Gold World News Flash

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• Gold & Silver: Expect A Major Move Higher — Here’s Why
• Record Breaking Silver Factors In 2015 Can Make 2016 Quite Interesting
• Q&A China Slow Down, U.S. Dollar Currency, Stock Charts and Crisis
• THE RISING MOMENTUM OF REALITY
• The Reasons Why People Hate Cultural Marxists
• Why Oil Prices Are About To Plunge Again: 31 Million Barrels In Floating Storage Are Coming On Shore
• Benjamin Fulford: “Something strange happening around Antarctica as negotiations for new financial system”
• Gold, Free Money, Negative Interest & Economic Collapse
• Refugee Crisis Has Europe on the Brink
• Gold and Silver are Down as the USD recovers
• 7 Strange Questions About The Brussels Terror Attacks That The Mainstream Media Is Not Asking
• Putin Financing Europe's Far Right Movements -- Glenn Beck
• George Galloway on Brussels Attacks
• A Love Affair: India and Gold
• Recession Time
• Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - The 'Dangerous Obsession' with Gold
• NASA Plays With Fire | HowStuffWorks NOW
• Rand Paul -- The Folly of Foreign Aid
• Benjamin Fulford Update -- Secret Battle For The Planet
• The Central Bankers And Corporations Are Running The Country: John Titus
• Buying a Dog with a Broken Leg
• March 22, 2016 Brussels "Terror" Bombing EXPOSED (322 SKULL AND BONES) 9:11am Decoded
• Why Short Paper Trading in Gold May End
• Harry Dent Dire Warning – This is not a Correction
• How to Profit from the Return of “Rich Man’s Gold”
• China's vice finance minister denies any secret US-China exchange rate deal
• World's richest Hindu temple wants gold back rather than cash
• A Love Affair: India and Gold

Gold & Silver: Expect A Major Move Higher — Here’s Why Posted: 23 Mar 2016 11:00 PM PDT from GregoryMannarino:

Record Breaking Silver Factors In 2015 Can Make 2016 Quite Interesting Posted: 23 Mar 2016 11:00 PM PDT SRSRocco Report

Q&A China Slow Down, U.S. Dollar Currency, Stock Charts and Crisis Posted: 23 Mar 2016 08:20 PM PDT from TheMoneyGPS:

THE RISING MOMENTUM OF REALITY Posted: 23 Mar 2016 07:20 PM PDT by Andy Hoffman, Miles Franklin: First, the un-reality; and as usual, there's plenty to go around.  Starting with a question I pose to you, the audience; as well as everyone on the planet – including those that listen to what "the powers that be" tell them, and believe what they say, no matter how incredulous.  Which is, how can the Belgian Stock Exchange haverisen yesterday, following one of the worst – and occurring at the international airport, symbolic – terrorist events in European history? Yes, my friends; whilst gold, the most time-honored safe haven asset man has known was being capped via a prototypical "Cartel Herald" algorithm at the time immemorial "2:15 AM" key attack time (which as I discussed yesterday, seems to "miraculously" occur following all such events); Belgian investors, amidst chaotic conditions reminiscent of 9/11, enjoyed stock gains, thanks to a late day "hail mary" rally; as usual, catalyzed by the U.S. PPT's equally prototypical "dead ringer" algorithm of the "Dow Jones Propaganda Average."  Which, I kid you not, is the seventh straight day this nearly ubiquitous algorithm has been used. And by the way, the other "gold bearish, equity bullish" news of the U.S. trading day was the "unexpected" plunge in the PMI Manufacturing Index – its biggest "miss" versus expectations in three years, to nearly recessionary conditions.  Which of course was released at the "key attack time" when the global physical PM markets close – 10:00 AM EST – which is exactly when said "dead ringer" algorithm kicks in, yielding the stock markets' bottom for the day nearly three-quarters of the time. Followed, of course, by last night's blitzkrieg Cartel raid at the stroke of midnight, with not a single other market materially moved.  Not to mention, this morning's, as I write around 8:00 AM EST; in which, gold was hit for $5/oz in one minute's time; and then silver – the very day after it finally completed its technical "golden cross" – was smashed for a whopping 1.5% in ten seconds.  Again, with no other markets budging. Other than crude oil, that is, down a modest 1% following last night's announcement of one of the largest – and most "unexpected" – inventory builds in years.  Which itself, is the type of news that has catalyzed demand for real money since the CRB Commodity Index started plunging 18 months ago.  To that end, to all my "deflationist" friends out there; amidst the CRB's horrific 50% plunge since the middle of 2014 – in which Central banks, the "oil PPT," and every imaginable manipulative "weapon" has been deployed in an attempt to reflate the un-reflatable; gold prices have not budged, despite every imaginable manipulative tool being utilized to suppress them.  To wit, global demand for the average commodity has plunged during this time, whilst supply has exploded (see last night's oil inventory data).  And yet, Precious Metal demand has surged to all-time highs, whilst above ground inventories have plunged, and supply peaked!  Gee, I wonder when the next supply shortage will arrive – like the massive silver shortage we experienced last summer, second in intensity only to the "big one" in late 2008. And I haven't even mentioned the real world geopolitical ramifications of yesterday's Brussels attack – which as you can imagine, has been blamed on, and "claimed," by the same Muslim "insurgents" at the heart of Europe's exploding "migrancy crisis."  Or the financial ramifications of the Bank of Japan's recent foray into negative interest policy – where the unfathomable inversion of the entire Japanese yield curve suggests all Japanese bonds may soon have negative yields, as investors hoard every maturity along the yield curve, knowing full well that their last chance for "income" – before hyperinflation inevitably arrives – will be the Bank of Japan's kamikaze monetization schemes.  To that end, Jim Rickards last night held one of his "emergency" podcasts from Tokyo, warning investors that the great Japanese Ponzi will implode by year-end.   Read More @ MilesFranklin.com

The Reasons Why People Hate Cultural Marxists Posted: 23 Mar 2016 07:20 PM PDT Submitted by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.com, A common misconception in America today is that our nation is evenly divided between conservatives and liberals in an absolute sense. This is not necessarily true. Though national elections always seem to progress along a 51 percent to 49 percent opposition, with red states barely beating our blue states or blue states barely beating out red states, this is not a practical representation of the legitimate ideological boundaries within the U.S.  What you really have in America is a wide spectrum of beliefs of varying degrees in-between ultimate extremes. I am of course referring to the general public in this respect. The top of the political pyramid is a different story entirely. For them there are no sides whatsoever. Top Republicans and top Democrats are essentially the same animal with the same goals. They may wear different masks and exploit diverging rhetoric, but at the end of the day for elitists, America is a one-party system. For the rest of us there is a hazy drift, with many people holding some views that lean conservative and other views that lean liberal. Unfortunately, “moderates” do very little to direct the future of nations. Nearly all great changes and great upheavals are initiated by the elites themselves (extremists in their own right) or by smaller groups on opposite ends of the spectrum (which are often manipulated by elitists). At the very far reaches of the void of the left and liberalism festers what I would call a sociopolitical theology; the cult of cultural Marxism. If you are confused as to what cultural Marxism really is I highly suggest you research as much as possible into the Frankfurt School founded by Marxist professors and academics in Germany during the 1920s and the early 1930s. The basic foundation of the Frankfurt School was to take the collectivist philosophy of Karl Marx, which revolved primarily around economic class structure, and apply it in a more sociological manner utilizing Hegelian dynamics. The Frankfurt School sought to explore “class oppression” not only between the rich and the poor, the workers and the aristocracy, but also in aspect to races, religions, families, genders, behavioral psychology, etc. That is to say, the Marxists of the Frankfurt School were looking for new methods to divide and conquer existing societies and nations beyond simple economic conflicts. After the rise of fascism in Germany, numerous members of the Frankfurt School fled to the U.S., bringing their ideological framework with them and applying it in U.S. universities and academic circles. One of the primary character traits or strategies of cultural Marxists today is that they rarely if ever actually self-identify as cultural Marxists. This strategy allows them to change their colors on a whim, like a chameleon, and it prevents opponents from pinning down their world view in order to present a solid argument against them. It also allows them to disassociate from past cultural Marxists with negative reputations while holding the same beliefs as those historical figures. The cultural Marxist denies he is a cultural Marxist, then he goes on to argue an ideology which perfectly matches what cultural Marxists have historically believed. This is only one of the many reasons why most people, conservatives and moderate liberals alike, distrust and even despise cultural Marxists. The pervasive weakness among cultural Marxists in America is that they tend to believe their own propaganda. They think that they are an actual social force in this country with the numbers and support to back their activities. They fell into this delusion because for a time they have been effective at infiltrating popular media and generating a false consensus, not to mention organizing public and online mobs to be used as a weapon against others. They seem to be everywhere, yet they are few. Lately, though, the illusion of numbers is beginning to collapse for them. Masses of people, even those that identify with the “Left”, are beginning to disown what are often referred to as “social justice warriors” (cultural Marxists) and are speaking out. Here is a list of reasons why the public is shifting and the tide is turning against social justice and cultural Marxists. Third Wave Feminism Cultural Marxists are collectivists at their very core. This means that their ideological pursuit is the eradication of individualism, individual liberty, and groups based on voluntary participation in the name of the “greater good of the greater number.”  Collectivists seek to centralize everything.  This goal could not be more evident than in the efforts of third-wave feminists. Third-wave feminists are best understood through the lens of what they refer to as “intersectionality,” a made up social justice term that whitewashes the new feminist strategy of co-opting ALL other social issues and forcing them under the umbrella of the feminist movement. Feminism is not simply about creating equal opportunity and equal rights for women, not anymore. Instead, third-wave feminism claims dominion over women’s rights, all gender related issues, race issues, gay rights issues, economic “inequality”, immigration issues, etc. Of course, if you believe in working for equal rights of all people regardless of their individual and ethnic traits, you would be called an egalitarian by definition, not a feminist. But feminists attack this distinction and continue to demand that they are the sole proprietors of “equality” and claim all other methodologies are irrelevant. This kind of totalitarianism has provoked a growing backlash against feminists, even from more left leaning subsections of the American population.  People are beginning to realize that there really is no need for feminism anymore. Women already have equal protection under the law, and they already have equal opportunity. In fact, in many sectors women are given considerable advantages over men. Women are given greater favor in college applications and grant applications which is why women today outnumber men in universities. Women are often given favor in job applications, even in professions which men are more inclined to succeed in (like firefighting, for example); this bias in favor of women by employers is often inspired by government incentives and by a fear of civil suits. Women have far more institutionalized advantages in divorce court, and, women are more likely to receive reduced sentences for the same crime as a man. The most common lie used by feminists to argue for the existence of inequality is the “gender pay gap,” which has long been debunked. A woman who works the same exact job as a man with the same effort and diligence, for the same exact hours, and does not take maternity leave or extra vacations is paid the SAME as that man. And if for some reason there is something amiss in the accounting, there are laws in place to punish employers that do actually pay women less for the same work. There is no gender pay gap except what women create for themselves through their own life choices. Since women have the same rights and protections as men today, feminists are forced to create oppression out of thin air to then fight against.  The new battlefield for feminists and social justice warriors is about "feelings" rather than law.  That is to say, feminists believe that personal feelings should be protected by law and that contrary or discriminatory thought must be criminalized.  Of course, the definition of criminal discrimination is left rather broad.  Ultimately, it is the feminists and their allies in government that arbitrarily decide what thoughts are "bad" and what thoughts are acceptable. The feminist movement must co-opt and absorb other groups and other issues and it must create exponentially more divisions and imaginary oppression in order to justify its existence. They will never stop. There will never come a day when feminists are satisfied because their goal is not equality. Their goal is social power, and to maintain social power indefinitely. Mob Shaming And Self Censorship Cultural Marxists will use any tool at their disposal to shut down or silence dissent, but they prefer to use mob tactics and public shaming as their bread and butter. Get enough of your cohorts together in an organized attack and the illusion of consensus becomes powerful leverage. There are numerous instances of accomplished people being railroaded out of their jobs in the past few years by cultural Marxist mobs, and numerous people harassed into self censorship for fear of being labeled a sexist, misogynist, racist, bigot, xenophobe, homophobe, etc. This tactic, though, has been so overused that it is now losing its effectiveness. There is a growing movement of people who no longer care what they are labeled by cultural Marxists and when the mob no longer has shaming as a tool, they can only move on to more “direct” actions. Physical Interference With Freedom Of Speech Now that the shaming techniques are becoming passé, cultural Marxists are attempting to physically disrupt discussion or silence opposing views. From the notorious social justice mob at the University of Missouri, which called for “some muscle over here,” to forcefully remove student journalists covering the protest, to feminist mobs shutting down conferences on men’s issues, to the professional agitators bused in to disrupt Trump rallies, cultural Marxists are beginning to physically impede the rights of other people to speak, or listen and participate. How do they rationalize this anti-1st Amendment activity?  Easy!  They simply argue that it is THEIR 1st Amendment right to disrupt YOUR 1st Amendment rights, even if you are in a public space.  This is the kind of circular insanity that leads directly to Stalinist or Maoist totalitarianism. I’m sure that many people are also familiar with the heightened number of incidences in recent weeks of these same cultural Marxists being beaten up in response to their strategy. Expect this to continue and expect reactions to social justice mobs to become even more violent as we get closer to election time. Reverse Racism My favorite hypocritical claim from cultural Marxists is that there is no such thing as reverse racism. Meaning, a black or Hispanic or Asian person, etc., cannot be racist towards a white person. How is this possible? They assert that racism requires institutionalized “advantage” or “privilege.” Only white people can be racist because we have all the “privilege” and institutional protection. Of course, bringing up the fact that the president of the United States is a black man does not seem to matter. The so called “patriarchy” reigns supreme, and the patriarchy is white. If you think that reverse racism is not a real issue, then you might want to take a gander at this little debate at Harvard, in which the main argument by a Black Lives Matter activist was “white people do not have a right to life” (be sure to check out the links included with the video which affirm that this was not simply a debater “playing devil’s advocate”).   So, here is where cultural Marxism always goes wrong, or right, depending on who is benefiting. Communist movements like cultural Marxism, have a fantastic knack for eliciting fascist responses and driving otherwise even-handed people into the arms of fascist governments. It happened in Germany, Spain and Italy before World War II, and it could very well happen again in America today. The debaters argue against the right to life of an entire ethnic group (white people), because they claim that white people have abused their privileges to exploit or oppress other groups. First, like all collectivists, they have completely disregarded individual liberty and inherent conscience. All white people are presented as a singular group (which they are not), and all white people are presented as guilty for crimes which can be attributed to any other ethnic group at any other point in history as well. All white people are accused of having “privileges” beyond that of other ethnic groups, but no proof of this privilege is ever presented; it is just treated as a given fact. Second, these cultural Marxists foolishly do not take into account that if they want to promote the extreme side of communism to support their views others could just as easily take the opposing extreme in response. What would a fascist say to the Harvard debater’s arguments? A fascist might argue the other side of the coin — that all other ethnic groups suffer oppression because they are “inferior,” “weak” or “intellectually inadequate.” A fascist would probably assert that the weak survive only by the good graces of the strong, and that only the strong have a “right to life.” A fascist would argue that all groups that are so easily oppressed should be exterminated to make room for the strong. This argument is just as absurd as the argument presented at Harvard because it completely overlooks the fact that individuals have a right to life, period. Being part of an ethnic group is not a crime in itself, but cultural Marxists would like white people in particular to ignore their individualism and believe they are defined only by their color and that they should feel guilty by association.  This is the epitome of racism. Black Lives Matter Yes, black lives do matter, just as all lives matter. But as the Harvard debater above argues, certain ethnic groups matter “more” because they are supposedly more oppressed. The classic tactic of cultural Marxists is to create new divisions or to exacerbate existing divisions in order to destabilize a society. Once a society is broken, it can then be rebuilt according the vision of a select few. One of the best methods of causing division is to exploit cultural differences based on obvious separations. People do tend to separate more according to skin color and ethnicity. This is a tale as old as time. Is it wrong? Not necessarily. Ethnic groups develop their own belief systems, their own values and principles, and though many human beings share archetypal similarities and inherent conscience regardless of the time and place they were born, they still have anthropological discourse. It is very easy to pit one ethnic group against another if the right pressure is applied. Black lives matter is nothing more than an effort by cultural Marxists to capitalize on race tensions and make them far worse through agitation. Forced Multiculturalism As stated above, different ethnic groups can have different priorities. The concept of freedom is inherent in the human psyche from birth, but numerous cultures are structured around suppressing that human desire and need. These cultures cannot be reconciled with cultures that do respect individual liberty. There are many other important differences that cause clashes between cultures, but freedom vs. collectivism is the most explosive. Cultural Marxists certainly have no respect for freedom. Their only concern is artificial “equality,” because forced equality makes collectivism possible. This often means grinding down the best the world has to offer to match it with the worst the world has to offer. Multiculturalism is really just a mechanism by which failed and unstable cultures are aggressively injected into more stable societies in order to disrupt and then homogenize them. Europe is now experiencing this in unprecedented fashion, and the U.S. has been dealing with it incrementally for decades. Multiculturalism is of course a nice way of describing the Cloward-Piven Strategy, a strategy designed by cultural Marxists to deliberately undermine economic and social systems. The use of Islamic refugees as a battering ram against Western society is a perfect summation of this strategy. Islamic culture abiding by Sharia Law and unfamiliar with Western traditions and beliefs is completely incompatible with European and American civilization. It is one thing for Islamic culture to exist with respect to Western values, it is another thing for Islamic culture to supplant Western values. The process of forced multiculturalism is driving large portions of the EU and America to become violently opposed to cultural Marxists. I fear that this is leading to irreconcilable division to the point of war, just as what took place during the last Great Depression. And, as I pointed out at the beginning of this article, cultural Marxists are a tiny minority, a paper tiger posing as the real thing. If they do not stop with their incessant subversion and cultism they will end up being the first to pay the price. The rest of us will pay later.

Why Oil Prices Are About To Plunge Again: 31 Million Barrels In Floating Storage Are Coming On Shore Posted: 23 Mar 2016 06:53 PM PDT One week ago, we wrote that as a result of the collapsing crude contango, oil tankers (such as the fully loaded Distya Akula which has been on anchor in the Suez Canal for one month unable to find a buyer for its cargo so it continues to wait) "will soon have to unload their cargo", in the process flooding the already oversupplied market with millions of barrels of crude oil, thus pushing the price of oil far lower. But how many millions of barrels, and how much lower will the price of oil go? For the answer we go to Deutsche Bank's Michael Huseh, who has done the calculations to get the answer. What he finds is that since the start of 2014, global floating storage inventory has ranged between 80 and 180 million barrels (Figure 1). According to estimates of the global VLCC fleet at the end of 2014, the potential storage capacity is implied to be 1169 million barrels. Adding Suezmax  vessels would add 528 million barrels of capacity. After touching 186 million barrels in early March, inventories have begun to decline once more. Since the start of 2015, one can identify both periods when builds in floating storage have been associated with rising Brent prices, and also periods when draws in floating storage have been associated with falling Brent prices (Figure 2). Since the Arabian Gulf has represented much of the variability in floating storage inventory, one can also measure the incentives to add or withdraw from storage using Arabian Gulf tanker rates. South East Asia would be another valid candidate to measure economics, as floating storage inventories in that region have moved in a very similar fashion (Figure 3).   As we discussed recently, as a result of a recent surge in hedging activity in the front-end of the strip, absent a dramatic collapse in spot prices, the contango is now so low as to make offshore storage no longer economical. Specifically, based on the all-in cost of operating tanker storage (dirty VLCC tanker day rates, financing, transit and transfer loss, insurance and bunkers, Figure 5), the current storage cost is too high relative to the steepness of the Brent forward curve. This means that prices do not justify inventory build, but rather gradual inventory drawdown as existing storage trades are unwound.   What is the current prevalent duration of booked offshore storage? A comparison of the historical profitability of storage trades of varying lengths indicates that even at the most extreme instances of contango in the last two years, the Brent forward curve is only steep enough over the first 2 to 6 months to justify the floating storage trade. Comparing the trade economics over a one-month horizon (Figure 4) and over a six-month horizon (Figure 6) shows the relative unattractiveness of the six-month trade. We use the second month Brent contract owing to discontinuities in the pricing of the rolling first month contract. Thus we would expect that floating storage trades begun in late January or early February would be unwound by July or August. As DB calculated, comparing the current level of floating storage (157.3 million barrels) versus that in early February (126.6 million barrels), there may be an additional 31 million barrels of inventory to be drawn down between now and the next inventory trough over the next several months. Depending on the duration of drawdown (three months or six months) this could mean anywhere from 165-330 kb/d of incremental supply. So how, according to DB, should one trade this imminent surge in incremental supply? A tactical short position in Brent may benefit from the contango roll yield which over the first six months of the curve is an annualized 14%. Over the first year of the Brent curve, the roll yield is 11.9% p.a., and to provide an extreme comparison, the roll yield over the first six years of the curve is only 5.3% p.a. In other words, in a flat oil price scenario the contango roll yield for a short position would still provide positive returns if the curve structure remains static. In an upside oil-price scenario, the six-month forward contract should rise slower than the spot price. Long WTI-Brent may be a viable alternative: because positioning in Brent is more clearly extended than NYMEX positioning in WTI, and also because US refineries returning from maintenance may add an incremental 717 kb/d of refinery crude demand between now and June, we believe WTI may be better supported than Brent. Brent net long non commercial positions rose to 164 thousand contracts in the week ending 15March, which is just below the 2015 high of 166 thousand contracts, although still some way below the 2014 high of 195 thousand contracts. In WTI positioning on NYMEX however, net long non commercial positions stand at 331 thousand contracts, only 69% of the record high of 480 thousand contracts in June 2014. Therefore an alternative to selling Brent outright may be a long position on the WTI-Brent spread. * * * Of course, if DB's calculations are correct, and if over the next three months 20% of the total 157 million barrels in offshore inventory are set to come onshore, not only will underlying prices slide, but higher beta assets, such as energy equities but mostly junk bonds due to their record high correlation with energy prices as we showed before... ... the best trade may be to either sell cash bonds or, if one can find them in this illiquid market in which even the ECB is now actively involved in bond purchases, simply buy junk bond CDS. Because between the surge in recent hedging, the collapsing contango, the failure of supply to decline, the failure of demand to increase, there is only one thing the price of crude oil can do: tumble, no matter how many flashing red "OPEC meeting" headlines Bloomberg blasts at idiot headline-scanning algos.

Benjamin Fulford: “Something strange happening around Antarctica as negotiations for new financial system” Posted: 23 Mar 2016 06:40 PM PDT from Kauilapele: New weekly report from Ben. Interesting title, which seems to be missing a word at the end. Could this "Antarctica" thing be related to a disclosure about secret space programs? We shall see. Here’s Ben: Something is happening around Antarctica these days that is shrouded in secrecy but is also attracting a lot of heavy hitters. The visit to Antarctica by Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, in February was the first sign of something unusual happening. Now this week US Presidential spokesperson Barack Obama will be visiting the Nazi South American headquarters in Bariloche, in Southern Argentina. Just before the Obama visit, it was revealed that China has built a giant space exploration base in Southern Argentina. Following this revelation, the Argentine government reported they sank a "Chinese fishing boat," near a restricted area off the coast of Southern Argentina. Pentagon sources say the boat was probably a Chinese spy vessel since a normal fishing vessel would have responded to Argentine warnings. Furthermore, the heavy handed attempt Khazarian mafia attempt to overthrow the government of Brazil has now failed, depriving the Khazarian mafia of Brazil as a place to flee now that the American people are waking up to the crimes that have been committed against them, CIA sources in South America say. Now CIA sources in Asia are saying their connections "who are above the government," are all "flying South," this week and hinted strongly that "South" referred to Antarctica. This is all very interesting because years ago Paul Laine, a source in Pentagon military intelligence, told this writer the then state of the art UK guided missile destroyer HMS Sheffield had been captured by Nazis operating out of an undersea base in the region. The Sheffield was supposedly sunk in 1982 during the Falklands war between Argentina and the UK by an Exocet missile. This increase in highly secret activity in the Southern Hemisphere near Antarctica is somehow connected to ongoing negotiations over a gold mine in Papua, New Guinea, that Laine also indicated was the location of a Nazi secret base. America's top spy, James Clapper, flew to Australia last week in what Australian media reports described as a "secret visit." Read More @ Kauilapele.wordpress.com

Gold, Free Money, Negative Interest & Economic Collapse Posted: 23 Mar 2016 06:14 PM PDT  The architects and central planners are literally planning us into a cliff. They're drunk. They're drunk as hell. Welcome back to the Junius Maltby Channel. Please Like, SHARE and Subscribe as well as take part in the conversation. The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.newsbooze.com or http://www.figanews.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Refugee Crisis Has Europe on the Brink Posted: 23 Mar 2016 06:06 PM PDT  Refugee Crisis Has Europe on the Brink - by Alex NewmanAs politicians prop open their countries' borders and throw out welcome mats to mainly Muslim refugees, the negative consequences are becoming apparent to all. The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.newsbooze.com or http://www.figanews.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Gold and Silver are Down as the USD recovers Posted: 23 Mar 2016 05:57 PM PDT     The above chart of the US Dollar Index shows that the dollar has been making steady progress over the last 5 days as gold and silver prices stutter.

7 Strange Questions About The Brussels Terror Attacks That The Mainstream Media Is Not Asking Posted: 23 Mar 2016 05:40 PM PDT Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog, The horrific terror attacks in Brussels, Belgium on March 22, 2016 are going to reverberate in our memories for years to come, and perhaps that was the intention.  Terror attacks are designed to create fear and to get attention, and these attacks have definitely done both.  On Tuesday morning, two huge explosions ripped through Zaventem Airport in Brussels as travelers were getting ready to board their morning flights.  You can view some raw footage of one of the bomb blasts right here.  Just a short while later, another huge explosion was reported at a metro station just yards away from the European Commission headquarters.  At this point, CNN says that at least 30 people have died and about 230 people are wounded as a result of these bombings.  But what was the real motive for these attacks?  The following are 7 strange questions about the Brussels terror attacks that the mainstream media is not asking… #1 Why would Brussels be such a prime target for terror attacks?  Most Americans don’t understand how important the city of Brussels is.  For one thing, it is the headquarters of the NATO alliance, and defense ministers from 49 different nations met there last month to discuss a potential ground invasion of Syria. Secondly, it is also the unofficial capital of the European Union.  The following comes from Wikipedia… “The European Union has no official capital, and no plans to declare one, but Brussels hosts the official seats of the European Commission, Council of the European Union, and European Council, as well as a seat (officially the second seat but de facto the most important one) of the European Parliament.” Over the years Brussels has become a key symbol for European integration, so if you wanted to conduct an attack that the entire European Union would feel, Brussels would be a good choice.  And many European leaders are already coming out and declaring that the attack on Brussels was an attack on Europe as a whole… French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday’s attacks in Brussels that killed at least 26 people struck at “the whole of Europe”.   “Through the attacks in Brussels, the whole of Europe has been hit,” Hollande said in a statement, urging the continent to take “vital steps in the face of the seriousness of the threat”.   French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said: “We are at war. Over the past few months in Europe, we have endured several acts of war.” #2 Was Donald Trump right about Brussels? During an interview with Fox Business Network anchor Maria Bartiromo earlier this year, Donald Trump specifically pointed to Brussels as an example of what he wanted to avoid in this country… The Republican presidential front-runner said Brussels, the capital of Belgium, had been particularly transformed. Belgium has been home to a number of recent terror plots, and was linked to the November attack on Paris, France, that left 130 people dead.   “You go to Brussels — I was in Brussels a long time ago, 20 years ago, so beautiful, everything is so beautiful — it’s like living in a hellhole right now,” Trump continued. “You go to these different places. There is something going on.” #3 Why are there some Islamic ghettos in Brussels that are considered to be “off-limits” for non-Muslims? Of course this is not just true in Brussels.  All over Europe there are sections of major cities that have been completely and totally taken over by radical Muslims.  In Belgium, the rapid growth of the Islamic community has some politicians dreaming of turning that nation into a Sharia-compliant country within just a couple of decades.  The following comes from Infowars… These ghettos, which are in fact large areas of Brussels, are considered off-limits to Europeans and radical Muslims will likely comprise the majority of the population within 20 years.   “I think we have to sensitize people, make them understand the advantages to having Islamic people and Islamic laws, and then it will be completely natural to have Islamic laws and we will become an Islamic state,” a Muslim politician from Brussels, Redouane Ahrouch, said to a reporter in 2012. “In Belgium, of course!”   “I am for the Sharia. Islamic law, I am for it. It is a long-term struggle that will take decades or a century, but the movement has been launched.” #4 Does 3/22 have special occult significance? There are some people out there that are suggesting that it was no accident that these attacks happened on 3/22.  And without a doubt, we have seen other events of this nature fall on dates that have special significance for the occult.  I do not know exactly what to make of all of this, but we do know that 322 is extremely significant to the Skull and Bones Society at Yale University (of which George W. Bush and John Kerry are members)… #5 Why did Barack Obama spend less than a minute talking about the terror attacks in Brussels during his speech down in Cuba? You would think that something this historic would deserve more than 51 seconds, but this is precisely the kind of behavior that we have come to expect from Obama over the years. #6 Is it odd that the mainstream media so quickly reported that ISIS took full responsibility for these attacks? It is entirely possible that ISIS was behind these attacks.  But it is also entirely possible that these attacks are being blamed on ISIS by other parties with ulterior motives. What we do know is that a “bulletin” supposedly from the Islamic State was posted on Tuesday which took full responsibility for the bombings.  The following comes from WND… “Islamic State fighters carried out a series of bombings with explosive belts and devices on Tuesday, targeting an airport and a central metro station in the center of the Belgian capital, Brussels, a country participating in the coalition against the Islamic State,” the bulletin said. “Islamic State fighters opened fire inside the Zaventem airport, before several of them detonated their explosive belts, as a martyrdom bomber detonated his explosive belt in the Maelbeek metro station.” #7 Will the terror attacks in Brussels be used to justify a ground invasion of Syria? These attacks have produced a tremendous amount of outrage in the western world, and already many prominent voices are calling for a U.S.-led invasion of Syria in order to finally put a permanent end to ISIS. In fact, a former top adviser to Hillary Clinton started calling for a Syrian invasion within just hours of the attacks… A former adviser to Hillary Clinton on Syria, Frederic C. Hof, now a Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, has called for invading Syria in the wake of the deadly attacks in Brussels.   “For the better part of a year, one clear recommendation has been on the table: assemble an American-led, coalition-of-the-willing, professional ground component—one top-heavy in regional and European forces—to enter eastern Syria to close with and kill ISIS. Engaging the Syrian opposition at all levels, consistent with an executable civil-military stabilization plan, can produce an administrative structure for an ISIS-free eastern Syria. Killing ISIS in Syria can ease the migration crisis and hasten the demise of this murderous band in Iraq.   And it can demonstrate to the credulously stupid that linking up with losers will be a one-way trip to self-destruction,” Hof writes. Last month, I received quite a bit of criticism for suggesting that we could be on the verge of World War 3.  But the truth is that Saudi Arabia and Turkey remain absolutely committed to the removal of the Assad regime, and now these Brussels terror attacks have conveniently shifted sentiment in Europe and in the United States in favor of a ground operation in Syria. The current ceasefire in Syria is on the verge of completely falling apart, and if an American-led coalition does invade, that could very easily spark a major regional war.  The Russians, the Iranians and Hezbollah are not just going to sit back and watch as the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies march to Damascus and remove Assad. I keep trying to warn people that 2016 is the year when everything changes, and I have a feeling that these terror attacks in Belgium are going to turn out to be exceedingly significant. Our world is becoming more unstable with each passing day, and sometimes all it takes is a little shove to set us on a path that we never intended to go down. I don’t have all the answers, but unlike the mainstream media, at least I am not afraid to ask the hard questions…

Putin Financing Europe's Far Right Movements -- Glenn Beck Posted: 23 Mar 2016 04:50 PM PDT The Rise of Europe's Far-Right Threatens Peace on The Continent Glenn Beck Joins Dana To Discuss Watch full episodes of Dana weeknights, live at 6pm ET, or on demand with a subscription to TheBlaze TV: http://www.theblaze.com/shows/dana/ The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.newsbooze.com or http://www.figanews.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]

George Galloway on Brussels Attacks Posted: 23 Mar 2016 03:50 PM PDT  London Mayoral Candidate George Galloway on the Brussels terrorist attack, on RT. The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.newsbooze.com or http://www.figanews.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]

A Love Affair: India and Gold Posted: 23 Mar 2016 02:08 PM PDT   India has had a long-standing love affair with gold. At Indian weddings, some of the brides get so much gold jewellery that it weighs them down. There are upwards of 15 million weddings every year in India.

Recession Time Posted: 23 Mar 2016 02:08 PM PDT This post Recession Time appeared first on Daily Reckoning. In describing the dynamics of currency wars, I consistently use metaphors such as a tug of war or seesaw. This is to indicate that currency wars are never a one-way bet. Exchange rates go back and forth repeatedly. The currency war that lasted 1921–36 is a good example. In 1921, the Germans destroyed their currency in the famous Weimar Republic hyperinflation. In 1925, France and Belgium devalued their currencies. That made British pounds sterling and the U.S. dollar stronger. In 1931, the U.K. struck back by devaluing pounds sterling. This put the pressure on France and the U.S. Then, in 1933, the U.S. devalued the dollar, putting pressure back on the U.K. and even more pressure on France. Finally, in 1936, France and the U.K. both devalued against the dollar again. This was the infamous sequence of the "beggar thy neighbor" devaluations. Or consider the history of today's currency war. We saw a weak Chinese yuan and strong dollar from 2008–2010. Then in 2011, the U.S. engineered a weak dollar. The Fed's dollar index actually hit an all-time low in August 2011. At the same time, gold hit an all-time high — no coincidence there. Next, the Japanese yen was cheapened under Abenomics beginning in December 2012. By mid-2014, it was time to cheapen the euro, which crashed from $1.30 to $1.05 by January 2015. As a result, the dollar reached a 10-year high by mid-2015. Then the Fed blinked and started to back away from rate increases, which took the dollar down a notch. The point is there were no one-way bets. The U.S. dollar got stronger from 1921–33. Then it weakened from 1933–36 and got stronger again after 1936. The dollar was also strong in 2010, weak in 2011 and strong again in 2015. The same analysis applies to the other major currencies. That's how currency wars play out. The key to investing during currency wars is to focus on the underlying dynamics and stay nimble. That's exactly what we do. We never put a permanent stake in the ground. We look for signals that tell us when the turning points are coming and adjust our recommendations accordingly. Now looks like one of those times. Most of the back-and-forth nature of exchange rates the past eight years is easily explained by central bank manipulations. Federal Reserve money printing during QE2 explains the weak dollar in 2011. The Bank of Japan engaged in both quantitative ease and so-called "qualitative ease" (using printed money to buy assets other than government bonds, such as stocks and corporate debt) to weaken the yen in 2013. The European Central Bank used both negative interest rates and QE to weaken the euro in 2014. The People's Bank of China has used a mixed bag of interest rate cuts, bank reserve ratio reductions and direct intervention to weaken the yuan in 2015. It's always important to keep an eye on the central banks. Yet we are picking up signals from a source even more powerful than central banks. This source is the specter of global recession. It's one thing for central banks to fight currency wars while the world is growing. That's just a matter of stealing growth from your trading partners. When the pie is not growing fast enough, you can grab a bigger slice from the person sitting next to you with a cheap currency. What happens when the whole pie is shrinking? That's what a recession is. In that environment, currency wars become much nastier and coordination breaks down. The average U.S. economic expansion since 1980 (a very favorable period for growth) lasted 77 months. As of now, the U.S. economy has been expanding for about 80 months, since the end of the last recession in June 2009. Admittedly, it has been a weak expansion, but it's an expansion, nonetheless. Does this mean the U.S. economy goes into hard recession next month? Not necessarily, but no one should be surprised if it does. Monthly job creation stalled out last November and has been shrinking ever since. Disinflation and deflation have the upper hand on inflation. Many industrial production and purchasing manager indexes are flashing red. The picture in China is even more bleak. China is not technically in recession, because it's starting from such a high growth rate. Yet even a slowdown in China has the same impact as a recession on the rest of the world, because of the lost output. China is over 10% of global GDP. If Chinese growth shrinks by one-third (and that appears to be what's happening), that takes 3.3% off of global GDP (10% x 33% = 3.3%). But global growth is only estimated to be 3.4% this year, according to the IMF. If China slows down as much as we expect, that's enough to wipe out global growth. That puts the entire world into a technical recession, even if some individual countries still have positive growth. Commodity exports to China are collapsing. Middle Eastern dollar reserves are being depleted due to the collapse in oil prices and the resulting fiscal deficits. What happens in China does not stay in China. It ripples around the world. China is slowing and taking the world down with it. Excluding the financial crisis years of 2008–09, Chinese growth is now at the lowest level in over 10 years. These are the official figures; most analysts estimate that actual growth is significantly lower than these figures show. China is over 10% of global GDP. If China slows by a third, that takes 3.3% off of global GDP. That's enough to put the entire world into a technical recession. How will central banks stop the recession when they've used up their dry powder fighting the currency wars? Despite December's rate hike, U.S. interest rates are still still not much above zero. Japanese and European interest rates are negative. All of these central banks have printed trillions of dollars in their respective currencies under various QE programs. They are at the point where they simply cannot print trillions more without risking political backlash or the collapse of confidence in their currencies. What this means is that the recession cannot be stopped. It will have to run its course over the next year or so. All sectors of the economy will be affected, but some sectors will be hit worse than others. The service sector may hold up slightly better. Manufacturing and tradable goods tend to get hit the worst. One of the signals we are picking up is the shrinkage in world trade. Investors tend to focus on trade deficits and surpluses, but those figures mask the fact that overall trade is shrinking. You can have a reduced trade deficit but still find that exports and imports are both shrinking. The lower deficit sounds like good news, but the reduction of imports and exports is troubling. It means the global trading economy is shrinking: a sure sign of recession. Regards, Jim Rickards for The Daily Reckoning P.S. Be sure to sign up for The Daily Reckoning — a free and entertaining look at the world of finance and politics. The articles you find here on our website are only a snippet of what you receive in The Daily Reckoning email edition. Click here now to sign up for FREE to see what you're missing. The post Recession Time appeared first on Daily Reckoning.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - The 'Dangerous Obsession' with Gold Posted: 23 Mar 2016 01:58 PM PDT

NASA Plays With Fire | HowStuffWorks NOW Posted: 23 Mar 2016 12:30 PM PDT NASA scientists have designed experiments to find out what happens when a large fire occurs in microgravity. The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.newsbooze.com or http://www.figanews.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Rand Paul -- The Folly of Foreign Aid Posted: 23 Mar 2016 11:30 AM PDT Rand Paul wonders aloud why we borrow money from China in order to give it to Pakistan? The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.newsbooze.com or http://www.figanews.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Benjamin Fulford Update -- Secret Battle For The Planet Posted: 23 Mar 2016 11:00 AM PDT The White Dragon Society has put out an update by Benjamin Fulford on the current state of the secret battle for the planet earth. This video was made available for free viewing on March 19th, 2016. The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.newsbooze.com or http://www.figanews.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Central Bankers And Corporations Are Running The Country: John Titus Posted: 23 Mar 2016 09:30 AM PDT Today's Guest: John Titus Because the petro dollar is on the way out, is the main reason why the dollar will collapse. Because we have such massive trade and budget shortfalls, the petro dollar keeps the demand for dollars artificially high. When oil is traded with some other medium, the... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.newsbooze.com or http://www.figanews.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Buying a Dog with a Broken Leg Posted: 23 Mar 2016 09:30 AM PDT This post Buying a Dog with a Broken Leg appeared first on Daily Reckoning. Last year Brussels was hit by a terror alert. In response, the government launched a novel campaign called "Call Brussels." The idea? They set up public phones on the streets. And people from all over the world could call. The locals would then reassure potential foreign tourists that it is safe to visit. It was cute. The video on YouTube has a very sweet lady on the phone, gently mocking the idea that Brussels is unsafe. That was two months ago. Can you spell epic fail? Now, we all know some dogma can be dangerous. Terrorists blowing themselves up and killing innocent people in the name of certain principles is a good example of dogmatic belief. But the Brussels government was also dogmatic in this case. Their dogma was the blind belief that Islamic violence would not hit Belgium. They laughed at the idea—two months ago. That chuckling stopped real quick. Why am I telling you this story? Because dogmatic beliefs are extremely dangerous in the markets as well. We see this every minute of every day going back to the first organized markets. Many investors just love to think that they know with absolute certainty what will happen in the market… and that everything will go according to plan. For example, just a few years ago the chattering class majority believed that the Chinese population and Chinese wealth would explode upward to never stop. And that it would create infinite demand for every last imaginable commodity, pushing their prices to the moon and beyond. It didn't turn out that way. Instead, commodities crashed…and they crashed bleeping hard. But now we're seeing signs of recovery, as measured by the price action. Is it Time to Buy Commodities? For example, take a look at the ten best performing ETFs so far this year: See anything in common? With the exception of DOD, all of the top-performing ETFs are related to commodities. From gold, silver and copper miners… to oil and steel producers… to stocks from Latin America countries that are big exporter of commodities. Does that mean this is the beginning of another great bull market in commodities and commodity related stocks? Nobody knows. Let me repeat that: nobody knows if this recent rally will continue. Does that mean literally 1,000s of Wall Street professionals come on the TV every day to say they know when they do not know? Yes, it means that. Are they lying or just making things up? One or the other. Anyone who tells you they KNOW for sure that commodities will keep rallying… They're selling you a dog…a dog with a missing leg that is mentally challenged… and that could have rabies. And I hope you're not buying that puppy just because you feel a certain way. Objectivity is critical in the markets. This is not puppy picking time. According to my system, the CRB commodity index remains in a long-term downtrend. But… It's definitely worth keeping an eye on these recent price movements. My proprietary system has already triggered a "buy" signal on select assets in the commodity space, such as gold and gold stocks. There could be more "buy" signals coming soon (or not). Let's see what happens, and not guess what will happen. Let me slow down. As I write this, it is early here in Asia and I have had 4 glasses of tea already… For now, enjoy Jack Crooks' article below. Jack has more than 20 years of experience trading currencies. He's president of Black Swan Capital, a firm that publishes research on currency futures, foreign exchange spot and commodities markets. In this article, he talks a little more about the dangers of dogma and the right way to approach this recent rally in commodities. Please send me your comments to coveluncensored@agorafinancial.com. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please tell me exactly what you think. Don't sugar coat it! Regards, Michael Covel For, The Daily Reckoning Lurching from Nirvana to Crisis; Our Dogma is Barking? By Jack Crooks The perfect master is the market itself. The market speaks to us in only one language—price. ~ Edward Toppel In the midst of the great commodities boom past, despite the prognostications of many it was never going to end, e.g. one top seer was fond of asking us to visualize every Chinese citizens eating just one egg and one strip of bacon and having a glass of juice every day for breakfast and voila–commodities investing nirvana. Well, despite the logic of this visualization, it hasn't been that simple. But that's the point—it never is simple. In the real world of human action and modern economies, we are presented with more complexity than we can intelligently process. Yet it seems our investment gurus continue to preach either Ms. Rosy Scenario into perpetuity or doom and gloom just around the corner. I guess stridency sells. Validate your reader/viewer/listener whether right or wrong; just be damn confident when you do it. This entiremilieuof hubris is why I increasingly shun TV and conferences—and prefer books to news. Well, in the wake of commodity investment wreckage far and wide, wemaybe at, and I hate to use this two-word phrase, as all the "smart" guys on TV love to utter it— an "inflection point"of some type. I.E. something that leads to a change in the long-term down trend in the commodities market. My idea and usage of the phrase "inflection point" in no way should be construed as a new bull market cycle in commodities; but we may be in the midst of a playable multi-week or multi-month bounce in key commodities once some near-term frothiness is burned off—which I think we are seeing at the moment. I guess one of the reasons I am edging toward commodity bullishness is my natural contrarian nature railing against the mantra-like screech from so many analysts who now insist Chinese crisis is "inevitable." Well, to put it bluntly—it is not inevitable. And in fact, China's stimulus efforts will likely create interesting price action, and this action may last longer than many now believe. There is a degree of complexity about China the Western mind seems to have trouble grasping; at least speaking for myself. We tend to fixate on what we perceive as facts with somewhat flawed lenses—or models of reality if you will. From Henry Kissinger's brilliant book,On China: Other societies, the United States included, have claimed universal applicability for their values and institutions. Still, none equals China in persisting—and persuading its neighbors to acquiesce—in such an elevated conception of its world role for so long, and in the face of so many historical vicissitudes. From the emergence of China as a unified state in the third century B.C until the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, China stood at the center of an East Asian international system of remarkable durability. Are we to believe willy-nilly that China's rise and economic cycle is no different than the other "economic miracles" in Asia? Is the recent history of the "Asian growth model" more important than the history of China's "remarkable durability" over centuries? Are we to believe $3 trillion in reserves, and the fact that 95% of China's debt is owned domestically, are not powerful crisis buffers? According toThe Economist, "The central government's relatively low level of debt, at just over 40% of GDP, means it has plenty of room to help the banks. Indeed, with the right policies, China could survive a deleveraging without too much pain." So why is there such certainty about a pending Chinese economic crisis? Keep in mind when you read both well-reasoned, and not so well-reasoned, rationales for pending crisis, many of these same analysts not so long ago believed China was about to take over the world; as if hegemon status is such a simple feat. Funny to think of now, but it seems every China hegemon forecaster worth his weight in gold told us it was a sure bet the US dollar would be replaced by the Chinese yuan "any day now" as the world reserve currency. The US military would soon cower under the weight of advanced Chinese weaponry and be pushed easily out of the region as China asserted its version of the Monroe Doctrine. The skirmish shaping up in the South China Sea—Spratly Islands—contains elements of said doctrine despite the fact China has a bit more work to do to get there. This is yet another reason China's leadership can ill afford a financial crisis and will likely act with more vigor than many expect—even if said actions is likely to lead to "bigger risks" down the road. But when it comes to speculative investment time frames—if Chinese policy makers act with vigor, as they seem to be doing, I suspect it will create at least a multi-week and more likely multi-month counter trend moves in stuff which has been crushed. As investors, we should approach this objectively, through analysis of price action and not let our own story get in the way of reality. So, regardless of whether China does slip into crisis, muddles-through, or becomes the overnight hegemon… it seems plenty of investment opportunities abound for those who can suppress their own dogma. Regards, Jack Crooks For, The Daily Reckoning The post Buying a Dog with a Broken Leg appeared first on Daily Reckoning.

March 22, 2016 Brussels "Terror" Bombing EXPOSED (322 SKULL AND BONES) 9:11am Decoded Posted: 23 Mar 2016 08:37 AM PDT This video looks once again into the blatant symbolism behind the latest so called "terrorist attack" in Brussels. Know your enemy... The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers ,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.newsbooze.com or http://www.figanews.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Why Short Paper Trading in Gold May End Posted: 23 Mar 2016 08:28 AM PDT This post Why Short Paper Trading in Gold May End appeared first on Daily Reckoning. And now… today's Pfennig for your thoughts… Good day, and a wonderful Wednesday to you! The dollar seems to have the conn this morning over the currencies and gold is getting whacked to start the day! In fact, the only currency on my board that isn’t getting pummeled by the dollar this morning is the Chinese renminbi, which was allowed to appreciate in the fixing last night. So far, March has not been a kind month for the dollar, but all that appears to have changed this morning. What an ugly start to the day for the currencies and metals. That’s about all I can say about it, without going into a swear-word streak! Apparently, Fed members, Evans (a non-voting member I might add) told an audience that he was sticking to his December call for two rate hikes this year, and that news lit the fire for the dollar this morning. I was reading about this call by Evans, and noted something interesting, folks. Evans December call for two rate hikes were considered “dovish” because at that time the rest of the Fed were calling for four rate hikes in 2016. Well, now that we are three months and two Fed meetings into the year, the calls for four rate hikes in 2016, have certainly changed color. So, what the markets are telling me right now, is that Evans call for two rate hikes in 2016 has gone from “dovish” to “hawkish”. Hey, I don’t make this stuff up folks. The price of oil is above $41 this morning, and yet the petrol currencies aren’t benefitting from this move higher in price. That illustrates just how strong the dollar is today, as it shrugs off the higher price for oil. Hmmm… That’s not going to stop the price of gas from going higher!  I did a piece on this gas price thing here in the U.S. for a Sunday Pfennig last year, and wondered then, why the U.S. consumption numbers weren’t going higher because of the savings consumers were receiving from the drop in the price of gas. Here we are a year later, and the price go gas is still “down” compared to where it was when the price of oil was north of $75. Higher insurance costs, and food were two of the biggest culprits, stealing those savings. As I found out, while writing the article. But still no “adjustment” by consumers, and still no real spending. Makes you wonder doesn’t it? In Germany yesterday, they printed new IFO and ZEW reports that both showed a rebound from the February prints. The March Business Sentiment as measured by the think tank IFO, and Current Conditions as measured by the think tank ZEW, both came in higher than expected and showed a rebound from the February prints. Over the years, these Think Tank reports come and go with the markets. There are times they trade on them, and other times they ignore them. This appears to be a time when they get ignored by the markets. UGH! In Singapore this morning, February CPI (consumer inflation) printed, and showed the data sliding (the report reflected that this slide by CPI was due to seasonal factors). Nevertheless, Singapore February CPI remained in negative territory for the 16th consecutive month! That’s not a good thing folks. Has the Japanese deflation disease spread to Singapore? It appears that way to me. The Singapore dollar (S$) has enjoyed the change in direction from the Chinese renminbi during March, and has participated with a rebound of its own. We still have some days in March, so let’s hope this “rebound” doesn’t end early. The Brazilian real continues to rally on news from the Impeachment process of President Dilma Rousseff. Yesterday, Rousseff, said that she would not step down, but then was dealt a blow by the Federal Courts who disallowed the placement of former president Lula in Rousseff’s Cabinet. Lula has his own legal problems right now from when he was President, and that news has really crushed Rousseff’s bid to remain in power. Again, we have to be careful trading real on political news, as these things can turn in a heartbeat, and head in the opposite direction before you know it. Gold is down $16 this morning as I write. And those manipulating the price lower, are wanting us to believe that gold is getting sold on the Evans talk of two more rate hikes in 2016. Come on, we’re not that challenged mentally that is! I read a report last week written by a guy that believed the price manipulation and short selling with paper trades would end soon, as the demand for physical gold and silver, were going to soon put the pressure on these short paper gold Traders to unwind them. I read that I thought, “Geez Louise, that would be nice if it were true,” but it sounds more like “wishful thinking” than “factual thinking”. Of course it has been by contention, and have said so in the Pfennig many times in the past, that enough physical buying of the metals would bring about an unwind in the paper shorts. So, this guy is barking up the right tree. Maybe too early… Well, the BREXIT talk should begin to take off from here as we head to the final 2.5 months until the referendum that will decide the fate of the U.K. going forward as a member of the European Union (EU).  As I said in a previous Pfennig a couple of weeks ago, that these BREXIT talks are going to hurt the pound. I know that the current polls show a split vote, but in these last two months the government is going to begin implement a plan that they had on the books for some time now, and that plan includes inundating the public with adds about how beneficial it will be to leave the EU. This is the kind of talk that will hurt the price of the Pound Sterling. The U.S. Data Cupboard has some home sales data for us today, and that’s it. Tomorrow, we’ll see real economic data from the February prints of Durable Goods and Capital Goods Orders, but the data streams are pretty slow right now, and that means no data means no bad news for the dollar. UGH! Today, I have something different – very different – and I hope you enjoy it. It was sent to me by friend, Dr. B.  Read it through, don’t think you know what it’s about at the beginning. Here we go! Don’t Widen the Plate In Nashville, Tennessee, during the first week of January, 1996, more than 4,000 baseball coaches descended upon the Opryland Hotel for the 52nd annual ABCA convention. While I waited in line to register with the hotel staff, I heard other more veteran coaches rumbling about the lineup of speakers scheduled to present during the weekend. One name, in particular, kept resurfacing, always with the same sentiment – “John Scolinos is here? Oh man, worth every penny of my airfare.” Who the hell is John Scolinos, I wondered. No matter, I was just happy to be there. In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching career that began in 1948. He shuffled to the stage to an impressive standing ovation, wearing dark polyester pants, a light blue shirt, and a string around his neck from which home plate hung – a full-sized, stark-white home plate. Seriously, I wondered, who in the hell is this guy? After speaking for twenty-five minutes, not once mentioning the prop hanging around his neck, Coach Scolinos appeared to notice the snickering among some of the coaches. Even those who knew Coach Scolinos had to wonder exactly where he was going with this, or if he had simply forgotten about home plate since he’d gotten on stage. Then, finally . “You’re probably all wondering why I’m wearing home plate around my neck. Or maybe you think I escaped from Camarillo State Hospital,” he said, his voice growing irascible. I laughed along with the others, acknowledging the possibility. “No,” he continued, “I may be old, but I’m not crazy. The reason I stand before you today is to share with you baseball people what I’ve learned in my life, what I’ve learned about home plate in my 78 years.” Several hands went up when Scolinos asked how many Little League coaches were in the room. “Do you know how wide home plate is in Little League?” After a pause, someone offered, “Seventeen inches,” more question than answer. “That’s right,” he said. “How about in Babe Ruth? Any Babe Ruth coaches in the house?” Another long pause. “Seventeen inches? “came a guess from another reluctant coach. “That’s right,” said Scolinos. “Now, how many high school coaches do we have in the room?” Hundreds of hands shot up, as the pattern began to appear. “How wide is home plate in high school baseball?” “Seventeen inches,” they said, sounding more confident. “You’re right!” Scolinos barked. “And you college coaches, how wide is home plate in college?” “Seventeen inches!” we said, in unison. “Any Minor League coaches here? How wide is home plate in pro ball?” “Seventeen inches!” “RIGHT! And in the Major Leagues, how wide home plate is in the Major Leagues?” “Seventeen inches!” “SEV-EN-TEEN INCHES!” he confirmed, his voice bellowing off the walls. “And what do they do with a Big League pitcher who can’t throw the ball over seventeen inches?” Pause. “They send him to Pocatello!” he hollered, drawing raucous laughter. “What they don’t do is this: they don’t say, ‘Ah, that’s okay, Jimmy. You can’t hit a seventeen-inch target? We’ll make it eighteen inches, or nineteen inches. We’ll make it twenty inches so you have a better chance of hitting it. If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say twenty-five inches.'” Pause. “Coaches .” Pause. “What do we do when our best player shows up late to practice? When our team rules forbid facial hair and a guy shows up unshaven? What if he gets caught drinking? Do we hold him accountable? Or do we change the rules to fit him, do we widen home plate? The chuckles gradually faded as four thousand coaches grew quiet, the fog lifting as the old coach’s message began to unfold. He turned the plate toward himself and, using a Sharpie, began to draw something. When he turned it toward the crowd, point up, a house was revealed, complete with a freshly drawn door and two windows. “This is the problem in our homes today. With our marriages, with the way we parent our kids. With our discipline. We don’t teach accountability to our kids, and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards. We widen the plate!” I was amazed. At a baseball convention where I expected to learn something about curveballs and bunting and how to run better practices, I had learned something far more valuable. From an old man with home plate strung around his neck, I had learned something about life, about myself, about my own weaknesses and about my responsibilities as a leader. I had to hold myself and others accountable to that which I knew to be right, lest our families, our faith, and our society continue down an undesirable path. “If I am lucky,” Coach Scolinos concluded, “you will remember one thing from this old coach today. It is this: if we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of what we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same standards, if we are unwilling or unable to provide a consequence when they do not meet the standard; and if our schools and churches and our government fail to hold themselves accountable to those they serve, there is but one thing to look forward to .” With that, he held home plate in front of his chest, turned it around, and revealed its dark black backside. “. dark days ahead.” Coach Scolinos died in 2009 at the age of 91, but not before touching the lives of hundreds of players and coaches, including mine. Meeting him at my first ABCA convention kept me returning year after year, looking for similar wisdom and inspiration from other coaches. He is the best clinic speaker the ABCA has ever known because he was so much more than a baseball coach. His message was clear: “Coaches, keep your players-no matter how good they are-your own children, and most of all, keep yourself at seventeen inches. Chuck again. Smart old bird, eh? I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday, and remember, be good to yourself! Regards, Chuck Butler for The Daily Pfennig P.S. Be sure to sign up for The Daily Reckoning — a free and entertaining look at the world of finance and politics. The articles you find here on our website are only a snippet of what you receive in The Daily Reckoning email edition. Click here now to sign up for FREE to see what you're missing. The post Why Short Paper Trading in Gold May End appeared first on Daily Reckoning.

Harry Dent Dire Warning – This is not a Correction Posted: 23 Mar 2016 06:46 AM PDT Harry S. Dent Jr., says gold is far more appealing that US stocks on a valuation basis, noting: "I would buy gold over US shares any day of the week." Thanks to Fed rate tapering, funds have been redirected into commodities, especially gold. Our guest notes that gold is the best inflation hedge... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.newsbooze.com or http://www.figanews.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]

How to Profit from the Return of “Rich Man’s Gold” Posted: 23 Mar 2016 06:44 AM PDT This post How to Profit from the Return of “Rich Man’s Gold” appeared first on Daily Reckoning. I've said it before and I'll say it again: some of the best trading opportunities we've seen in months keep popping up in commodities. And there's a brand new setup on our radar this morning that could bring us some scorching short-term gains. It's a precious metal trade—one that most folks haven't even thought about for more than five years. I'm talking about platinum… When you think precious metals, I'm sure gold and silver are the first that come to mind. Platinum is the forgotten precious metal. But it's actually incredibly scarce compared to gold or silver. That's why it's often referred to as rich man's gold. Experts say 20% of everything we use contains platinum or uses platinum in the production process. It even has industrial and cosmetic uses. And we can trade it for double-digit gains. In fact, platinum has the cleanest chart of all the precious metals right now… This platinum breakout comes after years of pain. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past decade, you're aware of the commodity boom-bust cycle that ramped metals and other commodities to record highs—only to slam them back to earth. Unlike gold, platinum has been the victim of much more extreme price swings. It dropped a mind- boggling 65% from its highs during the financial crisis. And platinum's spot price fell short of its 2008 highs as the commodity supercycle peaked in 2011. But that's ancient history. Now there's a fresh breakout sprouting wings right under everyone's nose. And if you're fast on the draw you'll find yourself sitting on some nice gains… As you can see from the chart, platinum has broken free from a vicious downtrend. The sharp move we've seen off of the January lows could very well be the beginning of an even bigger rally. To be clear: I'm not declaring an end to the vicious commodity bear that's mauled everything from crude to cotton. What we're seeing right now could be nothing more than a snapback trade that eventually fizzles. In the short run it doesn't matter. And that's what this is: a short-term trade. And these mean reversion trades can be insanely profitable. Whenever a stock or commodity get's a little too hot or too cold, you can bet the market will issue an abrupt reality check. No one was bullish precious metals earlier this year. That simple fact helped set up the rally we're seeing today. All precious metals are down about 1% or more this morning. This could be the perfect opportunity for us to get in and ride the next wave higher. Platinum is as good as gold. Only better. Sincerely, Greg Guenthner for The Daily Reckoning P.S. Make money in a falling market–sign up for my Rude Awakening e-letter, for FREE, right here. Stop missing out.  Click here now to sign up for FREE. The post How to Profit from the Return of “Rich Man’s Gold” appeared first on Daily Reckoning.

China's vice finance minister denies any secret US-China exchange rate deal Posted: 23 Mar 2016 05:15 AM PDT By Sun Qizi and Pete Sweeney Reuters Monday, March 21, 2016 China's vice finance minister said on Tuesday there was no secret agreement between the United States and China regarding adjustments to exchange rates. The comment by Zhu Guangyao at a forum follows speculation in foreign exchange markets that finance ministers at the recent G20 summit in Shanghai may have reached a tacit understanding in which the United States agreed to allow the dollar to depreciate, relieving pressure on other currencies. ... ... For the remainder of the report: http://www.reuters.com/article/china-yuan-usa-idUSL3N16U1HH ADVERTISEMENT Free Storage with BullionStar in Singapore Until 2016 Bullion Star is a Singapore-registered company with a one-stop bullion shop, showroom, and vault at 45 New Bridge Road in Singapore. Bullion Star's solution for storing bullion in Singapore is called My Vault Storage. With My Vault Storage you can store bullion in Bullion Star's bullion vault, which is integrated with Bullion Star's shop and showroom, making it a convenient one-stop-shop for precious metals in Singapore. Customers can buy, store, sell, or request physical withdrawal of their bullion through My Vault Storage® online around the clock. Storage is FREE until 2016 and will have the most competitive rates in the industry thereafter. For more information, please visit Bullion Star here: https://www.bullionstar.com/ Join GATA here: Mines and Money Asia Tuesday-Thursday, April 5-7, 2016 Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China http://asia.minesandmoney.com/ Mining Investment Asia Wednesday-Friday, April 13-15, 2016 Marina Bay Sands, Singapore http://www.mininginvestmentasia.com/ Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of GATA's London conference in August 2011 or GATA's Dawson City conference in August 2006: http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html 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

World's richest Hindu temple wants gold back rather than cash Posted: 23 Mar 2016 05:02 AM PDT By Nidhi Verma and Rajendra Jadhav Reuters Wednesday, March 23, 2016 The world's richest Hindu temple is asking to be repaid in gold for longer-term deposits it makes under the Indian government's monetization scheme in order to make the plan more attractive to the temples that are sitting on thousands of tonnes of the metal. The Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple, popularly known as the Tirupati, has requested repayment in metal rather than cash for their deposits of longer than three years under the Gold Monetisation Scheme, D. Sambasiva Rao, the executive director of the temple operator Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), told Reuters today. TTD's participation in the gold scheme is crucial to its success since the temple in the Southern Andhra Pradesh state holds 7 tonnes of the metal, equivalent to about $277 million at current prices. However, Tirupati and other temples around India are reluctant to part with the gold forever because of its religious and emotional significance. "We wrote to the government to change certain conditions in the scheme and offer principal and interest in the form of gold for medium-term and long-term deposits," Rao said, referring to deposits for between five and 15 years. "The changes will make the scheme attractive for all the temples in the country," he said. ... ... For the remainder of the report: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-gold-temples-idUSKCN0WP0U4 ADVERTISEMENT We Are Amid the Biggest Financial Bubble in History; When It Bursts, Bullion Owned in the Safest Way Will Protect Wealth With GoldCore you can own allocated -- and most importantly -- segregated coins and bars in Switzerland, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Switzerland, Singapore, and Hong Kong remain extremely safe jurisdictions for storing bullion. Avoid exchange-traded funds and digital gold providers where you are a price taker. Ensure that you are outright legal owner of your bullion. If you do not own segregated bullion that you can visit, inspect, and take delivery of, you are exposed. Crucial guides to storage in Singapore and Switzerland can be read here: http://info.goldcore.com/essential-guide-to-storing-gold-in-singapore http://info.goldcore.com/essential-guide-to-storing-gold-in-switzerland GoldCore does not report transactions to any authority. Safety, privacy, and confidentiality are paramount when we are entrusted with storage of our clients' precious metals. Email the GoldCore team at info@goldcore.com or call our trading desk: UK: +44(0)203-086-9200. U.S.: +1-302-635-1160. International: +353(0)1-632-5010. Visit us at: http://www.goldcore.com Join GATA here: Mines and Money Asia Tuesday-Thursday, April 5-7, 2016 Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China http://asia.minesandmoney.com/ Mining Investment Asia Wednesday-Friday, April 13-15, 2016 Marina Bay Sands, Singapore http://www.mininginvestmentasia.com/ Support GATA by purchasing recordings of the proceedings of the 2014 New Orleans Investment Conference: https://jeffersoncompanies.com/landing/2014-av-powell Or by purchasing DVDs of GATA's London conference in August 2011 or GATA's Dawson City conference in August 2006: http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html 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

A Love Affair: India and Gold Posted: 22 Mar 2016 04:52 PM PDT SafeHaven

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