metric tons). Although the use that it is able to make of that gold is limited. The IMF lent some $188 billion (with $40 billion going to Greece) in the immediate wake of the financial crisis (between 2008 and 2010) and that sum has increased enormously every year since then. The IMF was prepared to stand ready to dish out over $300 billion if needed. 4. Clinton If Hilary Clinton, as the world's 5th most-powerful women today, gets elected as President of the USA in 2016, then she is considerably likely to move up to position number one. Clinton is former US Secretary of State and now-retired Senator and could well be in the running for the Democrats to try her luck at the top job in the US. Her popularity stood at over 60% in February 2013, but it has since declined by 10%. Although, if we are honest, it's not hard to be popular, despite that fall in her ratings, when you are not in the public eye ready and willing to make a foul up to be caught by the cameras. The only thing left to do is to get rid of Mario Draghi at the head of the European Central Bank and the plan will be fully complete. If it's not the robots that take over the futuristic modern society that has come of age today, then it's the women that are being elevated to the highest and most powerful ranks in the world. The most powerful women this year are as follows: Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil Melinda Gates, Co-Chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Michelle Obama, First Lady of the USA Hilary Clinton, Former 67th US Secretary of State Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer Facebook Christine Lagarde, Managing Director International Monetary und Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Department of Homeland Security Sonia Gandhi, President of the Indian National Congress Indra Nooyi, Chief Executive Officer PepsiCo Who are we? What we run?! The world. Yes, even singer Beyonce comes in at position number 17. So, maybe the others are quite not as powerful as we might have once thought. Some of them might well raise a few eyebrows and we might well ask why they are even in the list in the top ten as finding just what they do these days might be a time-consuming task. But, he, or rather she who seeks might just well find. Keep looking!  would the EU be?  How Sinister is the State? | Food: Walking the Breadline | Obama NOT Worst President in reply to Obama: Worst President in US History?  Obama's Corporate Grand Bargain Death of the Dollar | Joseph Stiglitz was Right: Suicide | China Injects Cash in Bid to Improve Liquidity Technical Analysis: Bear Expanding Triangle | Bull Expanding Triangle | Bull Falling Wedge | Bear Rising Wedge | High & Tight Flag

Two Astonishing Charts Show Gold & Silver Now Ready To Soar Posted: 23 Sep 2013 01:39 PM PDT With gold and silver still trading above the key area where London metals trader Andrew Maguire told King World News there would be massive central bank buying, today James Turk spoke with KWN about the ongoing war in gold and silver, and he also sent KWN about two astonishing charts to go with his commentary below. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Noonan: The Fed Will Never Ever Taper & What That Means For Gold Posted: 23 Sep 2013 01:37 PM PDT The Fed announcement not to taper was a "surprise" to all mainstream media talking heads (or should I say headless) who must tow the party line or join the growing millions of other Americans out of a job.  Without the faux fiat injections into the stock market, it would collapse, as it inevitably will, anyway.  Those in that market should be prepared for the worst for the worst will happen. So writes Michael Noonan (edgetraderplus.com) in edited excerpts from his original article* entitled Gold And Silver – Fed Taper?  Never!  Never, Never, Ever. [The following article is presented by  Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.FinancialArticleSummariesToday.com and www.munKNEE.com and the FREE Market Intelligence Report newsletter (sample here – register here) 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. This paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement.] Noonan goes on to say in further edited (and perhaps paraphrased in places) excerpts: The proverbial handwriting has been on the wall for quite some time.  Lying Ben Bernocchio just sealed the fate of the already doomed fiat Federal Reserve Note, aka the "dollar," along with the financial well-being of most unsuspecting Americans who will be unprepared for what is going to happen, at some point and with certainty.  Collapse. If the Fed were to taper, it would immediately burst the largest financial bubble ever created… Rather than burst the bubble and be held accountable, the Fed will keep feeding the financial tapeworm until the host Western world is utterly consumed. How many companies are there actually showing earnings?  It must be closer to none than to 100.  Yet, the stock market made new all time highs this past week.  With zero percent interest rates, all older savers dependent upon interest returns during their retirement years have none.  They are, and have been getting, financially screwed while bankers have been handsomely rewarded with huge bonuses.  No outrage, however. All pension funds are under the same duress.  The ultimate victim(s) is/are all of America as Ben and the Boyz steal what remaining "wealth" is available through their fiat Ponzi scheme, in place ever since the Federal Reserve Act of 23 December 1913. We are all trapped in this ultimate Weimar-type bubble created by central bankers using exactly the same banking system in place under the Weimar Republic.  Details are of no consequence because they have been known for decades and ignored by all throughout. The Ponzi bubble is bigger than most can imagine. Western central planners… [continue to try to] suppress gold and silver in order to keep their sorry lives alive.  In the process, the destruction of people's financial well- being is unabated… The [only reason the] fundamentals and unprecedented demand for gold and silver have failed to follow the natural law of supply and demand is because both have been unnaturally treated by central bankers.  The metals are anathema to the issuance of paper fiat, and competition must be eliminated, at all costs. The greatest antidote to government-issued fiat has always been, and always will be, gold and silver to a lesser extent, by becoming as important a financial safe harbor. [As such,] the beneficiaries of all this future trauma and trouble [will be] those who own and personally hold physical gold and silver.  No paper promises, which are ultimately IOUs. When push comes to shove, which it surely will, good luck trying to collect on them.  If the M F Global theft does not resonate with any paper holders, then nothing will. Do not believe that the Fed will taper.  In all likelihood, the Fed will increase, not taper. When you see that happen, there is no more cover for all the lies being sold in America. You have to know that when the ultimate central planner player, Larry Summers, opts out of the job of his life. It tells you that the replacement for Lying Ben is being set up to take the fall… What the Charts say About Gold & Silver My comments above are similar to Paul Revere's ride through every Middlesex village and farm alerting everyone that the British were coming in that they exclaim that "The Central Bankers are here! Buy gold and silver!” Gold and silver may ultimately head higher, (and higher and higher), but for now, the charts say “not yet, we need more time”. [For a detailed analysis of what the charts are saying at this point in time, and charts to support same, you are encouraged to visit the link below.] [Editor's Note: The author's views and conclusions in the above article are unaltered and no personal comments have been included to maintain the integrity of the original post. Furthermore, the views, conclusions and any recommendations offered in this article are not to be construed as an endorsement of such by the editor.] *http://edgetraderplus.com/market-commentaries/gold-and-silver-fed-taper-never-never-never-ever Other Articles by Noonan: 1. Noonan: Gold & Silver Could Move Sideways for Another 1-2 Years – Here's Why Using past history of how price responds, it is likely that gold, and silver, could move sideways for another year or two.  While this flies in the face of so many current, supposedly “expert”, opinions [mine is not based on opinion but, rather, is strictly based on the facts as conveyed by the charts. Take a look and you will see that too!] Read More » 2. Noonan: These Charts Clearly Show What's Happening With Gold & Silver – Take a Look Below is a perfect example of how the charts timed the movement in the price of gold and silver over the past week. Yes, you CAN time the market as this article clearly demonstrates! When the market "talks," we listen.] Read More » 3. Noonan: Window of Opportunity to Buy Physical Gold & Silver Narrowing – Don't Wait, Buy Now! The window of opportunity to buy physical gold and silver continues to narrow.  Like the housing market top was known to be coming, when it came, those who waited too long regretted it.  When the bottom for the physical PMs is known as a certainty, those who waited for a "better price" may also regret that decision.  It is all about choice. Read More »  4. Noonan: The Most Factual Information On Gold & Silver Is Right HERE In an election, it does not matter if voter turnout is high or low, the outcome is determined by the actual votes cast.  The same holds true for the markets.  Only those who make an actual buy or sell decision determine the outcome of the market trend. The market "voters" turn up in charts, recorded in the price range, close, and volume. Collectively, a "story" unfolds, and it usually is an accurate one as it does not include any opinions. Opinions do not matter. Articles written about fundamentals, pundit declarations, etc., all fall under the category of opinions. The market is the best source for information, and that is a fact. Read More »  5. Noonan: "Where's the Beef?"  We See None in the Charts for Gold & Silver …Fiats have an unbroken track record of failing throughout all of history. Gold also has an unbroken track record of being a store of value for over 5,000 years.  Yes, there have been hiccups along the way, and we are in one now.  It is what it is, but what it is is also an incredible buying opportunity at "fire sale" prices….[That being said,]  a look at the charts of the paper-tracked PM market [beg the question]  … "Where's the beef?"  Where is the substance of anything?  We see none in the charts. Take a look. Words: 610; Charts :4 Read More »  6. Noonan's Unique Approach to Technical Analysis Says This About the Silver Market Technical analysis is a measure different from fundamental analysis…and we qualifying our approach with a specialized subset of technical analysis.  How so? We read price and volume behavior, over time, in the form of developing market activity. It is what one sees on a chart, price ranges, close locations, volume, time factor[s], but no more. Below are charts that suggest that the weakness in silver may be coming to an end, sooner now rather than later, but that for now, it is what it is – and what is, is reality. Read More »  7. Noonan: NO Evidence of Change in Downward Trend In Gold & Silver…Yet You will read more and more articles touting how gold and silver have bottomed.  They have not, at least according to price behavior as determined by actual buyers and sellers in the market. Read More »  8. Noonan: Silver Charts Suggest This Could be the Bottom! Charts speak the loudest…and they never lie…[because they are] the true record of all buy and sell decisions executed, coming from the most informed to the least informed.  Most of the problems lie with those who form an opinion, and how they choose to impose it onto what any given chart "says." My understanding of what the quarterly monthly, weekly and daily charts are conveying about the price action of silver is, simply,] "Silver stackers, these lower prices are a gift you should keep on taking.  Stay tuned." Read More »  9. Noonan: Charts Suggest Potential Support for Gold Down at $1,040 to $1,100 If you want to make rabbit stew, first, you have to catch the rabbit so hopefully, first, we'll see some concrete signs that a bottom is in before the regurgitation of "Gold is going to $10,000!" starts showing up in a host of new articles pandering for attention. The best way is to decide for yourself…so let us go to the most reliable source, the market, and see what the prices of gold and silver  have to say about what everyone else has been saying about them.  People have been known to exaggerate, even lie in their "opinions," but the market never does either. Read More »  10. Noonan: Charts Suggest NO Ending Price Action In Either Gold or Silver – Take a Look! Not one Precious Metals guru has gotten anything right in the last 18 months.  All have been calling for considerably higher prices.  Over the past several months none called for sub-$1,300 gold and sub-$20 silver. Crystal balls do not work and never have. When it comes to markets, anything can happen [but the charts convey that] there is no apparent ending action suggesting a selling climax or even a cause for a reaction rally. Take a look. Read More » The post Noonan: The Fed Will Never Ever Taper & What That Means For Gold appeared first on munKNEE dot.com.

Manage Your Money Without Breaking A Sweat – Here’s How Posted: 23 Sep 2013 01:35 PM PDT If you want more free time, or are just plain lazy, here are some easy ways to manage your personal finances.I  promise you won't break into a sweat… So says Gina Monaco (theloop.ca) in edited excerpts from her original article* entitled Ten ways to manage your money without breaking a sweat. The following is presented by Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.FinancialArticleSummariesToday.com and www.munKNEE.com and the FREE Market Intelligence Report newsletter (sample here – register here). The excerpts 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. This paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement. Monaco goes on to say in further edited (and perhaps paraphrased) excerpts: You work hard for the money but there's no reason to work hard managing it. Who doesn't have better things to do than to sit down, work through a budget and pay the bills so below are some easy ways to manage your personal finances. Put your bills on auto-pilot. Writing cheques is a pain. Even going online to pay them may be too much trouble. Most companies have an auto payment plan, so sign up for it. Just make sure you check your bank statement once in a while to make sure everything is working right. If you're worried about overdrawing your account – get overdraft protection. Ditto with your savings – auto it. Set up an auto transfer to your savings account – you won't miss the money when it sneaks into savings without your sticky fingers catching it first. Better yet, if your company has an auto payment set up for a savings vehicle, take advantage of it. You won't even see the money and you'll get used to a reduced paycheque If all that is still too much work – consider hiring a virtual personal assistant. For a small fee they will do all this tedious work for you… Host parties at your place. Guests bring their own food and not all of it gets eaten – so guess where it ends up? Yep, in your fridge. Don't have enough money – ask for more. Don't look for a side job, ask for a raise. Before you do that, spend a little time researching why you deserve a raise and how to get your boss to agree. Buddy up. Some big ticket items don't make sense to purchase on your own if you're only going to get minimal use out of it. So maybe hook up with a neighbour or friend to purchase things like ladders, and power tools or even lawnmowers. Better yet – just borrow the tools you need but don't forget to return them in good, clean condition so they owner lets you borrow again. Buy the generic brand. Don't even bother wasting your time comparing prices on everything – just buy the generic brand  – they're usually just as good as the brand name products. [Editor's Note: The author's views and conclusions in the above article are unaltered and no personal comments have been included to maintain the integrity of the original post. Furthermore, the views, conclusions and any recommendations offered in this article are not to be construed as an endorsement of such by the editor.] *http://www.theloop.ca/living/money/wallet-wise/article/-/a/2747665/Lazy-ways-to-manage-your-money Related Articles: 1. If You're Rich or Debt Free Then Ignore This Post Do you have what it takes to pay off your debts and become comfortable financially or perhaps even rich, even VERY rich? You probably do but don’t know exactly what to do or think your situation is just too dire to possibly turn around. Read the following articles for some encouragement, financial advice and ideas on how to make considerably more income, pay off your debts and possibly even become that millionaire you’ve always wanted to be but didn’t know how to accomplish. Read More » 2. Don't be Cheap, be Frugal! Here are 10 Ways to Get More for Your Money Frugality often gets a bad rap. Many people misunderstand frugality and assume that it's nothing more than being "cheap" when, in reality, frugality is making sure that you get the most from the money and resources you have, even if they are limited. [Here are 10 ways to do just that.] Words: 1132 3. "Put More Cash in Your Wallet: Turn What You Know into Dough" – A Book by Loral Langemeier You too can live comfortably and buy the things you want without worrying about how to stretch your income even further — you can even pay off your old bills in the process! Get out there and start making money! Words: 911 4. Here's the Smart (Easy) Way to Profit from a "Gold Party" Have you ever wanted to host a gold party but didn't know how to get started? Wondered who to call or even how much money you could make?…[We] make the process very simple for you and alleviate the costs of hosting traditional gold parties Read More » The post Manage Your Money Without Breaking A Sweat – Here’s How appeared first on munKNEE dot.com.

Step Aside Trillion Dollar Coin, Here Comes The Trillion Dollar Bill Posted: 23 Sep 2013 01:32 PM PDT With just over a week left until a potential government shutdown, especially since the House just passed a stopgap funding measure which included an Obamacare defunding measure and which is dead in the Senate, the issue of a government shutdown with no counterproposal on the table is suddenly concerning to investors, as can be seen in the following Bloomberg chart comparing articles mentioning "government shutdown" vs "debt ceiling." However, it should be the other way around: while Congress may gamble with the debt ceiling until the 11th hour and 59th minute, as it knows it can always punt to Bernanke and "Mr Chair(wo)man will get to work", it will hardly jeopardize paying itself a salary for a terrific job well done. So as we await for the inevitable announcement when the government will promptly resume paying itself, we are far more interested in how long it will take until the debt ceiling fight takes front and center space, and the now annual tradition launched by a handful of monetary misfits, namely the pitching of the idiotic platinum trollin' trillion dollar coin idea, even though the Fed and Treasury took an unprecedented step and publicly told said misfits to kill the idea before they lose any more of what little credibility they had left by filling the internet with their vacuous stupidity. Sadly, since US fiscal and monetary policy en masse has become just that, vacuous stupidity, we wish to introduce our own piece of monetary ridiculousness: the trillion dollar bill. It is not made out of platinum - in fact Charmin' one-ply will do - but the good news is that the Treasury would merely have to issue a trillion dollar bond to net out the Fed's balance sheet upon its monetization (and the last thing Congress has problems with is authorizing the spending ludicrous amount of money). After all, under the auspices of the Magic Money Tree theory of money, infinite government debt is simply a manifestation of infinite wealth for the private sector, and as such it is a win-win for everyone. So without further ado, here is the solution to all of America's debt problems: the Trillion Dollar Bill. h/t @mrneutr0n

Gold Daily And Silver Weekly Charts - Tomorrow is COMEX Precious Metal Options Expiry Posted: 23 Sep 2013 01:17 PM PDT

Gold Daily And Silver Weekly Charts - Tomorrow is COMEX Precious Metal Options Expiry Posted: 23 Sep 2013 01:17 PM PDT

Bernanke Stock-Boost Busted, Bonds Best Bid Posted: 23 Sep 2013 01:07 PM PDT Despite the best efforts to squeeze shorts from the European close (end of POMO), the afternoon session punctuated by Fed's Fisher notable comments pushed stocks back lower with the S&P joining the Dow in the all-FOMC-gains-gone club. Financials and Materials  (-1.5% from FOMC) are the worst performers since Bernanke did not say "Taper" and while stocks have given it all back, bonds remain at their highs (in price) and lows (in yield) from that un-announcement. Treasury yields dropped 2-3bps more today (still down 15-20bps depending on maturity) as growth hopes fade. JPY strength was trumped by EUR weakness today which pushed the USD higher from overnight opening lows (from China PMI and Merkel) but by the close the USD was unch. Gold and silver were holding positive until Fisher's comments and they slid to -0.5% or so. WTI dropped 1.2% to $103.50. The S&P had its 3rd down day in a row for the first time in 5 weeks (as momo names join the financials among the leaders lagging).   AAPL saved the Nasdaq   But the S&P and the Dow have given up all their FOMC gains...   and Financials and Materials (the most sensitive to Fed money printing) have given the most back... and homebuilders are down 5.5% from theor post-FOMC highs   The short-squeeze effort saved some damage but Fisher's comments marked the turn...   Richard Fisher's comments appeared to be the crucial inflection point for some markets (but equities tried theur best to end green the FOMC)...   Away from that the USD gained from the open (to close unch)...   And Treasury yields are heading back to their lows post-FOMC...     Charts: Bloomberg

The Big-Picture Economy, Part 1: Labor, Imports And The Dollar Posted: 23 Sep 2013 12:51 PM PDT Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog, It is impossible for the U.S. to maintain the reserve currency and run trade surpluses. Many well-meaning commentators look back on the era of strong private-sector unions and robust U.S. trade surpluses with longing. The Progressive consensus (articulated by Robert Reich, among others) is that unions gave the working and middle classes bargaining power that has been lost in the decline of unions. Other commentators look back with similar nostalgia on the large trade surpluses (i.e. current account surplus) of the same era--the 1950s and 1960s. The two trends are connected. Unions had bargaining power because the corporations on the other side of the table were generally cartels (autos, steel, etc.) that were largely domestic, meaning that they were captive to domestic markets and politics. All these conditions have changed. Present-day U.S. corporations are global, not domestic; up to 75% of their sales and/or profits are generated in overseas markets, and a similar percentage of their workforces are also overseas, not just for cost reasons but to stay close to the markets generating their profits. Free-trade agreements restrict attempts to protect domestic markets from overseas competition, and as a result domestic unions have essentially zero bargaining power with either nominally American firms or their global competitors in most markets. The only sectors open to union bargaining power are domestic monopolies or cartels with no overseas competition, i.e. the government, which is why the union movement is now dominated by public unions. The trade surpluses vanished for two reasons: global competition and to protect the dollar as the world's reserve currency. This is a difficult issue to grasp, so let's do it in parts: 1. When the global exporting nations recovered after World War II, their costs of labor and production were cheaper than American industry, which was hobbled by the strong dollar. For example, $1 bought 250 yen as recently as the early 1970s. Today, it barely buys 100 yen. 2. As a result, cheap imports took market share from domestic producers (believe it or not, BMWs were once relatively cheap), and the U.S. trade balance went negative, i.e. the U.S. ran trade deficits. To settle the deficits, the U.S. had to ship gold to the creditor nations. 3. As the trade deficits expanded, America's gold holdings shrank. The writing was on the wall: continued deficits would eventually shrink the U.S. gold holdings to zero, at which point deficits would be impossible to sustain. 4. As a result, President Nixon closed the gold window and the U.S. dollar floated in a market of supply and demand. The second half of the story is Triffin's Paradox, an issue I have covered in depth: What Will Benefit from Global Recession? The U.S. Dollar (October 9, 2012) Understanding the "Exorbitant Privilege" of the U.S. Dollar (November 19, 2012) Prior to 1971, the dollar was backed by gold, which acted as a supra-national anchor to the dollar's reserve status. The gold standard inhibited both massive trade deficits and money creation, so it was jettisoned.   The Triffin paradox is a theory that when a national currency also serves as an international reserve currency, there could be conflicts of interest between short-term domestic and long-term international economic objectives. This dilemma was first identified by Belgian-American economist Robert Triffin in the 1960s, who pointed out that the country whose currency foreign nations wish to hold (the global reserve currency) must be willing to supply the world with an extra supply of its currency to fulfill world demand for this 'reserve' currency (foreign exchange reserves) and thus cause a trade deficit. (emphasis added) The use of a national currency (i.e. the U.S. dollar) as global reserve currency leads to a tension between national monetary policy and global monetary policy. This is reflected in fundamental imbalances in the balance of payments, specifically the current account: some goals require an overall flow of dollars out of the United States, while others require an overall flow of dollars in to the United States. Net currency inflows and outflows cannot both happen at once. In other words, the U.S. must "export" U.S. dollars by running a trade deficit to supply the world with dollars to hold as reserves and to use to pay debt denominated in dollars. Other nations need U.S. dollars in reserve to back their own credit creation. It is impossible for the U.S. to maintain the reserve currency and run trade surpluses. It's Hobson's Choice: if you run trade surpluses, you cannot supply the global economy with the currency flows it needs for trade, reserves, payment of debt denominated in the reserve currency and credit expansion. If you don't possess the reserve currency, you can't print money and have it accepted as payment. (The euro and yen are quasi-reserve currencies based on the size of the European Union and Japanese economies, but neither acts as the primary reserve and as a result both are vulnerable to currency crises, despite the conventional wisdom that both are on the same footing as the U.S. dollar.) Unions have little bargaining power in a global economy with surplus labor and mobile capital, and trade surpluses are impossible for the nation possessing the reserve currency. Some view this as a liability, but any currency that is not the reserve currency is vulnerable to a currency/credit crisis and collapse, for currency and credit are tied at the hip through reserves. Those who disbelieve that the yuan, yen and euro are vulnerable to currency/credit crises--please check in around September 2015.

Mapping The Collapse Of European Democracy Posted: 23 Sep 2013 12:31 PM PDT Democracy has regressed in 15 out of the 17 euro-area countries since 2008, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's democracy index. As Bloomberg Brief's Niraj Shah highlights, the index in Greece fell by 0.48 point between 2008 and 2012 as economic policy was increasingly influenced by the ECB, the EU and the IMF, instead of elected politicians. The index in Germany also fell 0.48 point in the same period as membership of the major political parties and election turnout dropped. Finland is the most democratic nation in the region, by the EIU measure, which started in 2006 and is based on 60 indicators in five categories including electoral pluralism, civil liberties, political participation and culture. We are sure Nigel Farage will have something to say about this dismal loss of sovereign control.       As Nigel Farage ha snoted inthe past, this loss of democracy will eventually lead to "wholesale violent revolution"   Source: Bloomberg Briefs (@economistniraj)

A Cure for the Paper Money Disease Posted: 23 Sep 2013 11:45 AM PDT Edited from an article featured in the Commercial and Financial Chronicle, 5/6/48. And continued from an article that appeared in The Daily Reckoning, here. Before 1933, the people themselves had an effective way to demand economy. Before 1933, whenever the people became disturbed over federal spending, they could go to the banks, redeem their paper currency in gold and wait for common sense to return to Washington. That happened on various occasions, and conditions sometimes became strained, but nothing occurred like the ultimate consequences of paper money inflation. Today, Congress is constantly besieged by minority groups seeking benefits from the public treasury. Often, these groups control enough votes in many congressional districts to change the outcome of elections. And so congressmen find it difficult to persuade themselves not to give in to pressure groups. With no bad immediate consequence, it becomes expedient to accede to a spending demand. The Treasury is seemingly inexhaustible. Besides, the unorganized taxpayers back home may not notice this particular expenditure — and so it goes. The gold standard acted as a silent watchdog to prevent unlimited public spending. Let’s take a quick look at just the payroll pressure elements. On June 30, 1932, there were 2,196,151 people receiving regular monthly checks from the Federal Treasury. On June 30, 1947, this number had risen to the fantastic total of 14,416,393 persons. This 14.5 million figure does not include about 2 million receiving either unemployment benefits or soil conservation checks. However, it includes about 2 million GI’s getting schooling or on-the-job training. Excluding them, the total is about 12.5 million, or 500% more than in 1932. If each beneficiary accounted for four votes (and only half exhibited this payroll allegiance response), this group would account for 25 million votes, almost by itself enough votes to win any national election. Besides these direct payroll voters, there are a large number of state, county and local employees whose compensation in part comes from federal subsidies and grants-in-aid. Then there are many other kinds of pressure groups. There are businesses that are being enriched by national defense spending and foreign handouts. These firms, because of the money they can spend on propaganda, may be the most dangerous of all. If the Marshall Plan meant $100 million worth of profitable business for your firm, wouldn’t you invest a few thousand or so to successfully propagandize for the Marshall Plan? And if you were a foreign government getting billions, perhaps you could persuade your prospective suppliers here to lend a hand in putting that deal through Congress. Faraway from Congress is the real forgotten man, the taxpayer who foots the bill. He is in a different spot from the tax-eater or the business that makes millions from spending schemes. He cannot afford to spend his time trying to oppose federal expenditures. He has to earn his own living and carry the burden of taxes as well. But for most beneficiaries, a federal paycheck soon becomes vital in his life. He usually will spend his full energies if necessary to hang onto this income. The taxpayer is completely outmatched in such an unequal contest. Always heretofore, he possessed an equalizer. If government finances weren’t run according to his idea of soundness, he had an individual right to protect himself by obtaining gold. With a restoration of the gold standard, Congress would have to again resist handouts. That would work this way. If Congress seemed receptive to reckless spending schemes, depositors’ demands over the country for gold would soon become serious. That alarm in turn would quickly be reflected in the halls of Congress. The legislators would learn from the banks back home and from the Treasury officials that confidence in the Treasury was endangered. Congress would be forced to confront spending demands with firmness. The gold standard acted as a silent watchdog to prevent unlimited public spending. I have only briefly outlined the inability of Congress to resist spending pressures during periods of prosperity. What Congress would do when a depression comes is a question I leave to your imagination. I have not time to portray the end of the road of all paper money experiments. It is worse than just the high prices that you have heard about. Monetary chaos was followed in Germany by a Hitler; in Russia by all-out Bolshevism; and in other nations by more or less tyranny. It can take a nation to communism without external influences. Suppose the frugal savings of the humble people of America continue to deteriorate in the next 10 years as they have in the past 10 years? Someday, the people will almost certainly flock to “a man on horseback” who says he will stop inflation by price-fixing, wage-fixing and rationing. When currency loses its exchange value, the processes of production and distribution are demoralized. For example, we still have rent-fixing and rental housing remains a desperate situation. For a long time, shrewd people have been quietly hoarding tangibles in one way or another. Eventually, this individual movement into tangibles will become a general stampede unless corrective action comes soon. …paper money experiments… can take a nation to communism without external influences. Most opponents of free coinage of gold admit that that restoration is essential, but claim the time is not propitious. Some argue that there would be a scramble for gold and our enormous gold reserves would soon be exhausted. Actually, this argument simply points up the case. If there is so little confidence in our currency that restoration of gold coin would cause our gold stocks to disappear, then we must act promptly. The danger was recently highlighted by Mr. Allan Sproul, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who said: “Without our support, under present conditions, almost any sale of government bonds, undertaken for whatever purpose, laudable or otherwise, would be likely to find an almost bottomless market on the first day support was withdrawn.” Our finances will never be brought into order until Congress is compelled to do so. Making our money redeemable in gold will create this compulsion. The paper money disease has been a pleasant habit thus far and will not be dropped voluntarily any more than a dope user will without a struggle give up narcotics. But in each case, the end of the road is not a desirable prospect. I can find no evidence to support a hope that our fiat paper money venture will fare better ultimately than such experiments in other lands. Because of our economic strength, the paper money disease here may take many years to run its course. But we can be approaching the critical stage. When that day arrives, our political rulers will probably find that foreign war and ruthless regimentation is the cunning alternative to domestic strife. That was the way out for the paper-money economy of Hitler and others. In these remarks, I have only touched the high points of this problem. I hope that I have given you enough information to challenge you to make a serious study of it. I warn you that politicians of both parties will oppose the restoration of gold, although they may outwardly seemingly favor it. Also, those elements here and abroad who are getting rich from the continued American inflation will oppose a return to sound money. You must be prepared to meet their opposition intelligently and vigorously. They have had 15 years of unbroken victory. But unless you are willing to surrender your children and your country to galloping inflation, war and slavery, then this cause demands your support. For if human liberty is to survive in America, we must win the battle to restore honest money. There is no more important challenge facing us than this issue — the restoration of your freedom to secure gold in exchange for the fruits of your labors. - Howard Buffett Ed. Note: This essay was prominently featured in The Daily Reckoning email edition, which offers readers regular commentary on everything from gold to the markets at large… and gives them specific opportunities to profit from them. Signing up is completely free, and only takes about 30 seconds. Find out what all the hype is about. Sign up for The Daily Reckoning email edition, for free, right here.

Bubbles, Pins & Debt Posted: 23 Sep 2013 11:24 AM PDT Debt bubble meet pin. A whole host of pins, in fact, against a host of bubbles...   SUDDENLY, borrowing and lending is all the rage again, writes Doug French, president of the Mises Institute, for Casey Research.   The financial crash was five years ago this fall, and nobody is letting us forget it. According to ex-FDIC Chair Sheila Bair, financial soundness isn't much improved. She says, "I think our system is still somewhat fragile, a lot more needs to be done."   Indeed. Wall Street hasn't really been reformed, although it operates with a bit less leverage. Meanwhile, Bernanke's ZIRP medicine may finally be seeping into the economy's vital organs. No, job growth hasn't been all that. But per the Fed chair's wish, investors are taking more risk. Paper assets prices are high and stocks are rockin'.   With apologies to James Carville, drag cheap money through a trailer park and you never know who might borrow.   For instance, less-than-financial-juggernauts Russia and South Africa borrowed $9 billion between them last week. Putin's Place took the majority with $7 billion. Investor response was overwhelming, with orders for $16.5 billion of the Dollar-denominated Russian debt at a rate of 5.1%.   South Africa sold $2 billion in debt with orders for $7.5 billion. The notes have a 12-year term and yield 6%.   The two countries have several things in common. Both Russian and South African debt is rated a junky BBB by Standard & Poor's. Both countries are run by thugs, and both economies depend heavily on mineral extraction.   Being mineral dependent isn't necessarily a bad thing, except neither country executes particularly well. Resource investment legend Rick Rule points out that South Africa "produced 73% of the platinum and 37% of the palladium in the world in 2012, but the mining industry there is going broke."   A considerably better-quality borrower, Verizon, recently made news with the largest bond offering ever, floating $49 billion of debt. That's larger than Luxembourg's GDP. Verizon had intended to sell $20 billion worth, but the orders kept coming in – to the tune of $100 billion – and the telecommunications company couldn't say no. After all, it needs $130 million to buy Vodafone Group out of their Verizon Wireless joint venture, and will be borrowing another $12 billion from banks.   The 10-year bonds were priced to yield 2.25% over Treasuries (T + 2.25%), or about 5.2%, but quickly traded down to T+ 1.90%. This despite Verizon now having nearly $100 billion in bond debt outstanding.   Apparently that doesn't matter, because investors couldn't wait. "The demand for bonds is coming in part from investors who have spent months keeping their investments in cash or cash equivalents while interest rates hovered at record lows," reports the Wall Street Journal.   Imagine, investors licking their chops over a 5% yield.   There's also evidence that the more, shall we say, "creative" mortgage lenders are back in business. The jump in mortgage rates and increased government pressure has put the kibosh on the refinance frenzy. Plenty of mortgage grunts are getting the axe. Wells Fargo announced that it is cutting 2,300 jobs, Citi 2,200, BoA 2,100, and Chase as many as 19,000 through 2014.   But The Center for Public Integrity is keeping track of the management teams that ran the top 25 lenders that originated $1 trillion in subprime loans. Editor Daniel Wagner speculates a new housing bubble is on the way. He writes, "Today, senior executives from all 25 of those companies or companies that they swallowed up before the crash are back in the mortgage business."   Since the crash, mortgage origination has been plain vanilla, and has conformed to government lending standards. But as interest rates and home prices rise, lenders will have to offer more specialty loan products.   The days of stated income, pick-your-payment, 100% financing are over. But as mortgage company entrepreneur John Robbins says, the new environment "creates some opportunity to lower the bar a little bit and allow consumers the opportunity to buy homes [who] really deserve them."   On a year-to-date basis, jumbo originations were up 17.7% from the first half of last year. And while non-prime debt originated by non-bank lenders is just 5% of the market, the industry is again "mushrooming in size," according to Wagner. "Companies are expected to issue more than $20 billion of the non-guaranteed bonds this year, up from $6 billion in 2012, according to an April report from Standard & Poor's."   That's a far cry from the $1.19 trillion in unbacked mortgages bundled in 2005, but the industry is clearly rebounding. Guy Cecala, publisher of the trade magazine Inside Mortgage Finance, says, "You're going to see a little more risk coming into the system" as lenders permit smaller down payments and finance more investment properties.   "Five years down the road and we're back in the thick of it again. It's a weird place to be," says Cliff Rossi, who was a high-level risk management executive at Countrywide, Washington Mutual, and Freddie Mac before the crisis. "In that intervening 20 years, we forgot what we learned in the '80s," he says. "I fear right now, human nature being what it is, that downstream we could find ourselves in the same situation." Finally, the biggest borrower in history – the United States government – is currently borrowing for less than 3% for 10 years. Its obligations, says hedge fund titan Stanley Druckenmiller, are not the $12 trillion or $16 trillion the government shows on its books, but $200 trillion. That number includes the present value of the obligations made to America's seniors. It cannot be repaid.   There are a number of pins searching to pop the debt bubble. At the top of the list is the Fed. Druckenmiller told Bloomberg that without the Fed's QE, asset prices have to fall. He is laying low until he gets a sign the Fed is done buying $85 billion in bonds a month. "It is my belief that QE has subsidized all asset prices, and when you remove that, the market will go down," said the billionaire investor.   James Grant of Grant's Interest Rate Observer likes to say, "Knowledge in finance is cyclical, not cumulative." Druckenmiller echoes this view with, "...a necessary condition to have a financial crisis, in my opinion, is too loose monetary policy that encourages people to take undue risk and go on the risk curve and do silly things."   Big bets with low rates always make sense until reality bites. Then, what made sense suddenly looks silly. These high bond prices and low rates are an illusion created by the Fed. Soon, Bernanke or his successor will be viewed as having no clothes.   No one will escape this debt crisis unscathed, says famous investor Doug Casey, but you can make sure you're doing better than most others.   To find out how to best protect your assets and make double-digit yields, you need to know how the global engine of interlaced economies, central banks, and governments works… and how to profit from the market distortions it's creating.   Click here to learn how to stay on top of the American debt crisis.

Bubbles, Pins & Debt Posted: 23 Sep 2013 11:24 AM PDT Debt bubble meet pin. A whole host of pins, in fact, against a host of bubbles...   SUDDENLY, borrowing and lending is all the rage again, writes Doug French, president of the Mises Institute, for Casey Research.   The financial crash was five years ago this fall, and nobody is letting us forget it. According to ex-FDIC Chair Sheila Bair, financial soundness isn't much improved. She says, "I think our system is still somewhat fragile, a lot more needs to be done."   Indeed. Wall Street hasn't really been reformed, although it operates with a bit less leverage. Meanwhile, Bernanke's ZIRP medicine may finally be seeping into the economy's vital organs. No, job growth hasn't been all that. But per the Fed chair's wish, investors are taking more risk. Paper assets prices are high and stocks are rockin'.   With apologies to James Carville, drag cheap money through a trailer park and you never know who might borrow.   For instance, less-than-financial-juggernauts Russia and South Africa borrowed $9 billion between them last week. Putin's Place took the majority with $7 billion. Investor response was overwhelming, with orders for $16.5 billion of the Dollar-denominated Russian debt at a rate of 5.1%.   South Africa sold $2 billion in debt with orders for $7.5 billion. The notes have a 12-year term and yield 6%.   The two countries have several things in common. Both Russian and South African debt is rated a junky BBB by Standard & Poor's. Both countries are run by thugs, and both economies depend heavily on mineral extraction.   Being mineral dependent isn't necessarily a bad thing, except neither country executes particularly well. Resource investment legend Rick Rule points out that South Africa "produced 73% of the platinum and 37% of the palladium in the world in 2012, but the mining industry there is going broke."   A considerably better-quality borrower, Verizon, recently made news with the largest bond offering ever, floating $49 billion of debt. That's larger than Luxembourg's GDP. Verizon had intended to sell $20 billion worth, but the orders kept coming in – to the tune of $100 billion – and the telecommunications company couldn't say no. After all, it needs $130 million to buy Vodafone Group out of their Verizon Wireless joint venture, and will be borrowing another $12 billion from banks.   The 10-year bonds were priced to yield 2.25% over Treasuries (T + 2.25%), or about 5.2%, but quickly traded down to T+ 1.90%. This despite Verizon now having nearly $100 billion in bond debt outstanding.   Apparently that doesn't matter, because investors couldn't wait. "The demand for bonds is coming in part from investors who have spent months keeping their investments in cash or cash equivalents while interest rates hovered at record lows," reports the Wall Street Journal.   Imagine, investors licking their chops over a 5% yield.   There's also evidence that the more, shall we say, "creative" mortgage lenders are back in business. The jump in mortgage rates and increased government pressure has put the kibosh on the refinance frenzy. Plenty of mortgage grunts are getting the axe. Wells Fargo announced that it is cutting 2,300 jobs, Citi 2,200, BoA 2,100, and Chase as many as 19,000 through 2014.   But The Center for Public Integrity is keeping track of the management teams that ran the top 25 lenders that originated $1 trillion in subprime loans. Editor Daniel Wagner speculates a new housing bubble is on the way. He writes, "Today, senior executives from all 25 of those companies or companies that they swallowed up before the crash are back in the mortgage business."   Since the crash, mortgage origination has been plain vanilla, and has conformed to government lending standards. But as interest rates and home prices rise, lenders will have to offer more specialty loan products.   The days of stated income, pick-your-payment, 100% financing are over. But as mortgage company entrepreneur John Robbins says, the new environment "creates some opportunity to lower the bar a little bit and allow consumers the opportunity to buy homes [who] really deserve them."   On a year-to-date basis, jumbo originations were up 17.7% from the first half of last year. And while non-prime debt originated by non-bank lenders is just 5% of the market, the industry is again "mushrooming in size," according to Wagner. "Companies are expected to issue more than $20 billion of the non-guaranteed bonds this year, up from $6 billion in 2012, according to an April report from Standard & Poor's."   That's a far cry from the $1.19 trillion in unbacked mortgages bundled in 2005, but the industry is clearly rebounding. Guy Cecala, publisher of the trade magazine Inside Mortgage Finance, says, "You're going to see a little more risk coming into the system" as lenders permit smaller down payments and finance more investment properties.   "Five years down the road and we're back in the thick of it again. It's a weird place to be," says Cliff Rossi, who was a high-level risk management executive at Countrywide, Washington Mutual, and Freddie Mac before the crisis. "In that intervening 20 years, we forgot what we learned in the '80s," he says. "I fear right now, human nature being what it is, that downstream we could find ourselves in the same situation." Finally, the biggest borrower in history – the United States government – is currently borrowing for less than 3% for 10 years. Its obligations, says hedge fund titan Stanley Druckenmiller, are not the $12 trillion or $16 trillion the government shows on its books, but $200 trillion. That number includes the present value of the obligations made to America's seniors. It cannot be repaid.   There are a number of pins searching to pop the debt bubble. At the top of the list is the Fed. Druckenmiller told Bloomberg that without the Fed's QE, asset prices have to fall. He is laying low until he gets a sign the Fed is done buying $85 billion in bonds a month. "It is my belief that QE has subsidized all asset prices, and when you remove that, the market will go down," said the billionaire investor.   James Grant of Grant's Interest Rate Observer likes to say, "Knowledge in finance is cyclical, not cumulative." Druckenmiller echoes this view with, "...a necessary condition to have a financial crisis, in my opinion, is too loose monetary policy that encourages people to take undue risk and go on the risk curve and do silly things."   Big bets with low rates always make sense until reality bites. Then, what made sense suddenly looks silly. These high bond prices and low rates are an illusion created by the Fed. Soon, Bernanke or his successor will be viewed as having no clothes.   No one will escape this debt crisis unscathed, says famous investor Doug Casey, but you can make sure you're doing better than most others.   To find out how to best protect your assets and make double-digit yields, you need to know how the global engine of interlaced economies, central banks, and governments works… and how to profit from the market distortions it's creating.   Click here to learn how to stay on top of the American debt crisis.

FOMC Tapering? Send in the Clowns! Posted: 23 Sep 2013 11:22 AM PDT Nothing changed. It just got more intense post-FOMC no tapering vote...   LAST WEEK the Fed treated us to a whipsaw as market perceptions apparently were not in line with the FOMC policy statement, which was basically a punt, writes Gary Tanashian in his Notes from the Rabbit Hole.   Then the very next day the Fed's James Bullard jawboned the media about a possible October Federal Reserve tapering. Hence, a letter writer was left with images of a 3 ring circus heading into the weekend.   Humorously enough (you have got to admit that as scary as it is watching officials try to control financial markets to such a finite degree, there is humour in this as well) the post-FOMC economic data were mostly positive, whereas the pre-FOMC data had been negative (each with regard to expectations).   Data Negative? Cue FOMC roll over. Data Positive? Cue Huey, Dooey and Louie with the 'taper' jawbone routine. It is an official clown routine. In fact, I picture them in the little clown car at the circus. Every time the market's perceptions may be drifting toward the root of what the Fed is actually doing (inflating), the little car zooms in to the center ring and they come piling out. It really is funny I tell you.   Picture them in baggy, multicolored suits with polka dots and they will no longer seem like your enemy. They will appear as they are; helpless beyond their ability to distract from the business at hand, which is the market's natural discounting of monetary policy actions. Unfortunately, most circus goers continue to buy the routine for now.   Is it possible that the Fed got whipsawed by the data? Here is last week's economic reporting (courtesy of MarketWatch.com), which shows a mostly down pre-FOMC data set and mostly up data post-FOMC:   Here's last week's economic data, courtesy MarketWatch.com:     So rather than finding a dark conspiracy around every corner why don't we just assume that the Fed got the [positive] data around the same time we did and immediately got to work with its hyper-sensitive expectations management and flip flop routine? 'Send in the damned clowns!'   We need to understand that through the current QE operation the Fed is both inflating and trying to dampen inflationary signals at the same time. That is because they are buying "longer term" Treasury bonds (along with MBS) in an effort to suppress long-term interest rates, in theory helping keep the yield curve in check. It is a less intense process than Operation Twist, which not only bought long but also sold short.   It will do us no good to chase policy makers around in their little clown cars. But in navigating an entertaining, confusing, noisy, frustrating and comical market it will do us a lot of good to remain on the macro data. A premise to gold's investment case is a rising yield curve, in which long dated T bonds decline relative to shorter dated bonds. That is because among other things, a rising curve indicates rising inflation expectations.   People focused on the US Dollar as an anti-market to gold get excited about QE because it is the act of printing Dollars to buy distressed garbage (MBS) and long-term Treasury bonds.   But the genius of QE – or maybe it is just a cheap parlor trick doomed to be exposed one day – is that it theoretically dampens the curve (Op/Twist-lite) because it favors long-term bonds over short-term bonds and thus seeks to mute inflationary signals. In other words, if the mythical 'bond vigilantes' are selling, the Fed is buying.     The weekly chart above shows the correlation of the 30-5 yield spread vs. gold and silver since 2008. The rising curve eventually went hand in hand with upside blow offs in silver and then to a lesser extent, gold in 2011. The curve continued to rise and eventually top out while the precious metals made lower highs as they digested the excesses.   Now the curve is at support and the metals are trying to bottom. Last week's 'taper' hype aside, nothing has changed about the status. But the point is that when the Fed does start to taper, whether it be in October as Clown 1 suggested last week, or sometime later, it could theoretically release pressure on the yield curve.   The sooner the Fed is compelled to 'taper' its bond buying, the sooner we may get on with the process of transitioning from an environment where they are perceived as heroes as opposed to what they actually have been for the most part since 2001; clerks that injected economic hazards in the first place through systematic inflationary policy trying to clean up each mess with more intense and covert forms of the same policy. The transition would be to an environment where they are again reviled for so thoroughly meddling in the economy as to render it dysfunctional.   Gold would then have its day, as confidence wanes and the yield curve responds, packing the clowns into their little car, sending them right out of the Big Top and back to the traveling Carny circuit where they belong.     Last week was one big cluster of emotion and most of us were whipsawed by it. The Fed exposed itself last week as being firmly NOT in total control as their pristine post-2011 image was tarnished. In this market, we are in a process of surviving and then capitalizing by understanding what is going on beneath the surface.   Nothing has changed, it just got more intense last week. The real inflation mechanism, Zero Interest rates (ZIRP) continues apace and the parlor tricks they are performing on various other T-bond maturities will eventually fade.

FOMC Tapering? Send in the Clowns! Posted: 23 Sep 2013 11:22 AM PDT Nothing changed. It just got more intense post-FOMC no tapering vote...   LAST WEEK the Fed treated us to a whipsaw as market perceptions apparently were not in line with the FOMC policy statement, which was basically a punt, writes Gary Tanashian in his Notes from the Rabbit Hole.   Then the very next day the Fed's James Bullard jawboned the media about a possible October Federal Reserve tapering. Hence, a letter writer was left with images of a 3 ring circus heading into the weekend.   Humorously enough (you have got to admit that as scary as it is watching officials try to control financial markets to such a finite degree, there is humour in this as well) the post-FOMC economic data were mostly positive, whereas the pre-FOMC data had been negative (each with regard to expectations).   Data Negative? Cue FOMC roll over. Data Positive? Cue Huey, Dooey and Louie with the 'taper' jawbone routine. It is an official clown routine. In fact, I picture them in the little clown car at the circus. Every time the market's perceptions may be drifting toward the root of what the Fed is actually doing (inflating), the little car zooms in to the center ring and they come piling out. It really is funny I tell you.   Picture them in baggy, multicolored suits with polka dots and they will no longer seem like your enemy. They will appear as they are; helpless beyond their ability to distract from the business at hand, which is the market's natural discounting of monetary policy actions. Unfortunately, most circus goers continue to buy the routine for now.   Is it possible that the Fed got whipsawed by the data? Here is last week's economic reporting (courtesy of MarketWatch.com), which shows a mostly down pre-FOMC data set and mostly up data post-FOMC:   Here's last week's economic data, courtesy MarketWatch.com:     So rather than finding a dark conspiracy around every corner why don't we just assume that the Fed got the [positive] data around the same time we did and immediately got to work with its hyper-sensitive expectations management and flip flop routine? 'Send in the damned clowns!'   We need to understand that through the current QE operation the Fed is both inflating and trying to dampen inflationary signals at the same time. That is because they are buying "longer term" Treasury bonds (along with MBS) in an effort to suppress long-term interest rates, in theory helping keep the yield curve in check. It is a less intense process than Operation Twist, which not only bought long but also sold short.   It will do us no good to chase policy makers around in their little clown cars. But in navigating an entertaining, confusing, noisy, frustrating and comical market it will do us a lot of good to remain on the macro data. A premise to gold's investment case is a rising yield curve, in which long dated T bonds decline relative to shorter dated bonds. That is because among other things, a rising curve indicates rising inflation expectations.   People focused on the US Dollar as an anti-market to gold get excited about QE because it is the act of printing Dollars to buy distressed garbage (MBS) and long-term Treasury bonds.   But the genius of QE – or maybe it is just a cheap parlor trick doomed to be exposed one day – is that it theoretically dampens the curve (Op/Twist-lite) because it favors long-term bonds over short-term bonds and thus seeks to mute inflationary signals. In other words, if the mythical 'bond vigilantes' are selling, the Fed is buying.     The weekly chart above shows the correlation of the 30-5 yield spread vs. gold and silver since 2008. The rising curve eventually went hand in hand with upside blow offs in silver and then to a lesser extent, gold in 2011. The curve continued to rise and eventually top out while the precious metals made lower highs as they digested the excesses.   Now the curve is at support and the metals are trying to bottom. Last week's 'taper' hype aside, nothing has changed about the status. But the point is that when the Fed does start to taper, whether it be in October as Clown 1 suggested last week, or sometime later, it could theoretically release pressure on the yield curve.   The sooner the Fed is compelled to 'taper' its bond buying, the sooner we may get on with the process of transitioning from an environment where they are perceived as heroes as opposed to what they actually have been for the most part since 2001; clerks that injected economic hazards in the first place through systematic inflationary policy trying to clean up each mess with more intense and covert forms of the same policy. The transition would be to an environment where they are again reviled for so thoroughly meddling in the economy as to render it dysfunctional.   Gold would then have its day, as confidence wanes and the yield curve responds, packing the clowns into their little car, sending them right out of the Big Top and back to the traveling Carny circuit where they belong.     Last week was one big cluster of emotion and most of us were whipsawed by it. The Fed exposed itself last week as being firmly NOT in total control as their pristine post-2011 image was tarnished. In this market, we are in a process of surviving and then capitalizing by understanding what is going on beneath the surface.   Nothing has changed, it just got more intense last week. The real inflation mechanism, Zero Interest rates (ZIRP) continues apace and the parlor tricks they are performing on various other T-bond maturities will eventually fade.

The Fed's Fairy Story Posted: 23 Sep 2013 11:19 AM PDT Bank assets and liabilities are only part of the fairy story being peddled by the Fed...   HUMAN BEINGS are suckers for a story, writes Tim Price on his PriceOfEverything blog.   The story peddled by mainstream economic commentators goes that the US Federal Reserve and its international cousins have acted boldly to prevent a second Great Depression.   Stepping in to support the banks (and not coincidentally the government bond markets) by printing trillions of Dollars of ex nihilo money, this will – through the mechanism of quantitative easing – mysteriously reflate the economy.    It's a story alright, but more akin to a fairy story. We favour an alternative narrative, namely that with politicians abdicating all real responsibility in addressing the financial and economic crisis, the heavy lifting has been left to central bankers, who have run out of conventional policy options and are now stoking the fire for the next financial crisis by attempting to rig prices throughout the financial system, notably in property markets, but having a grave impact on volatility across credit markets, government bond markets, equities, commodities.   As politicians might have told either them, or Steven Ricchiuto of Mizuho Securities, it's quite easy to be brave when you're spending other people's money.   Before we get back to the Fed, it's worth a minute recapping why it was created, namely as a private banking cartel with a monopoly over the country's financial resources and the facility to shift losses when they occur to the taxpayers. Satire goes a long way here (not least because the reality is so depressing) – here is Punch's take on the banks from April 1957, cited in G. Edward Griffin's history of the Fed, The Creature From Jekyll Island... Q: What are banks for?   A: To make money.   Q: For the customers?   A: For the banks.   Q: Why doesn't bank advertising mention this ?   A: It wouldn't be in good taste. But it is mentioned by implication in references to reserves of $249,000,000 or thereabouts. That is the money they have made.   Q: Out of the customers?   A: I suppose so.   Q: They also mention Assets of $500,000,000 or thereabouts. Have they made that too?   A: Not exactly. That is the money they use to make money.   Q: I see. And they keep it in a safe somewhere?   A: Not at all. They lend it to customers.   Q: Then they haven't got it?   A: No.   Q: Then how is it Assets? A: They maintain that it would be if they got it back.   Q: But they must have some money in a safe somewhere?   A: Yes, usually $500,000,000 or thereabouts. This is called Liabilities.   Q: But if they've got it, how can they be liable for it?   A: Because it isn't theirs.   Q: Then why do they have it?   A: It has been lent to them by customers.   Q: You mean customers lend banks money?   A: In effect. They put money into their accounts, so it is really lent to the banks.   Q: And what do the banks do with it?   A: Lend it to other customers.   Q: But you said that money they lent to other people was Assets?   A: Yes.   Q: Then Assets and Liabilities must be the same thing.   A: You can't really say that.   Q: But you've just said it. If I put $100 into my account the bank is liable to have to pay it back, so it's Liabilities. But they go and lend it to someone else, and he is liable to pay it back, so it's Assets. It's the same $100, isn't it?   A: Yes, but..   Q: Then it cancels out. It means, doesn't it, that banks don't really have any money at all?   A: Theoretically..   Q: Never mind theoretically. And if they haven't any money, where do they get their Reserves of $249,000,000 or thereabouts?   A: I told you. That is the money they've made.   Q: How?   A: Well, when they lend your $100 to someone they charge him interest.   Q: How much?   A: It depends on the Bank rate. Say five and a half percent. That's their profit.   Q: Why isn't it my profit ? Isn't it my money ?   A: It's the theory of banking practice that..   Q: When I lend them my $100 why don't I charge them interest?   A: You do.   Q: You don't say. How much?   A: It depends on the Bank rate. Say half a percent.   Q: Grasping of me, rather?   A: But that's only if you're not going to draw the money out again.   Q: But of course I'm going to draw it out again. If I hadn't wanted to draw it out again I could have buried it in the garden, couldn't I ?   A: They wouldn't like you to draw it out again.   Q: Why not? If I keep it there you say it's a Liability. Wouldn't they be glad if I reduced their Liabilities by removing it?   A: No. Because if you remove it they can't lend it to anyone else.   Q: But if I wanted to remove it they'd have to let me?   A: Certainly.   Q: But suppose they've already lent it to another customer?   A: Then they'll let you have someone else's money.   Q: But suppose he wants his too...and they've let me have it?   A: You're being purposely obtuse.   Q: I think I'm being acute. What if everyone wanted their money at once?   A: It's the theory of banking practice that they never would.   Q: So what banks bank on is not having to meet their commitments?   A: I wouldn't say that.   Q: Naturally. Well, if there's nothing else you think you can tell me..   A: Quite so. Now you can go off and open a banking account.   Q: Just one last question.   A: Of course.   Q: Wouldn't I do better to go off and open up a bank? If only. In defending an insolvent banking system, central banks have now created a more absurd situation than Punch could ever have dreamed of.   This commentator, for example, has a meaningful cash deposit with a UK commercial bank that is currently earning 0.0% interest (let's say minus 3% in real terms). To put it another way, we have 100% counterparty and credit risk with a minus 3% annual return.   Is it any wonder the UK savings rate is not higher? Is it any wonder that savers are stampeding into risk assets? But the likes of the Fed have muddied the pond further by attempting a policy of "forward guidance" that is little more than a sick joke, given the recent sell-off in government bond markets and the resultant rise in government bond yields, on fears of "tapering". The Fed has lost control of the bond market. As Swiss investor Marc Faber puts it: "The question is when will it lose control of the stock market." For several years we have been warning of the dangers of central banks becoming increasingly interventionist in the capital markets. We are old school free market libertarians: if bankers make bad decisions, let their banks fail.   This is essentially the same perspective taken by Michael Lewis, recently interviewed in Bloomberg Businessweek. On the fifth anniversary of its bankruptcy, Lewis was asked whether he thought Lehman Brothers had been unfairly singled out when it was allowed to fail (given that every other investment bank was quickly rescued, courtesy of the US taxpayer). His response: "Lehman Brothers was the only one that experienced justice. They should've all been left to the mercy of the marketplace. I don't feel, oh, how sad that Lehman went down. I feel, how sad that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley didn't follow. I would've liked to have seen the crisis play itself out more. The problem is, we would've all paid the price. It's a close call, but I think the long-term effects would've been better." But that is not what happened. We didn't get runs on investment banks. We got bank bailouts, taxpayer rescues, QE1, QE2, QE3 and now QE-Infinity. The impact on the real economy has been questionable, to say the least.   But the impact on financial markets has been demonstrably beneficial to investment banks and their largest clients.   As Stanley Druckenmiller points out, the Fed didn't act bravely, they bottled it. They had the opportunity to start, ever so gently, to reverse a policy of monstrous intervention in the capital markets, and they blew it. That makes it all the harder for them to "taper" next time round. When do capital markets free themselves from the baleful manipulation of the state?    Marc Faber was similarly unimpressed: "The endgame is a total collapse, but from a higher diving board. The Fed will continue to print and if the stock market goes down 10% they will print even more. And they don't know anything else to do. And quite frankly, they have boxed themselves into a corner where they are now kind of desperate." The Fed may be desperate, but we're not. We have our client assets carefully corralled into four separate asset classes. High quality debt (not US Treasuries or UK Gilts) offers income and a degree of capital protection given that the central banks have demolished deposit rates.   Defensive equities give us some skin in the game given central bank bubble-blowing in the stock market – but this game ends in tears. Uncorrelated, systematic trend-followers give us a "market neutral" way of prospectively benefiting from any disorderly market panic. And real assets give us some major skin in the game in the event of an inflationary disaster.   Since pretty much all of these assets can be marked to market on a daily basis, they are not free of volatility, but we are more concerned with avoiding the risk of permanent loss of capital, Cypriot bank-style. We have, in other words, Fed-proofed our portfolios to the best of our ability. And on the topic of gold alone, Marc Faber again: "I always buy gold and I own gold. I don't even value it. I regard it as an insurance policy. I think responsible citizens should own gold, period." Now that the Fed has blinked in the face of market resistance, it seems inevitable to us, as it does to people like Marc Faber, that at some point, possibly in the near future, traditional assets are at risk of loudly going bang. How close are you going to be to the explosion?

The Fed's Fairy Story Posted: 23 Sep 2013 11:19 AM PDT Bank assets and liabilities are only part of the fairy story being peddled by the Fed...   HUMAN BEINGS are suckers for a story, writes Tim Price on his PriceOfEverything blog.   The story peddled by mainstream economic commentators goes that the US Federal Reserve and its international cousins have acted boldly to prevent a second Great Depression.   Stepping in to support the banks (and not coincidentally the government bond markets) by printing trillions of Dollars of ex nihilo money, this will – through the mechanism of quantitative easing – mysteriously reflate the economy.    It's a story alright, but more akin to a fairy story. We favour an alternative narrative, namely that with politicians abdicating all real responsibility in addressing the financial and economic crisis, the heavy lifting has been left to central bankers, who have run out of conventional policy options and are now stoking the fire for the next financial crisis by attempting to rig prices throughout the financial system, notably in property markets, but having a grave impact on volatility across credit markets, government bond markets, equities, commodities.   As politicians might have told either them, or Steven Ricchiuto of Mizuho Securities, it's quite easy to be brave when you're spending other people's money.   Before we get back to the Fed, it's worth a minute recapping why it was created, namely as a private banking cartel with a monopoly over the country's financial resources and the facility to shift losses when they occur to the taxpayers. Satire goes a long way here (not least because the reality is so depressing) – here is Punch's take on the banks from April 1957, cited in G. Edward Griffin's history of the Fed, The Creature From Jekyll Island... Q: What are banks for?   A: To make money.   Q: For the customers?   A: For the banks.   Q: Why doesn't bank advertising mention this ?   A: It wouldn't be in good taste. But it is mentioned by implication in references to reserves of $249,000,000 or thereabouts. That is the money they have made.   Q: Out of the customers?   A: I suppose so.   Q: They also mention Assets of $500,000,000 or thereabouts. Have they made that too?   A: Not exactly. That is the money they use to make money.   Q: I see. And they keep it in a safe somewhere?   A: Not at all. They lend it to customers.   Q: Then they haven't got it?   A: No.   Q: Then how is it Assets? A: They maintain that it would be if they got it back.   Q: But they must have some money in a safe somewhere?   A: Yes, usually $500,000,000 or thereabouts. This is called Liabilities.   Q: But if they've got it, how can they be liable for it?   A: Because it isn't theirs.   Q: Then why do they have it?   A: It has been lent to them by customers.   Q: You mean customers lend banks money?   A: In effect. They put money into their accounts, so it is really lent to the banks.   Q: And what do the banks do with it?   A: Lend it to other customers.   Q: But you said that money they lent to other people was Assets?   A: Yes.   Q: Then Assets and Liabilities must be the same thing.   A: You can't really say that.   Q: But you've just said it. If I put $100 into my account the bank is liable to have to pay it back, so it's Liabilities. But they go and lend it to someone else, and he is liable to pay it back, so it's Assets. It's the same $100, isn't it?   A: Yes, but..   Q: Then it cancels out. It means, doesn't it, that banks don't really have any money at all?   A: Theoretically..   Q: Never mind theoretically. And if they haven't any money, where do they get their Reserves of $249,000,000 or thereabouts?   A: I told you. That is the money they've made.   Q: How?   A: Well, when they lend your $100 to someone they charge him interest.   Q: How much?   A: It depends on the Bank rate. Say five and a half percent. That's their profit.   Q: Why isn't it my profit ? Isn't it my money ?   A: It's the theory of banking practice that..   Q: When I lend them my $100 why don't I charge them interest?   A: You do.   Q: You don't say. How much?   A: It depends on the Bank rate. Say half a percent.   Q: Grasping of me, rather?   A: But that's only if you're not going to draw the money out again.   Q: But of course I'm going to draw it out again. If I hadn't wanted to draw it out again I could have buried it in the garden, couldn't I ?   A: They wouldn't like you to draw it out again.   Q: Why not? If I keep it there you say it's a Liability. Wouldn't they be glad if I reduced their Liabilities by removing it?   A: No. Because if you remove it they can't lend it to anyone else.   Q: But if I wanted to remove it they'd have to let me?   A: Certainly.   Q: But suppose they've already lent it to another customer?   A: Then they'll let you have someone else's money.   Q: But suppose he wants his too...and they've let me have it?   A: You're being purposely obtuse.   Q: I think I'm being acute. What if everyone wanted their money at once?   A: It's the theory of banking practice that they never would.   Q: So what banks bank on is not having to meet their commitments?   A: I wouldn't say that.   Q: Naturally. Well, if there's nothing else you think you can tell me..   A: Quite so. Now you can go off and open a banking account.   Q: Just one last question.   A: Of course.   Q: Wouldn't I do better to go off and open up a bank? If only. In defending an insolvent banking system, central banks have now created a more absurd situation than Punch could ever have dreamed of.   This commentator, for example, has a meaningful cash deposit with a UK commercial bank that is currently earning 0.0% interest (let's say minus 3% in real terms). To put it another way, we have 100% counterparty and credit risk with a minus 3% annual return.   Is it any wonder the UK savings rate is not higher? Is it any wonder that savers are stampeding into risk assets? But the likes of the Fed have muddied the pond further by attempting a policy of "forward guidance" that is little more than a sick joke, given the recent sell-off in government bond markets and the resultant rise in government bond yields, on fears of "tapering". The Fed has lost control of the bond market. As Swiss investor Marc Faber puts it: "The question is when will it lose control of the stock market." For several years we have been warning of the dangers of central banks becoming increasingly interventionist in the capital markets. We are old school free market libertarians: if bankers make bad decisions, let their banks fail.   This is essentially the same perspective taken by Michael Lewis, recently interviewed in Bloomberg Businessweek. On the fifth anniversary of its bankruptcy, Lewis was asked whether he thought Lehman Brothers had been unfairly singled out when it was allowed to fail (given that every other investment bank was quickly rescued, courtesy of the US taxpayer). His response: "Lehman Brothers was the only one that experienced justice. They should've all been left to the mercy of the marketplace. I don't feel, oh, how sad that Lehman went down. I feel, how sad that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley didn't follow. I would've liked to have seen the crisis play itself out more. The problem is, we would've all paid the price. It's a close call, but I think the long-term effects would've been better." But that is not what happened. We didn't get runs on investment banks. We got bank bailouts, taxpayer rescues, QE1, QE2, QE3 and now QE-Infinity. The impact on the real economy has been questionable, to say the least.   But the impact on financial markets has been demonstrably beneficial to investment banks and their largest clients.   As Stanley Druckenmiller points out, the Fed didn't act bravely, they bottled it. They had the opportunity to start, ever so gently, to reverse a policy of monstrous intervention in the capital markets, and they blew it. That makes it all the harder for them to "taper" next time round. When do capital markets free themselves from the baleful manipulation of the state?    Marc Faber was similarly unimpressed: "The endgame is a total collapse, but from a higher diving board. The Fed will continue to print and if the stock market goes down 10% they will print even more. And they don't know anything else to do. And quite frankly, they have boxed themselves into a corner where they are now kind of desperate." The Fed may be desperate, but we're not. We have our client assets carefully corralled into four separate asset classes. High quality debt (not US Treasuries or UK Gilts) offers income and a degree of capital protection given that the central banks have demolished deposit rates.   Defensive equities give us some skin in the game given central bank bubble-blowing in the stock market – but this game ends in tears. Uncorrelated, systematic trend-followers give us a "market neutral" way of prospectively benefiting from any disorderly market panic. And real assets give us some major skin in the game in the event of an inflationary disaster.   Since pretty much all of these assets can be marked to market on a daily basis, they are not free of volatility, but we are more concerned with avoiding the risk of permanent loss of capital, Cypriot bank-style. We have, in other words, Fed-proofed our portfolios to the best of our ability. And on the topic of gold alone, Marc Faber again: "I always buy gold and I own gold. I don't even value it. I regard it as an insurance policy. I think responsible citizens should own gold, period." Now that the Fed has blinked in the face of market resistance, it seems inevitable to us, as it does to people like Marc Faber, that at some point, possibly in the near future, traditional assets are at risk of loudly going bang. How close are you going to be to the explosion?

Avalanche of propaganda accompanies Fed's failure, Embry tells KWN Posted: 23 Sep 2013 11:07 AM PDT 2:08p ET Monday, September 23, 2013 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: The Federal Reserve's inability to reduce its bond purchases is being accompanied by an avalanche of propaganda that includes extra suppression of the price of gold, Sprott Asset Management's John Embry tells King World News today. Government intervention is propping up the stock and bond markets while suppressing gold, Embry says, and thus is holding ordinary investors in the wrong assets, which will prove disastrous to them. An excerpt from the interview is posted at the King World News blog here: http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/9/23_Th... CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. ADVERTISEMENT Precious Metals Round Table: Where Do We Go From Here? On Tuesday, September 24, Sprott Asset Management will assemble four experts for a live Internet broadcast about the prospects for the precious metals. Participating will be Sprott's CEO, Eric Sprott; financial letter writer and internationally renowned conference speaker Marc Faber; Sprott's chief investment strategist, John Embry; and Sprott Asset Management President Rick Rule. To participate, please visit: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=regist... Join GATA here: Louis Boulanger Now Seminar Visitors Center, Holy Trinity Parnell Auckland, New Zeland Sunday, October 13, 2013 http://www.gata.org/files/GATAInNewZealand.pdf Gold Investment Symposium 2013 Luna Park Conference Center, Sydney, Australia Wednesday-Thursday, October 16-17, 2013 http://gold.symposium.net.au/ The Silver Summit Davenport Hotel, Spokane, Washington Thursday-Friday, October 24-25, 2013 http://www.cambridgehouse.com/event/silver-summit-2013 Mines and Money Australia Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre Tuesday, October 29-Friday, November 1, 2013 http://www.minesandmoney.com/ New Orleans Investment Conference Sunday-Wednesday, November 10-13, 2013 Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel New Orleans, Louisiana https://jeffersoncompanies.com/landing/speakers?IDPromotion=613011610080... * * * 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: http://gata.org/tshirts 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: http://www.gata.org To contribute to GATA, please visit: http://www.gata.org/node/16

Chinese Housewives vs. Goldman Sachs: No Contest Posted: 23 Sep 2013 10:39 AM PDT Dear Reader, Gold, our favorite asset, had a wild week last week. We were not surprised that the Fed didn't taper, given that The Beard had previously said he wanted to see better employment figures before cutting back on the government's money printing. But many market players were clearly surprised, and the decision to keep the printing presses running at full speed caused gold to jump dramatically. Gold retreated again last Friday, perhaps in part as a response to the much-discussed prediction by Goldman Sachs that gold would retreat further. Jeff Clark has a look at that question below. Before we get there, I want to draw the attention of our readers down under to a new Casey Phyle forming in the Brisbane area—southeastern Queensland and northern New South Wales. Anyone interested should write to phyle@caseyresearch.com for details. On this subject, I should mention that we have interest from readers who want to participate in phyles in: Edmonton, Alberta; Tucson, Arizona; Boston, Massachusetts; Salt Lake City, Utah; Wilmington, North Carolina; and Orlando, Fort Myers, and Naples, Florida. All the people in these cities need is for someone to volunteer to be a group coordinator. The process of setting up and running a Casey Phyle is pretty easy and costs no money. If you're interested, please write to phyle@caseyresearch.com for details. If you're not sure what the heck we're talking about, we're talking about groups of like-minded people in specific areas. They get together to discuss whatever topic(s) the group wishes. Of course, many groups focus on contrarian/speculative investing and/or libertarian ideas, since they aren't widespread in the mainstream, but each group chooses whether to limit its focus. Please have a look at the conversation Doug Casey and I had on the subject of phyles. They are great fun, and we encourage everyone to participate. Speaking of great conversations, my brother in arms, Marin Katusa of the Casey energy team, had a terrific, hard-hitting talk with Eric Sprott, one of the most successful metals investors of our day. Marin asked all the tough questions, and Sprott fielded them gracefully—and informatively. Well worth checking out. Now, without further ado, let's have a look at the latest hot topic regarding our favorite investment. Sincerely, Louis James Senior Metals Investment Strategist Casey Research Rock & Stock Stats Last One Month Ago One Year Ago Gold 1,325.60 1,372.60 1,767.80 Silver 21.80 23.07 34.62 Copper 3.28 3.34 3.76 Oil 104.67 105.11 92.42 Gold Producers (GDX) 25.76 30.33 54.36 Gold Junior Stocks (GDXJ) 41.48 49.77 99.84 Silver Stocks (SIL) 13.83 15.75 25.12 TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange) 12,806.47 12,670.11 12,409.25 TSX Venture 946.10 932.60 1,334.89 Chinese Housewives vs. Goldman Sachs: No Contest Jeff Clark, Senior Precious Metals Analyst Goldman Sachs is once again predicting that gold will fall, setting a new near-term target of $1,050. Never mind the schizophrenic gene that would be required to follow the constantly fluctuating predictions of all these big banks; it's amazing to me that anyone continues to listen to them after their abysmal record and long-standing anti-gold stance. Sure, the too-big-to-fails can move markets—but they say things that are good for them, not us. When I visited China two years ago, guess who no one was talking about? Goldman Sachs. There was news about the US, of course, but the regular diet of journalistic intake consisted of Chinese activity, not North American. And surprise, surprise, the view from that side of the big blue ball was materially different than what we hear and read here—and in some cases, the opposite. Not only has the average Chinese housewife, perhaps the most frugal and cautious species of savers in the world, probably never heard of Goldman Sachs and their call for $1,000 gold—if she had, she would think: 垃圾! (Rubbish!) Here's some evidence. Since January 1, gold ETF holdings have fallen by roughly a quarter (26%, according to GFMS). But Chinese housewives aren't refraining from buying or maybe even selling: The red dotted line represents the total outflows of GLD through last Tuesday. The gold bars are cumulative monthly imports of gold to China, through Hong Kong. You can see that China has absorbed roughly twice what most North American ETF holders have sold. It's actually more than that, because we only have Hong Kong import data up to the end of July. But it's even more dramatic than this. If you dig down into the data further, you find that cumulative gold imports through July surpassed the 26.7 million ounces (831 tonnes) that was imported to China for the whole of 2012. That means rather than being deterred from buying gold when its price was declining this year, the Chinese were snapping up the yellow metal as fast as they could. Last year Chinese miners produced 12.9 million ounces (403 tonnes) of gold, all of which stayed in the country. When you look at physical deliveries from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) vs. the COMEX and global mine production, you can see a clear trend this year: Deliveries at the SGE are significantly greater than those at the COMEX. Delivery ratios on the Comex have consistently been under 10%, in contrast to more than 30% on the SGE. Through June, the SGE has nearly matched all of last year's total. What's even more astonishing: year-to-date deliveries on the SGE are close to global mine production. In the first six months, delivery reached 35.3 million ounces (1,098 tonnes), just 20% less than what all gold companies mined last year. It is headlines like these that the Chinese read—not what Goldman Sachs writes. It's not just the Chinese, of course. India, for now, is still the largest gold market. Despite relentless restrictions from her government, Mrs. Singh bought more gold jewelry and bullion last quarter than any other country. China and India accounted for almost 60% of the global gold jewelry sector last quarter, and roughly half of total bar and coin demand. Further, both countries saw almost 50% more consumer demand in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2012. The two countries are again setting records… China purchased 8.8 million ounces (275 tonnes), 87% more than last year India bought 9.9 million ounces (310 tonnes), 71% more than 2012 It's true that official Indian gold imports dropped in August, to just 0.08 million ounces (2.5 tonnes), a 95% plunge from July’s volume of 1.5 million ounces (47.5 tonnes). It's not yet clear, however, that Indian authorities have managed to subdue gold imports as they have been desperately trying to do; keep in mind the widespread reports of gold smuggling. Meanwhile, the wedding season is just ahead, so demand is likely to bounce back up. Physical demand also soared in Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam last quarter, with increases ranging from 20% to 40% being reported. Add it all up and the Asian/emerging countries comprise the lion's share of consumer demand for gold, about 70%. It begs the question, are Asians just smarter than Goldman Sachs? If you find yourself agreeing more with Mrs. Chang than Goldman Sachs, you can snag two silver bullion products at a discounted premium in the current issue of BIG GOLD. You won't find these prices elsewhere, and the savings could pay for your subscription. Product is still available, so join the Chinese gold rush and stock up while prices are down with a risk-free subscription to BIG GOLD. What does this mean to us as investors? The structure of the gold market is changing. Gold is moving from the so-called "weak hands"—those who saw gold as a "trade" and/or were seeking quick profits—to "strong hands," who see the big picure and are buying for the long term. Gold is moving west to east. You've heard this before, but the above data irrefutably points to this fact—and the trend shows no signs of letting up. The East will have an increasingly greater impact on price. As Asian countries take over more and more of the market, their influence on the price will only grow. The gold bull market is not over, regardless of what GS says. When I read their comments on the precious metals market, I sometimes wonder if they really understand it. But then again, do any of their analysts even own any gold? Mrs. Chang, I'm with you. Gold and Silver HEADLINES Evo Morales to Revoke 70% of Private Mining Concessions Without Compensation (Mining.com) Bolivia reminds us that political risk is among the most important factors for resource investors to consider. A new law enacted in the country will allow the authorities to seize 70% of private mining concessions, with zero compensation. The measure is directed at "idle or unproductive" land, meaning concessions in which no investment has been made. After a state agency confirms the concession is indeed "idle," the land will be redistributed to other industries which will supposedly use it. We must concede that this is a valid issue in many Latin American countries—individuals secured mineral rights to vast tracts of land decades ago and never did any exploration on them. We can understand the urge to get these properties into hands that will work on them. However, the blanket authority of this law can easily be abused. Exploration companies working in Bolivia should be very wary, lest the government become impatient with their progress and seize their land under this law. India Hikes Import Duty on Gold Jewelry to 15 Percent (Reuters) Seeking to protect the domestic jewelry industry, India's government increased the import duty on gold jewelry from 10% to 15%. The previous restrictions and higher duties led to a major distortion in the country's gold market, making jewelry produced locally more expensive than that imported from Thailand, Malaysia, and elsewhere. Now the politicians are trying to deal with the unintended consequences of their actions. This Week in International Speculator and BIG GOLD—Key Updates for Subscribers International Speculator We are very pleased that this exploration company continues making outstanding, value-adding progress. Recent drill results expand the best-grade mineralization on the project. The potential suggested by a new type of high-grade mineralization discovered by one of our company's North American gold explorers is very encouraging. BIG GOLD As a direct result of management's successful efforts, this silver producer increased its production guidance by 20%, an impressive jump in the middle of the year. We just changed our recommendation on this gold producer: it's time to buy again.

One, Big Steal? Posted: 23 Sep 2013 10:12 AM PDT Life (these days) as a precious metals commentator is a study in exasperation. Fundamentals mean nothing. What passes for "mainstream analysis" ranges from the merely inane to the totally insane. Financial crime in the sector – officially sanctioned – is rampant. A particular point of frustration is attempting to dissect the current scenario. Extreme (illegal) price-suppression of precious metals has led to out-of-control demand for bullion in Asia, the near-total destruction of the supply-chain (mining), and (inevitably accompanying that) the decimation of physical inventories of bullion. As has been explained in several, previous commentaries; the only mechanism for healing these raped markets and re-building the supply chain is higher prices, much higher prices. And it is now very clear that the Banksters will never allow another significant rally in this sector; at least not while they still maintain control of precious metals prices via their paper-fraud markets. While the divergent Voices within this sector are rarely unanimous about anything; there is consensus here: the current situation "cannot last" for any length of time. However, while this Road to Bullion Default (or Decoupling) appears counter-productive – if not self-destructive – from most perspectives; there is one anomaly which stands in contrast to this. North American bullion demand (and bullion ownership) has been pushed down into a trough, arguably the lowest trough since right before/during the Crash of '08. And here, perhaps, we see "method in the madness" of the One Bank. What if the Banksters simply no longer care what happens in bullion markets next year? All they are concerned about is one variable: minimizing the amount of North American capital  (i.e. wealth) stored safely in physical bullion today, in order to maximize the amount of North American wealth being stored in paper today. Framing the parameters in that manner, a clear strategy emerges: preparations for One (last) Big Steal. The fleecing-to-end-all-fleecings for the flocks of oblivious Western Sheep. Having herded all this capital into easy-to-steal paper form; we now see the Shepherds pulling out their Shears. As noted in previous commentaries; preparations for another (staged) "crash" couldn't be more obvious – in both Canada and the United States. Except this time we have "bail ins": the potential for infinite/unlimited stealing of paper assets. The fact that B.S. Bernanke, the Boy Who Cried Exit Strategy failed to "pull the trigger" (yet again) on reducing U.S. money-printing – and detonating the crippled U.S. economy – suggests that the Banksters lack the courage to "crash" the U.S. economy (and other Western economies) through blatant, overt action. Rather, the crash and subsequent Shearing will be caused by, and blamed on some exogenous (staged) event. The one thing we can be certain of is that some sort of "crash event" is inevitable, and coming in the near future. Obviously the One Bank did not go to all the trouble of staging its Cyprus Theft, getting all its Minions in media and government to declare it "a precedent", inventing "bail-in" frameworks for most (all?) Western economies, and then herding as much of that capital as possible into paper form not to steal it. With complete certainty that a Big Steal is on the way for most (all?) Western economies, and with it impossible to predict (i.e. guess) what sort of pretext will be used to "justify" all of the stealing-to-come; all this leaves us is trying to narrow down when this crime will take place, and what will be the consequences in the aftermath.

This Will End In Catastrophic Collapse & Tragedy For The West Posted: 23 Sep 2013 09:33 AM PDT In the aftermath of a disastrous week for the Fed, which culminated in Friday's desperate propaganda from the Fed's James Bullard, today a man who has been involved in the financial markets for 50 years warned King World News that this will "... end in a catastrophic collapse and tragedy for virtually every single human being in the West." Below is what John Embry had to say in this powerful interview. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Gold and Silver "Back to Status Quo" After Fed Surprise Posted: 23 Sep 2013 09:18 AM PDT BOTH the price of gold and silver recovered early losses Monday morning in London, regaining a 1% and 2% drop respectively as world stock markets slipped with commodities. German Bunds held flat, but the Euro currency dropped half-a-cent to a 3-session low after Angela Merkel was returned as German chancellor in national elections.

The Relationship Between Financial Assets, Time And Gold Posted: 23 Sep 2013 09:00 AM PDT Claudio Grass writes: On a daily basis financial assets and commodities are measurable with the same yardstick which is say US dollars. This measurability in dollars in both cases is misleading and obscures the fact that they are indeed totally different. Their relationship to time is what sets them apart. The idea of duration and the difference between a present good and a financial asset are the most important concepts to understand for people wondering what Gold allocations are all about.

The Daily Market Report Posted: 23 Sep 2013 08:47 AM PDT Gold Defensive as Taper-Talk Returns 23-Sep (USAGOLD) — Gold remains defensive in the wake of Friday’s sharp retreat as the market’s attention has amusingly returned to taper prospects, less than a week after the Fed shocked them by not tapering. This may well be exactly what the Fed intended in the hope of keeping markets — and perhaps specifically the gold market — in check. You may recall that St. Louis Fed president Bullard was the first to hint last week of a possible October taper, if of course the economic data supports such a move. As we’ve seen in the past, that’s a mighty big ‘if’. Bullard also said that the Fed should “defend the inflation target from the low side,” which is an argument not just for maintaining the current level of QE, but for perhaps increasing it! Additionally, we’ve heard some pretty dovish FedSpeak from Dennis Lockhart and Bill Dudley today. The NY Fed’s Dudley said very accommodative monetary policy is needed to “forcefully push against economic headwinds.” Any change to QE must be rooted in economic data and financial conditions according to Dudley. Dudley echoed Bernanke in saying that labor market conditions are actually much weaker than the drop in the unemployment rate alone indicates. He doesn’t believe QE should be cut until we sustainable momentum in the jobs market. Atlanta Federal President Lockhart seems similarly concerned about momentum, wondering if America is losing its “economic mojo”. “We’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s a way to go before the Fed can claim that the maximum employment objective has been achieved,” he said. This pushed gold slightly higher on the day, but to read the financial press today, you’d think there was a plethora of positive economic data flooding in. That simply isn’t the case yet, so I find it interesting that the market is once again focusing on the taper.

The Fed Surprise and a Weaker Dollar Could be Very, Very Good for Precious Metals Posted: 23 Sep 2013 08:15 AM PDT Iacono Research Precious Metals Weekly Market Wrap Gold and silver prices rose and then fell on news from the Federal Reserve last week and this process is likely to both continue and intensify now that the central bank has surprised markets by delaying the start of tapering its $85 billion per month money [...]

Market Monitor – September 23rd Posted: 23 Sep 2013 07:00 AM PDT Top Market Stories For September 23rd, 2013: Bank of America Closes Silver Short, Says Bearish Precious Metal View Was "Incorrect" - Zero Hedge West's debt explosion is real story behind Fed QE dance - CNBC No taper brings back talk of currency war - CNBC Fed Cuts Economic Growth Forecast - Zero Hedge Japan's trade deficit at record high

Gold Price "Back to Status Quo" Say Analysts as "Fed Fever Breaks", Reprieve "Only Temporary" Posted: 23 Sep 2013 06:32 AM PDT GOLD PRICE losses of 1% were reversed Monday morning in London, with silver also rising back to last week's finish and erasing an earlier 2% as world stock markets slipped with commodities.   German Bunds held flat, but the Euro currency dropped half-a-cent to a 3-session low after Angela Merkel was returned as German chancellor in national elections.   "Fed fever has broken," said one floor trader quoted by CNBC on Friday, with the gold price and other markets performing what another broker calls "an incredible about-face" at the end of last week to erase Wednesday's sharp gains after the US central bank held its QE money printing program unchanged.   Longer-term – and blaming late-August's news from Syria for gold's 9-week rise starting end-June – "We expect market cheer will be capped and a return to status quo," says Citigroup in a widely-cited report.   "The postponement of the [QE] tapering decision by the FOMC represents only a short-term reprieve for gold," Citi's analysts go on.   "Does this mean the end of the downtrend in the gold price? In our view, the fundamental and clear answer is no."   "While any further postponement," agree Morgan Stanley analysts, "would likely continue to benefit gold prices in the near term, we still think it is just delaying the inevitable.   "The longer-term narrative for gold remains in place – waning investor appetite for a risk and inflation hedge, challenged physical demand and a rising US Dollar."   Morgan Stanley now sees the gold price trading in a range from $1200 to $1350 to year-end, before falling further in 2014.   Citi sees the gold price averaging $1250 per ounce across full-year 2013. It has so far averaged $1460.   The bank's analysts meantime forecast an 11% rise in the S&P500 index by New Year.   Speculative traders using futures and options cut their bullish bets and grew their bearish bets on the gold price last week ahead of the US Fed's "no tapering" surprise.   Latest data from US regulator the CFTC put the "net long" position of these non-industry traders equal to 292 tonnes last Tuesday – barely 51% of the last 5-year average.   So-called "small speculators" – meaning private individuals and other 'unreportable' positions – meantime cut their net long on gold futures and options to the equivalent of just 25 tonnes.   That was barely one fifth of their 5-year average.   "The Fed's decision to continue with an ultra-accommodative monetary policy arguably paves the way for a rebuilding of long positions after the recent short covering," says Mitsubishi analyst Jonathan Butler.   Short-term, he adds, "Trading should be choppy as investor sentiment alternates between tapering (negative for gold) and the impending US debt ceiling (positive for gold)."   Moreover, the next week brings the end of September and so the end of the third calendar quarter. So "few people will want to establish fresh longs right now," reckon brokers Marex in a note.

Gold Seen Dropping by Citigroup, Morgan Stanley on Fed Taper Posted: 23 Sep 2013 06:21 AM PDT 23-Sep (Bloomberg) — Gold will extend losses as the U.S. economy improves, according to Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley, which said the Federal Reserve's surprise decision to hold stimulus for now will help prices only in the short term. Bullion may drop below $1,250 an ounce before the end of the year as economic data strengthens and investors expect the Fed to start reducing its asset purchases, Citigroup analysts Ed Morse and Heath Jansen said in a report today. Bullion will average $1,250 next year, down from $1,405 in 2013, they wrote. Morgan Stanley expects bullion to average $1,200 to $1,350 in the coming year before trending lower, it said in a report. Enlarge image Bullion Heading for First Annual Drop in 13 Years The metal is heading for the first annual drop in 13 years as signs of a U.S. recovery hurt gold demand while stocks and the dollar climb. Gold advanced on Sept. 18 after the Federal Open Market Committee refrained from paring stimulus, counter to economists' expectations for a reduction. The rally prompted Societe Generale SA to advise selling the metal. [source] PG View: Not even a week after the FOMC opted not to taper — because the data simply don’t support such a move — and the market is talking taper once again. Ridiculous.

Gold edges lower on caution over U.S. policy outlook Posted: 23 Sep 2013 05:51 AM PDT 23-Sep (Reuters) – Gold edged lower on Monday, extending the previous session’s sharp sell-off as confusion over the outlook for U.S. monetary policy weighed on prices, with weak buying from China overnight adding to the weaker tone. Comments from St Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard that the Fed could reverse last week’s surprise decision to maintain monetary easing at its next meeting helped knock gold 3 percent lower on Friday, erasing gains made in a volatile week. [source]

Gold easier at 1323.00 (-2.00). Silver 21.70 (-0.05). Dollar easier. Euro steady. Stocks called lower. US 10yr 2.74% (unch). Posted: 23 Sep 2013 05:36 AM PDT

Gold price in a range of currencies since December 1978 XLS version Posted: 23 Sep 2013 02:26 AM PDT Excel file of gold price charts and data - Updated weekly in 19 curriences: US dollar, Euro, Japanese yen, Pound sterling, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, Indian rupee, Chinese renmimbi, Turkish lira, Saudi riyal, Indonesian rupiah, UAE dirham, Thai baht, Vietnamese dong, Egyptian pound, Korean won, Russian ruble, South African rand, Australian dollar

Sprott's Charles Oliver Sees the Shine Returning to Metals Posted: 23 Sep 2013 01:00 AM PDT Has the gold price hit bottom? Charles Oliver, senior portfolio manager with Sprott Asset Management, believes that the fundamentals are in place for gold to vault from its downturn—possibly topping $2,000/oz in the next year. In this interview with The Gold Report, Oliver talks about which small-cap miners he's been adding to his portfolio before the market recognizes the illogical discounts.

Sprott's Charles Oliver Sees the Shine Returning to Metals Posted: 23 Sep 2013 01:00 AM PDT Has the gold price hit bottom? Charles Oliver, senior portfolio manager with Sprott Asset Management, believes that the fundamentals are in place for gold to vault from its downturn—possibly topping $2,000/oz in the next year. In this interview with The Gold Report, Oliver talks about which small-cap miners he's been adding to his portfolio before the market recognizes the illogical discounts.

Sprott's Charles Oliver Sees the Shine Returning to Metals Posted: 23 Sep 2013 01:00 AM PDT Has the gold price hit bottom? Charles Oliver, senior portfolio manager with Sprott Asset Management, believes that the fundamentals are in place for gold to vault from its downturn—possibly topping... Visit the aureport.com for more information and for a free newsletter

4 Clues That a Stock Market Collapse Is Coming Posted: 23 Sep 2013 12:07 AM PDT You might be well advised to keep your powder dry and your portfolio small – or even be tempted to sell everything and wait for the storm to blow over [given the 4 clues put forth in this article]. So says Chris Mayer (dailyreckoning.com) in edited excerpts from his original article* entitled Near the Debt Ceiling, No One Can Hear You Scream. The following is presented by Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.FinancialArticleSummariesToday.com and www.munKNEE.com and the FREE Market Intelligence Report newsletter (sample here – register here). The excerpts 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. This paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement. Mayer goes on to say in further edited (and perhaps paraphrased in some cases) excerpts: There are 4 clues that tells us there is a stock market collapse coming: 1. Looming Debt Ceiling Drama Jacob Lew, the Treasury secretary, just whispered that the next market crash begins no later than mid-October.  Of course he didn't say those exact words but he did report that the Treasury's "extraordinary measures" to avoid hitting the debt ceiling will be "exhausted in the middle of October" and you no doubt remember that the 2011 debt ceiling talks and the drama around a government shutdown led Standard & Poor's to downgrade the U.S.' credit rating for the first time ever. The market fell more than 15% while all of this was going on from April to August and we're looking at something like that all over again as the government's debt presses up against that ceiling. Even though Lew's whispering those words now, soon he'll begin screaming about it. The budget deficit crisis will likely soon be front-page news…as the brinkmanship over the debt ceiling ramps up again. I think we're in for a rough couple of months. 2. Huge and Unsustainable Amount of "Stimulus" Buying As John Williams at ShadowStats points out, the Federal Reserve has bought 110% of the net issuance of U.S. Treasury this year meaning that the Federal Reserve Bank has bought every new dollar of debt issued and then some. As Williams says, this is "a pace suggestive of a Treasury that is unable to borrow otherwise." By mid-October, the Federal Reserve's purchases should be approaching 140%, by Williams calculations. This is clearly absurd and can't go on forever. (If for no other reason than the Fed will eventually own the entire federal debt market. As it stands now, it owns about a third of it!) When it ends, interest rates will likely rise. That could also bring the easy-money party to a close. Ironically, right before Labor Day weekend, the government issued its revised GDP numbers claiming that the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5% for the second quarter which was a 47% boost from the initial government estimate of 1.7%. Officially, the government is telling us that the economy has now completely recovered from the 2008 crisis – that economic activity is now higher than it was at the 2007 peak. What's most interesting is the contrasting picture of a glowing GDP report with everything else. As Williams points out, "No other major economic series has shown a parallel pattern of full economic recovery. Either the GDP reporting is wrong, or all other major economic series are wrong." 3. An Economy Far Weaker Than Gov’t Reporting There is a lot of nonsense in economic reporting, and GDP is the worst of all. (Williams himself admits that GDP "remains the most worthless and most heavily politicized" of the government series) but when you look at something that's harder to fudge – median household income – you don't see any recovery, and these are the government's official numbers. The point is there has been no full recovery as can be clearly seen the chart below. 4. Slowing Profit Growth and a Rising Market The bigger concern is that the market doesn't have any of this priced in at all… The stock market has pushed higher this year — putting in a new all-time high on Aug. 2 — even though earnings growth has clearly slowed. Earnings growth for the S&P 500, a broad proxy for the market, was up just 2% for the second quarter which was all due to the financials (banks, insurers). If you take them out, earnings actually fell 3%. Analysts have been adjusting their estimates. Earnings growth for the third quarter is now just 3.7%, versus 6.5% at the start of the quarter — a 43% correction! Slowing profit growth and rising market mean valuations have climbed. Bloomberg reports that "Valuations last climbed this fast in the final year of the 1990s technology bubble, just before the index began a 49% tumble." I don't think we have that big of a decline ahead of us, simply because we're starting at a much lower valuation. In 1999, the market went for 30 times earnings. Today, it goes 18 times earnings. That's still a high number, reflective of too much optimism about future growth. Most still see earnings and the economy growing briskly in the back half of the year. Barron's recently polled 10 of the most influential Wall Street seers. They project 8% earnings growth in the second half! When it becomes obvious that is a fairy tale, the market is going to be in for a shock. Conclusion Keep your powder dry and your portfolio small. After reading the above, you might be tempted to sell everything and wait for the storm to blow over. [Editor's Note: The author's views and conclusions in the above article are unaltered and no personal comments have been included to maintain the integrity of the original post. Furthermore, the views, conclusions and any recommendations offered in this article are not to be construed as an endorsement of such by the editor.] *http://dailyreckoning.com/near-the-debt-ceiling-no-one-can-hear-you-scream/ (© 2013 Agora Financial, LLC. All Rights Reserved.) Related Articles: 1. The Stock Market Is NOT About to Crash Any Time Soon! Here's Why There's nothing to be bearish about regarding the stock market these days. US stocks are not overpriced or overleveraged, and remain more attractive than at prior peaks so pop a pill and relax. There's no immediate danger threatening stocks as the following market analyses clearly outline. Read More » 2. 5 Reasons It's Really "Different This Time" for the Stock Market We have experienced a huge bull market this year but any pundits are calling for the bullish move to end in a sharp downward correction…The bears have a case, historically and cyclically, but I am going to go out on a limb and say things are really different this time. Here are 5 reasons why. Read More » 3. Stock Markets Look Ripe For a MAJOR Correction – Here's Why Divergences between fundamentals, confidence and the valuation of markets are large and, as such, cannot last for long. The only question is how – and how quickly – this correction occurs. Read More » The post 4 Clues That a Stock Market Collapse Is Coming appeared first on munKNEE dot.com.

ERIC SPROTT : Bonds Are for Losers - We Will See People Moving Into Gold and Silver Posted: 22 Sep 2013 10:44 PM PDT The CEO of Sprott Asset Management, Eric Sprott, says, "We're buying more bonds on a daily basis, and rates still went higher, which is why I can definitively say the Fed lost control of the bond... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://goldbasics.blogspot.com or http://www.newsbooze.com or http://www.figanews.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Australia's Gold Symposium interviews GATA secretary Posted: 22 Sep 2013 10:37 PM PDT 1:37a ET Monday, September 23, 2013 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: Your secretary/treasurer has been interviewed by Kerry Stevenson, the managing director of Gold Investment Symposium in Sydney, Australia, preparatory to my presentation at the symposium, which will be held October 16 and 17: http://gold.symposium.net.au/ We discuss GATA's work, accomplishments, and difficulties, as well as the mainstream financial news media's failure to question central banks about their involvement in the gold market. The interview is 24 minutes long and can be heard at the symposium's Internet site here: http://symposium.net.au/video/gold-2013-interview-series-w-chris-powell/ CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. ADVERTISEMENT Buy metals at GoldMoney and enjoy international storage GoldMoney was established in 2001 by James and Geoff Turk and is safeguarding more than $1.7 billion in metals and currencies. Buy gold, silver, platinum, and palladium from GoldMoney over the Internet and store them in vaults in Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, ­taking advantage of GoldMoney's low storage rates, among the most competitive in the industry. GoldMoney also offers delivery of 100-gram and 1-kilogram gold bars and 1-kilogram silver bars. To learn more, please visit: http://www.goldmoney.com/?gmrefcode=gata Join GATA here: Louis Boulanger Now Seminar Visitors Center, Holy Trinity Parnell Auckland, New Zeland Sunday, October 13, 2013 http://www.gata.org/files/GATAInNewZealand.pdf Gold Investment Symposium 2013 Luna Park Conference Center, Sydney, Australia Wednesday-Thursday, October 16-17, 2013 http://gold.symposium.net.au/ The Silver Summit Davenport Hotel, Spokane, Washington Thursday-Friday, October 24-25, 2013 http://www.cambridgehouse.com/event/silver-summit-2013 Mines and Money Australia Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre Tuesday, October 29-Friday, November 1, 2013 http://www.minesandmoney.com/ New Orleans Investment Conference Sunday-Wednesday, November 10-13, 2013 Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel New Orleans, Louisiana https://jeffersoncompanies.com/landing/speakers?IDPromotion=613011610080... * * * 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: http://gata.org/tshirts 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: http://www.gata.org To contribute to GATA, please visit: http://www.gata.org/node/16 ADVERTISEMENT How to profit with silver -- and which stocks to buy now 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...

Academic study admits possibility of gold market rigging but can't confirm it Posted: 22 Sep 2013 09:37 PM PDT 12:46a ET Monday, September 23, 2013 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: What may be the first academic study of the question of gold market manipulation was published this month by Dirk G. Baur, associate professor of finance at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia (http://cfsites1.uts.edu.au/business/staff/finance/details.cfm?StaffId=97...). While he writes that he was unable to validate any statistical evidence of manipulation, such as has been presented by GATA's late board member Adrian Douglas, GATA consultant Dimitri Speck, and market analyst Chris Martenson, among others, Baur acknowledges that central banks have a powerful interest in controlling the gold price, that suspicion is raised by the secrecy around central bank gold leasing, that bullion banks involved in both the daily gold price fixing in London and the gold carry trade would have a conflict of interest, and that these issues "may be the basis for future research." Unfortunately Professor Baur's study does not seem to take note of, among so many other things in GATA's documentation file -- http://www.gata.org/taxonomy/term/21 -- the secret March 1999 report of the International Monetary Fund confirming that central banks conceal their gold swaps and leases to facilitate their surreptitious intervention in the currency markets -- http://www.gata.org/node/12016 -- nor the comprehensive but secret involvement in the gold market of the Bank for International Settlements, the central bank of the central banks, and the actual advertising done by the BIS of its gold market manipulation services -- http://www.gata.org/node/12717 http://www.gata.org/node/11012 -- nor the admission by a BIS official in 2005 that a primary purpose of central bank cooperation is to control the gold price: http://www.gata.org/node/4279 Professor Baur seems to be saying only that he could not document any of this statistically from market data. But his acknowledgment of motive and opportunity for gold market manipulation may be welcome enough. Professor Baur's study is 21 pages long and is posted at the Internet site of the Social Science Research Network here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2326606 And at GATA's Internet site here: http://www.gata.org/files/GoldManipulationStudy-DirkGBaur.pdf CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. ADVERTISEMENT You Don't Have to Wait for Your Monetary Metal: All Pro Gold Has Product for Immediate Delivery Many investors lately report having to wait weeks and even months for delivery of their precious metal orders. All Pro Gold works with the largest wholesalers that have inventory "live" -- ready to go. All Pro Gold can ship these "live" gold and silver products as soon as payment funds clear. All Pro Gold can provide immediate delivery of 100-ounce Johnson Matthey silver bars, bags of 90 percent junk silver coins, and 1-ounce silver Austrian Philharmonics. All Pro Gold can deliver silver Canadian maple leafs with a two-day delay and 1-ounce U.S. silver eagles with a 15-day delay. Traditional 1-ounce gold bullion coins and mint-state generic gold double eagles are also available for immediate delivery. All Pro Gold has competitive pricing, and its proprietors, longtime GATA supporters Fred Goldstein and Tim Murphy, are glad to answer any questions or concerns of buyers about the acquisition of precious metals and numismatic coins. Learn more at www.allprogold.com or email info@allprogold.com or telephone All Pro Gold toll-free at 1-855-377-4653. Join GATA here: Louis Boulanger Now Seminar Visitors Center, Holy Trinity Parnell Auckland, New Zeland Sunday, October 13, 2013 http://www.gata.org/files/GATAInNewZealand.pdf Gold Investment Symposium 2013 Luna Park Conference Center, Sydney, Australia Wednesday-Thursday, October 16-17, 2013 http://gold.symposium.net.au/ The Silver Summit Davenport Hotel, Spokane, Washington Thursday-Friday, October 24-25, 2013 http://www.cambridgehouse.com/event/silver-summit-2013 Mines and Money Australia Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre Tuesday, October 29-Friday, November 1, 2013 http://www.minesandmoney.com/ New Orleans Investment Conference Sunday-Wednesday, November 10-13, 2013 Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel New Orleans, Louisiana https://jeffersoncompanies.com/landing/speakers?IDPromotion=613011610080... * * * 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: http://gata.org/tshirts 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: http://www.gata.org To contribute to GATA, please visit: http://www.gata.org/node/16 Attachment Size GoldManipulationStudy-DirkGBaur.pdf 474.72 KB This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Precious Metals and the Broad Stock Market Indices Update: Not What You Think Will Happen Posted: 22 Sep 2013 08:41 PM PDT Analysis below was published on September 18th, in the morning prior to gold shooting up $60/ounce after the FED announcement. Even before this event happened, the take home message was that the HUI and gold remain in sideways consolidation ... Read More...

Bank of Thailand gets suspicious about paper gold Posted: 22 Sep 2013 08:12 PM PDT Bank of Thailand May Regulate Gold Trading to Curb Speculation By Sarun Kijvasin, Suphannee Pootpisut, and Wichit Chaitrong The Nation, Bangkok, Thailand Monday, September 23, 2013 http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/BOT-will-regulate-gold-trading-... The Bank of Thailand is looking to regulate gold trading, as it suspects gold imports have been used to speculate on exchange rates. The central bank also want to protect retail investors who buy gold-linked financial papers. "The Bank of Thailand has been consulting with the Finance Ministry and the Securities and Exchange Commission on how to regulate trading of gold-forward contracts in order to make them transparent and protect the interests of ordinary investors," BoT Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul said. He added that the BOT wanted gold brokers and traders to disclose information about their transactions outside the Thai bourse's futures exchange. The central bank has detected unusual gold imports that may be linked to currency speculation, he said. ... Dispatch continues below ... ADVERTISEMENT Don't Let Cyprus Happen to You Depositors at the Bank of Cyprus lost 47.5 percent of their savings. So to preserve your wealth, get some of it outside the banking system into physical gold and silver. Worldwide Precious Metals (Canada) Ltd., established in 2001, specializes in physical gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. We offer delivery or secure and fully insured storage outside the banking system in Brinks vaults. We have access to gold and silver from trusted worldwide refineries and suppliers. And when you have an account with us you have immediate access to it for buying and selling your stored bullion. For information on owning physical precious metals in your portfolio, visit us at: www.wwpmc.com. "We have found substantial discrepancies between values in US dollars and the volume of gold imports." The central bank has come under pressure this year because of the high volatility of the dollar/baht exchange rate. At the same time, gold prices have also experienced high fluctuation, both globally and locally. Gold importers can acquire unlimited amounts of dollars to fund their trades, but those wanting to buy foreign currency without any underlying business need permission from the central bank, Prasarn said. While Thai jewellery manufacturers may not be involved in currency speculation, some importers could be using gold imports to cover up their speculative activities, he said. Previously, central bank officials met with gold traders to discuss sharing information about their market activities, he said. The governor is also concerned about the transactions of gold-linked papers, especially forward contracts transacted outside Thailand Futures Exchange. Some operators could be selling gold papers online to retail investors and taking advantage of their customers, he said. "We don't worry about gold futures trading, since it is under supervision by the authorities. However, nobody looks after gold forward contracts." Asked whether the authority may impose some measures to limit imports of gold as the Indian government does to address its current-account deficit, Prasarn replied that it was not necessary. Currently, the Thai government does not collect tariffs on gold imports, and it also waives the 7-per-cent value-added tax for registered jewellery manufacturers. Gold imports in the first seven months of this year were worth US$10.86 billion (Bt337 billion), or 8.28 per cent of total import value. Thailand ran a current-account deficit of 0.2 per cent of gross domestic product in the second quarter but if gold imports were excluded, the current account would have been in surplus. But Prasarn does not see gold import as a threat to the current-account balance. On the outlook for interest rates, the BOT governor said they could remain lower than in the past, since central banks around the world, particularly the US Federal Reserve, have injected massive amounts of liquidity into the market and kept policy rates extremely low. "In the future, the rates may move to a new normal that will be lower than past levels." He noted that even if the US economy recovers fully, the nominal interest rate could end up around 2 percentage points lower than before the 2008 crisis, when the benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield was about 4-5 per cent per annum. For Thailand, the current policy rate of 2.5 per cent is accommodative for economic growth, he added. * * * Join GATA here: Louis Boulanger Now Seminar Visitors Center, Holy Trinity Parnell Auckland, New Zeland Sunday, October 13, 2013 http://www.gata.org/files/GATAInNewZealand.pdf Gold Investment Symposium 2013 Luna Park Conference Center, Sydney, Australia Wednesday-Thursday, October 16-17, 2013 http://gold.symposium.net.au/ The Silver Summit Davenport Hotel, Spokane, Washington Thursday-Friday, October 24-25, 2013 http://www.cambridgehouse.com/event/silver-summit-2013 Mines and Money Australia Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre Tuesday, October 29-Friday, November 1, 2013 http://www.minesandmoney.com/ New Orleans Investment Conference Sunday-Wednesday, November 10-13, 2013 Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel New Orleans, Louisiana https://jeffersoncompanies.com/landing/speakers?IDPromotion=613011610080... * * * 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: http://gata.org/tshirts 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: http://www.gata.org To contribute to GATA, please visit: http://www.gata.org/node/16

GATA secretary to speak in Auckland, New Zealand, on October 13 Posted: 22 Sep 2013 07:40 PM PDT 10:44p ET Sunday, September 22, 2013 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: Your secretary/treasurer will speak in Auckland, New Zealand, on Sunday, October 13, at a gathering organized by investment adviser and gold advocate Louis Boulanger and sponsored by our friends at bullion dealer Anglo Far-East Co. (http://www.anglofareast.com/). The program calls for a 30-minute presentation and an hour for questions and discussion. The flyer announcing the event is posted here: http://www.gata.org/files/GATAInNewZealand.pdf Admission will be limited to the first 80 people reserving a seat. If you're interested in attending, please e-mail Louis here: louis@lbnow.co.nz Your secretary/treasurer is very eager to make the acquaintance of New Zealanders. CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. ADVERTISEMENT Don't Let Cyprus Happen to You Depositors at the Bank of Cyprus lost 47.5 percent of their savings. So to preserve your wealth, get some of it outside the banking system into physical gold and silver. Worldwide Precious Metals (Canada) Ltd., established in 2001, specializes in physical gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. We offer delivery or secure and fully insured storage outside the banking system in Brinks vaults. We have access to gold and silver from trusted worldwide refineries and suppliers. And when you have an account with us you have immediate access to it for buying and selling your stored bullion. For information on owning physical precious metals in your portfolio, visit us at: www.wwpmc.com. Join GATA here: Gold Investment Symposium 2013 Luna Park Conference Center, Sydney, Australia Wednesday-Thursday, October 16-17, 2013 http://gold.symposium.net.au/ Mines and Money Australia Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre Tuesday, October 29-Friday, November 1, 2013 http://www.minesandmoney.com/ New Orleans Investment Conference Sunday-Wednesday, November 10-13, 2013 Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel New Orleans, Louisiana https://jeffersoncompanies.com/landing/speakers?IDPromotion=613011610080... * * * 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: http://gata.org/tshirts 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: http://www.gata.org To contribute to GATA, please visit: http://www.gata.org/node/16 Attachment Size GATAInNewZealand.pdf 301.8 KB This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Rickards expects world monetary system to be rebuilt around gold Posted: 22 Sep 2013 07:00 PM PDT 9:58p ET Sunday, September 22, 2013 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: Geopolitical strategist and fund manager James G. Rickards tells Peak Prosperity's Chris Martenson that he has been advising governments that want to devalue their currencies to buy gold rather than other currencies, since at least they'll end up keeping the gold. Rickards sees the continuing flow of gold from West to East as evidence that the world monetary system eventually will be rebuilt around gold. Having just published his best-selling book "Currency Wars," Rickards says he is working on a book about the collapse of the monetary system, "The Death of Money," due to be published next year. Rickards' interview with Martenson is 32 minutes long and can be heard at the Peak Prosperity Internet site here: http://www.peakprosperity.com/podcast/82998/jim-rickards-were-witnessing... CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. ADVERTISEMENT Precious Metals Round Table: Where Do We Go From Here? On Tuesday, September 24, Sprott Asset Management will assemble four experts for a live Internet broadcast about the prospects for the precious metals. Participating will be Sprott's CEO, Eric Sprott; financial letter writer and internationally renowned conference speaker Marc Faber; Sprott's chief investment strategist, John Embry; and Sprott Asset Management President Rick Rule. To participate, please visit: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=regist... Join GATA here: Gold Investment Symposium 2013 Luna Park Conference Center, Sydney, Australia Wednesday-Thursday, October 16-17, 2013 http://gold.symposium.net.au/ Mines and Money Australia Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre Tuesday, October 29-Friday, November 1, 2013 http://www.minesandmoney.com/ New Orleans Investment Conference Sunday-Wednesday, November 10-13, 2013 Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel New Orleans, Louisiana https://jeffersoncompanies.com/landing/speakers?IDPromotion=613011610080... * * * 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: http://gata.org/tshirts 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: http://www.gata.org To contribute to GATA, please visit: http://www.gata.org/node/16

Fed duplicitious on bond buying, Portola Group's Fitzwilson says Posted: 22 Sep 2013 05:21 PM PDT 8:20p ET Sunday, September 22, 2013 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: Writing for King World News, investment adviser Robert Fitzwilson of the Portola Group in Menlo Park, California, notes that the Federal Reserve seems to be speaking out of both sides of its mouth about "tapering" its bond purchases, as hawkish remarks by the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, James Bullard, "provided cover for the traditional Friday gold and silver smackdown." Fitzwilson even makes a favorable comment about your secretary/treasurer's interview last week with King World News. An excerpt from his interview is posted at the King World News blog here: http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/9/23_Wh... CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. ADVERTISEMENT Buy metals at GoldMoney and enjoy international storage GoldMoney was established in 2001 by James and Geoff Turk and is safeguarding more than $1.7 billion in metals and currencies. Buy gold, silver, platinum, and palladium from GoldMoney over the Internet and store them in vaults in Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, ­taking advantage of GoldMoney's low storage rates, among the most competitive in the industry. GoldMoney also offers delivery of 100-gram and 1-kilogram gold bars and 1-kilogram silver bars. To learn more, please visit: http://www.goldmoney.com/?gmrefcode=gata Join GATA here: Gold Investment Symposium 2013 Luna Park Conference Center, Sydney, Australia Wednesday-Thursday, October 16-17, 2013 http://gold.symposium.net.au/ Mines and Money Australia Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre Tuesday, October 29-Friday, November 1, 2013 http://www.minesandmoney.com/ New Orleans Investment Conference Sunday-Wednesday, November 10-13, 2013 Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel New Orleans, Louisiana https://jeffersoncompanies.com/landing/speakers?IDPromotion=613011610080... * * * 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: http://gata.org/tshirts 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: http://www.gata.org To contribute to GATA, please visit: http://www.gata.org/node/16 ADVERTISEMENT How to profit with silver -- and which stocks to buy now 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...

Ben Is Still in Charge Posted: 22 Sep 2013 05:00 PM PDT After the financial meltdown in 2008-2009, Ben Bernanke said that he would not make the same mistakes in the wake of the Great Depression. We can debate the long-term impacts of his programs, many will debate the short-term impacts, but you must admit he is consistent.

Precious Metals “Back to Status Quo” After Fed Surprise, Say Analysts Posted: 22 Sep 2013 05:00 PM PDT Both the price of gold and silver recovered early losses Monday morning in London, regaining a 1% and 2% drop respectively as world stock markets slipped with commodities.

A Shake-up for the Dow Posted: 22 Sep 2013 05:00 PM PDT A change in the make-up of the Dow 30 Industrial index is normally a precursor to a broadmarket correction. We also examine the new high in the New Economy Index and the short-term gold outlook.

You are subscribed to email updates from Save Your ASSets First To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610