A unique and safe way to buy gold and silver 2013 Passport To Freedom Residency Kit
Buy Gold & Silver With Bitcoins!

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Gold World News Flash

Gold World News Flash


Gold's 2016 Bull Market Moving Off Course

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 08:25 PM PST

While we expected additional weakness in Gold and gold stocks (weeks ago) we did not quite expect the kind of selling the sector experienced in the wake of Donald Trump's election victory. The market reacted by sending bond yields dramatically higher which resulted in stronger real interest rates, which is fundamentally negative for precious metals. This has created significant technical damage in the sector and has potentially thrown the 2016 bull off course.

Interviewed by GoldSeek, GATA Chairman Murphy discusses post-election attack on gold

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 07:44 PM PST

10:46p ET Saturday, November 19, 2016

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

GATA Chairman Bill Murphy, interviewed by GoldSeek Radio's Chris Waltzek, discusses the post-election attack on gold by central banks and bullion banks. The interview is 11 minutes long and can be heard at GoldSeek here:

http://news.goldseek.com/radio/1479482040.php

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org



ADVERTISEMENT

Sandspring Resources Commences 2016 Exploration Campaign

Company Announcement
August 17, 2016

Sandspring Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:SSP, US OTC: SSPXF) is pleased to announce commencement of the 2016 exploration campaign at its Toroparu Gold Project in Guyana, South America.

In 2015 the company completed a 3,700-meter diamond drilling program on the promising Sona Hill Prospect, located 5 kilometers southeast of the main Toroparu deposit. Sona Hill is the easternmost gold anomaly in a cluster of 10 gold features located within a 20-by-7-kilometer hydrothermal alteration halo around Toroparu. Drilling at Sona Hill in 2012 and in 2015 intercepted high-grade mineralization in both saprolite and bedrock, and confirmed the continuity and grade potential of the Sona Hill mineralization.

For the remainder of the announcement and highlights of the 2015 drill program:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sandspring-resources-commences-2016-explo...



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

New York Sun: Trump's Fed chairman

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 07:21 PM PST

From the New York Sun
Saturday, November 19, 2016

It's none too soon for President-elect Trump to think about whom he wants for chairman of the Federal Reserve. Come January he will have little more than a year to make this decision, given that Janet Yellen's term as chairman expires in February of 2018. She has so firmly interpreted congressional oversight as a form of political interference that it's hard to see how she could be anything but an obstructionist in respect of monetary reform. She seems cool even to a centennial review of the Fed's performance as the central bank commences its second century.

So what about a brilliant and tough-minded constitutional lawyer? Many of the questions surrounding the Fed, after all, have to do with the constitutional concept of money. To what were the Founding Fathers referring when, in the Constitution, they twice used the word "dollars"? How should that affect our thinking today? Could one find a constitutional maven who also had some political experience, a leader who has even campaigned for the idea of honest money when others were ignoring the issue? Even one prepared to open up the question of a gold standard?

It turns out that there is a figure that meets every one of those particulars -- Senator Cruz. ...



ADVERTISEMENT

K92 Mining Begins Gold Production at Kainantu Mine

Company Announcement
Wednesday, October 5, 2016

K92 Mining Inc. is pleased to announce that gold production has commenced from the Irumafimpa gold deposit.

Ian Stalker, K92 Chief Executive Officer, says: "This milestone is highly significant for our company, and for this region of Papua New Guinea. A great deal of thanks goes to the entire team on site in PNG in achieving production ahead of schedule and on budget. The rehabilitation of the Irumafimpa gold mine, process plant, and associated infrastructure commenced in late March and is now complete. As an enhancement of the processing facility, we are also pleased to note that the installation of a new drum scrubber is also nearing completion and commissioning of this will be completed by the end of the month. ..."

...For the remainder of the announcement:

http://www.k92mining.com/2016/10/6077/



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

Gold Fields, Silver Standard withdraw offer for Kirkland Lake

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 07:18 PM PST

By Vishaka George
Reuters
Friday, November 18, 2016

Gold Fields Ltd. and Silver Standard Resources Inc. withdrew their offer to buy Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. after the Canadian miner asked its shareholders to vote in favor of its takeover bid for Australia's Newmarket Gold Inc.

Kirkland had confirmed a Reuters report last week that South Africa's Gold Fields and Canada's Silver Standard had made three joint bids for the company and recently sweetened their offer to about C$1.4 billion ($1.04 billion).

Gold Fields said on Friday it would pursue negotiations with Kirkland if the miner's shareholders rejected the Newmarket transaction. ...

... For the remainder of the report:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-newmarket-gold-m-a-kirkland-lake-idUKKB...



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



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

"Brace For Economic Disruption" SocGen Sees "Sharp Rise In Gold" As India Plans Cap On Cash Holdings

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 06:10 PM PST

India's 'de-monetization' scheme has caused chaos across the nation, and while SocGen says the government's plan may have some short-term success in curbing so-called 'black-money', investors should "brace for economic disruption" as Bloomberg reports the Indian government is considering a cap on cash holdings for individuals. As SocGen concludes, "people will now be more inclined to park their black income in gold rather than in currency."

The daily images of utter chaos in India that has brought the conutry's economy to a standstill since they unleashed their war on cash...

Are perhaps about to get worse, as Bloomberg reports, India is set to consider a cap on cash holdings for individuals...

Measure planned to prevent people from hoarding cash and generating income that could evade taxes, according to government officials with direct knowledge of the matter.

 

Planned measures include limit on large cash withdrawals from bank, the officials said, asking not to be identified citing rules on speaking to media.

 

Budget, due in February, may have steps to encourage use of checks, credit and debit cards.

 

Purchase of gold jewelry said to be made more stringent to prevent switching of asset from cash.

 

Finance Ministry spokesman D. S. Malik couldn’t be reached for comment.

But, as SocGen's Kunal Kumar Kundu writes, the demonetisation scheme (banning the use of old high-denomination banknotes – INR500 and INR1000) announced by India’s PM Modi on 8 November is likely to have only a short-term impact on corruption and black money, unless it is followed by multiple other moves aimed at curbing these issues.

However, we do expect short-term disruption to the economy, especially in rural areas, due to a sharp drop in consumption as the cash crunch hits. The extent of the disruption will depend on how soon new banknotes come into the system. If this takes place over the next three to four weeks (as promised by the government) the damage should be limited. Otherwise, the disruption could be prolonged. At the same time, there is also a possibility of a short-term increase in tax revenue collection which could enable the government to keep its deficit within target and continue with all its desired expenditure (including capex) which we earlier feared may have to be curtailed as deficit challenges manifested. In the interim, sectors that are heavily dependent on cash transactions (essentially because these are gateways to parking black income), i.e. construction, real estate and gems & jewellery, are likely to be adversely affected over the short term.

On the macro front, weaker consumption could mean lower inflation, thereby opening up the possibility of an earlier rate cut by RBI. Additionally, with people being forced to deposit large quantities of high-value notes, banks are seeing a surge in low-cost deposits which should lower cost of funds and result in faster transmission of monetary policy action through the interest rate channel. However, given the current weak credit environment, we see a spike in credit growth as unlikely. The only potential long-term effect of this move could be deterioration in India’s current account deficit (CAD), as people will now be more inclined to park their black income in gold rather than in currency, thereby leading to sharp rise in gold imports.

India’s fight against black money – the end has corrupted the means

At around 8pm on 8 November, India’s PM Modi announced, in a broadcast to the nation, that India’s INR500 and INR1000 banknotes would no longer be recognised as legal tender from midnight and that citizens would be able to exchange their existing notes of these denominations for other available (and legal) tender until 31 December 2016. The aim of the action was to counter tax evasion, counterfeiting and corruption. The idea of eliminating large denominations is that it makes it harder to hide large amounts of cash.

The problem with the move is that, in one fell swoop, just over 86% of all banknotes in circulation became just paper. Fact is, high percentage of transactions take place in cash in India, especially in the rural areas. The potential fallout from such a nationwide measure could have been averted if the government had been better prepared to handle the contingencies. However, the need for the government to keep the move a secret — so that tax evaders wouldn’t be alerted before the demonetisation took place — affected preparedness. Even Finance Minister Jaitley admitted that it would take two to three weeks to reconfigure the ATMs to handle the newer and larger notes. Given that India currently has about 202,801 ATMs all over the country, it could potentially take longer.

Existing loopholes have provided an escape hatch

Before discussing the economic impact of the move, it is important to understand the potential impact it could have on the existing block of black money in the economy and its ability to stop generation of further black money in the economy in the future. We think that while the existing stock of black money will be negatively impacted, only part of it will actually come to the fore. There are still many loopholes in the system through which a large portion of black money is able to enter the formal banking channel without the government’s knowledge. While the country is receiving virtually one notification per day from the RBI to plug loopholes that are coming to light (another indication of lack of preparedness), this process looks set to continue. Thus, only part of the black money will actually be reported and experts think that some of it will never come back.

Black money represents only a small fraction of black wealth

The problem is that black money forms only a small portion of the black wealth held in the economy. In the past five years, income tax raids have found that only 5-6% of black money is kept in hard cash. Moreover, those who have amassed a sizable amount of black money are equipped at finding ways around demonetisation by converting their existing cash into bullion, gold jewellery, real estate and foreign currencies through middle men. To that extent the demonetisation scheme will only impact part of the overall stock of black wealth in the economy.

The important thing is, however, to remember that black income is a flow concept and not a stock concept. Hence, the impact will only be temporary, and black money will eventually begin to be generated again as the move will have no impact on the generation of black income itself. This is because there are a large number of mechanisms by which such incomes are generated, and these may or may not depend on cash circulation. Normally, black income is generated by manipulating the books of accounts of businesses — revenues are understated while costs are overstated. Black income becomes a stock when it is parked – be it through property, gold, currency, etc. This scheme will only impact the black income that is parked in the form of currency. Given that only around 6% of black wealth is parked in currency form and only a part of that will be impacted, the overall impact of the measure is likely to be limited and of short duration.

Demonetisation is not enough to fight the black money menace

For a sustained crackdown on black money, multiple other attendant measures need to be taken to rein in black wealth generation. These include:

  • Direct tax reforms – While much discussion has taken place over the last decade, no action has been taken so far. There are indications that the government may want to implement reform in this area – widening the tax base, lowering tax rates and removing exemptions. If an announcement in this regard is indeed made during the forthcoming budget could be positive for the economy in the long term.
  • Transparency in political funding – In India, the process of political funding remains very opaque and has evolved into a major end-use for black money. Unfortunately, we are yet to see any concrete action to tackle this menace.
  • Agriculture income tax – Agricultural income is not taxed at all in India. For a country with such a poor direct-tax to GDP ratio, it is incomprehensible how virtually 15% of the economy remains untaxed. In fact, this has emerged as a significant conduit for tax evasion as a large chunk of income is shown as agricultural income and hence there is no incidence of tax.
  • Investment through the Participatory Notes route – Participatory Notes (commonly known as P-Notes or PNs) are instruments issued by registered foreign institutional investors (FII) to overseas investors who wish to invest in the Indian stock markets without registering themselves with the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India - SEBI. This anonymity allows many individuals with illbegotten wealth to invest in the Indian stock markets. Stricter measures need to be imposed to control the flow of such funds into the market.

Like the expected impact on black money, we believe the impact on counterfeit currency will also be temporary. For sure, the existing stock of such banknotes will be extinguished, but it will only be a matter of time before the counterfeiters get back into action.

Economic impact

In the short term, the effect is likely to be negative on balance. However, we do not expect any long-term impact from this policy alone.

Negative

We feel this move could be negative for consumption in the short term. In India, especially in the rural areas, cash transactions account for the largest share of overall transactions in the economy. In urban areas, it is less. However, the challenges are multiple. According to data from the finance ministry, only about 32% of India’s population has access to financial institutions like banks and post offices. Moreover, the distribution of banks is highly skewed, with around a third of all bank branches being concentrated in only 60 Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities/towns. More importantly, close to 60% of workers earn their wages in cash, of which more than half are daily wage earners. The majority of small mom-and-pop shops deal only in cash, especially in rural areas. With 86% of banknotes moving out of circulation at just a few hours’ notice and with a limited amount of cash being made available in lieu, the effect has so far has been quite disruptive. This is no surprise given that as per an estimate by the Fletcher School at the Tufts University, in India 86.6% of transactions by value were carried out in cash in 2012. While this figure would have come down since then, it will still be very high. The fact is that India remains largely a cash economy. According to the same Fletcher School study, the ratio of currency to GDP in India (12.2%) is higher than for countries like Russia (11.9%), Brazil (4.1%) and Mexico (5.7%). Changing age-old habits is a long-term process and the demonetisation will have caught a lot of people on the wrong foot. Also, as mentioned earlier, in an effort to keep the decision secret, the actual implementation fell short of expectations. Even the banks, which were responsible for implementing this enormous project, were kept in the dark, thereby affecting their preparedness. Whether normalcy will return in another month’s time, will depend on the government’s ability to make new cash available based on its stated timeline. Having said that we think that the stress in rural areas will persist for some time.

Overall, we expect consumption in urban areas to be lower, at least until December, while the impact on rural areas could continue for longer. Nevertheless, we will keep tracking the situation and by mid-January we should have a better sense of the level of demand
destruction.

Positive

As some black wealth gets tracked, we expect a short-term spike in tax (and penal) revenue collection. This should allow the government to plug the gaping hole in the overall revenue collection budgeted for the year. Hence it should be able to maintain its fiscal deficit target for the year and continue with its overall expenditure plan (including capex), which we felt would be compromised by a build-up of revenue pressures. This benefit, however, will be a transitory in nature unless the move is followed by the tax reforms mentioned above. In the event that reforms do take place simultaneously, we would likely see a long-term structural improvement in the economy as government capex would continue unhindered resulting in more job creation.

Overall macro impact

GDP growth: The short-term demand destruction could be partly offset by continued government capex, which we previously expected to peter out. At this point we have limited visibility on the extent of the demand destruction that is likely to take place. On balance though, we see potential downside risks to our existing growth forecast. And the longer the disruption lasts, the greater the impact it will have.

Inflation: In the short term, we see potential downside risks to our inflation forecast given the demand destruction.

Monetary policy: With inflation likely to ease more than expected, there is a possibility of RBI opting for a rate cut at its December 2016 meeting as compared to our expectation of a rate cut at the April 2017 meeting. Also, with the vast amount of low-cost deposits flowing into the banking system, the banks are able to pass on the benefits of lower costs to lending rates, thereby improving the pace monetary policy transmission. However, we do not expect this to translate into higher credit growth. With credit growth currently at its weakest level, credit remains a demand issue and not a supply issue. Fiscal deficit: We believe the government will be able to meet its fiscal deficit target for the year (@ 3.5% of GDP) without having to compromise on its expenditure including capex. We had feared earlier that expenditure would be curtailed given that India’ fiscal deficit was already at 84% of the budget in the first half of FY17.

Current account deficit: The monetisation scheme could potentially lead to a higher deficit in the longer term as many of the people who generate black income could seek to park their income in gold rather than cash in anticipation of periodic repeats of the demonetisation scheme.

For now, the Rupee is in freefall...

The American Military's Real Problem: Shooting 'Ants' With 'Elephant Guns'

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 05:35 PM PST

Submitted by Tobias Burgers via Strategic-Culture.org,

In combating asymmetric threats, we have to ask ourselves, on which side of the asymmetry do we sit? Typically and almost in a clich̩ manner, we depict our side as superior Рwe have the technology, we have the equipment, we have the on-going development capabilities. But do we really have the money for such high-end, extended, near-endless military campaigns?

Consider the defensive action by USS Mason in the Red Sea in October 2016. Its response to a rebel attack compels us to rethink the cost factor involved in defensive measures, and how we popularly interpret the costs of war and national security. A few short seconds of fending off a Yemeni rebel attack cost the United States NAVY (USN) an unsettling $8 million. Cost of the rebel attack: $500,000 or less than 10 percent of USS Mason’s reaction.

In this article, we advocate a realignment of security and defense debates to position them in the context of what it means to wage high-tech war in the twenty-first century. The asymmetry of warfare has never been more evident than in the material costs of warfighting.

America’s wars of the twenty-first century against non-state soldiers or non-state militants seem to require high and higher-tech weapons. They will include machines necessary for fast and effective transportation, weapons that kill and do not kill, personal equipment as part of soldiers’ combat uniforms, “unmanned” or remote equipment, anytime/anywhere communications technology, robotic platforms, global surveillance and instruments like the Low-Cost Imaging Terminal Seeker (LCITS), and a turn to non-petroleum fuels. The costs associated with these requisite weapons and equipment are staggering.

Smart technologies/equipment/weapons – items usually associated with the obligatory “precision” characteristic, non-lethal element, or “green energy” dimension cost a fortune. By contrast, non-state actors (NSAs) are not beholden to similar budgetary cutbacks, environmental considerations, or human rights and treaty compulsion. Attack and response costs for NSAs (typically insurgents and terrorists, or generally militant extremists) are grossly disparate in cost. Thus, this kind of high tech warfare is becoming increasingly economically unviable for high-tech states and organizations like the United States and theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

It is necessary for states to consider the dissonance between low-tech attacks and high-tech defensive responses. As it stands now, high-tech states, due to their military preferences and strongly embedded high tech warfare cultures, have not really considered the options for low-tech response. War, or just simple security for that matter, has been reconfigured by states, with their advanced and technological weaponry, to become high-cost. In contrast to asymmetric enemies with much cheaper systems, this raises the question: What response options are available to countries like the United States if NSAs pursue cost-effective approaches to combat and the West. What are the potential ramifications of lost-tech/low-cost warfare against high-tech/high-cost security/defensive measures of states? It is unlikely that the United States can sustain such a war. U.S. military action against the Islamic State (IS) costs American taxpayers well over $600 thousand per hourThe cost of war in Afghanistan by the latter half of 2016 stood at $750 billion and $819 billion for combat missions in Iraq that could alternatively be funneled toward other more critical military and nonmilitary (i.e., statebuilding) projects.

The costs of U.S. military action, either offensive or defensive, stand at around $1.5 million for just one medium to long-range subsonic cruise missile like the Tomahawk. A single air-to-ground (AGM-114) Hellfire means an injurious cost of some $115 thousand. The shoulder-rocket named the Javelin costs some $150 thousand each. The APKWS II is about $28 thousand per unit. Our departure from bombs and embrace of precision-guided munitions (PGMs) and smart weapons generally has come without clear and constant consideration for the fact that precision has its costs. “Cheap” laser-guided weapons can have a price tag of up to $250 thousand attached to them.

One glaring flaw inherent in these weapons is their lack of deterrence. If they are to be used for security, there ought to be a purpose in their non-use; however, their non-use fails to deter the principle threats in a not-so-state-centric international realm.

We are confronting a similar friction observed after decades of spending trillions of dollars on nuclear weapons of all sorts, the nuclear-powered aircraft, anuclear-powered cruise missile (PLUTO), as well as a nuclear torpedo called ASTOR (otherwise referred to as “underwater insanity”) designed to be used against submarines. In the latter, the use of such a torpedo would have meant the destruction of the submarine that launched it as well as the target.

The idea of war is to cause destruction or damage to the enemy with the least possible damage to oneself, if any at all. That logic fails us in the case of ASTOR and serves as a metaphor for security and defense logic today in considering the weapons being designed and developed to guard against and pursue rebels like those who launched their rickety old rockets at a billion-dollar U.S. warship, which in-turn spent, a disproportionate sum to prevent that attack.

We should be alarmed at the potential reduction in the human costs of war if we are moving toward increasingly robotic warfare, and with this, the possibility of warfare becoming entirely economic.

Military leaders have an amazing ability to develop strategy but if they fail to take into account the economic costs, their strategies could become inherently unviable and unsustainable. To what extent is society willing to put up with wars that are foremost robotic and primarily economic?

This could be the case in asymmetry as well as in conflicts between high tech actors. Combat – particularly robotic combat – could become ultimately a purely economic affair in which the states that have the economic resources to sustain a longer robotic warfare campaign win. In this, the inhuman element of future combat would not only release the concept of human casualties, but likewise begin sketching a different template for warfare, perhaps even cause a paradigm shift in warfare, from which point warfare could be solely an economic affair. This could in a sense create an incentive for actors to try to fight wars on the cheap – particularly against actors bound by their high-tech warfare capabilities.

We often think of our military capabilities as one that allow us to dominate the battlefield, to achieve full spectrum dominance and enemy/threat enclosure. Turning to “unmanned” systems, or (small) drones, such technology could start a new era of warfare in which actors with lesser-economic possibilities, not just capabilities, can seize upon the opportunity to expand the space of the battlefield to their benefit, namely through the use of simple drones, loaded with explosives. In this, actors would exploit different avenues or new ways (for them) of attacking their enemy.

This sort of scenario can be played-out along the lines of IS sending bomb-loaded drones against the Kurdish Peshmerga, or a terrorist trying to fly small-scale drones into the U.S. Capitol. It is pertinent to consider how this kind of approach to warfare and technology will evolve.

For the first time, technology actually seems to favor those with lesser possibilities but perversely presents more opportunity. Generally, technology has favored the actors who have the money to pursue the research and defense (R&D) side of warfare and warfighting, but now actors who do not have it can benefit in due course. Have we been too unmindful of how warfare has become foremost economic once again? Now actors with limited means actually possess the means to act beyond their material capabilities and limits and conduct strikes beyond their (limited) horizon.

This has hit the U.S. military at a relatively late point in the War on Terror and in context of the radically changing nature of the modern military landscape/character of war. But in a way we are still moving full-tilt down a path where we develop the means to attack ants using elephant guns. We tend to adhere to the idea of over-kill in a way that goes relatively unnoticed on our own side. During the Second World War, we sought to defeat the enemies of democracy and our self-styled freedom by dumping thousands of tons of bombs on Germany’s Kassel, Hamburg, Dresden, and Cologne, and Japan’s, Kagoshima, Tokushima, Fukuyama, Tokyo, and Yokohama (among many others.)

Today, we overkill the enemy using expensive technology and weapons that we mistakenly perceive to be produced at bargain prices. Comparing what the United States spends on defending against extant threats to what terrorists and insurgents spend presents a shrill contrast. It is as effortless as taking a stroll to a gun market. The going price for an American-made M-16 is $200, $400 for a Chinese- or Russian-made AK-47, and $150 for a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at a gun market in Somalia. Obtaining the requisite small arms necessary to cause widespread panic and casualties on and off the battlefield is like sifting through used clothing at a flea market – no permission, no identification, no papers, no checks required; you just choose your weapon, pay, and be on your way to attack whomever you like. A standard suicide bomber belt costs just $150.

Perceptions of contemporary security and defense have to align with the costs associated with rebel attacks, the current economic climate, and the idea that abstaining from the purchase of a single $1-1.5 million cruise missile would enable the United States and others to purchase less-technologically sophisticated alternatives capable of achieving near-similar ends.

The debate about national security and military effectiveness should not be solely conducted within the existent framework. Economic perception and reality must be discussed too.

*  *  *

Tobias Burgers is a Doctoral Candidate at the Otto-Suhr-Institute (Free University of Berlin) where he researches the rise and use of cyber, robotic systems in security relations, and the future of military conflict. Scott Nicholas Romaniuk is a PhD Candidate in International Studies (University of Trento). His research focuses on asymmetric warfare, counterterrorism, international security, and the use of force

Peter Schiff : Making America Great Again will be much harder than voters think

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 05:30 PM PST

Peter Schiff is an American stockbroker, author, and one-time Senate candidate. He has appeared as a guest on numerous financial television shows and has been quoted in major print publications as a financial analyst 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! ]]

Gerald Celente "I'm Disgusted by De Niro, Clooney & Hollywood For Backing Murderer Hillary Clinton!"

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 04:00 PM PST

hollywood is owned too. they get down and dirty with some of the "elites" that control them. the whole world is a grande play for them, what is reality? The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.newsbooze.com or http://www.figanews.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]

IF HILLARY IS NOT GUILTY, THEN WHY ARE HER SUPPORTERS ASKING OBAMA TO PARDON HER? HMM...

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 03:00 PM PST

Clinton and democrats used tax payer money welfare and social security to bribe illegals for many years to break the law and be rewarded for their vote... They who never worked in the US get more money than the citizen tax payers do... 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! ]]

Anti Trump Protesters are Clueless Libtards

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 01:30 PM PST

Series of Anti Trump Protesters Can't Even List a Single Reason There Protesting Him 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! ]]

Physical Gold Buying Soars In Asia - Dave Kranzler/Rory Hall

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 12:26 PM PST

Sprott Money

Illuminati MARK OF THE BEAST Church Promo Exposed (R$E)

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 11:30 AM PST

UNBELIEVABLE! Illuminati "Mark of the Beast" Promo by a 'Christian' Church! (2016) Released two days ago (17 November, 2016) - this new advertisement by Elevation church "Beyond" is Luciferian propaganda. Come out of her, my people. The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.newsbooze.com or http://www.figanews.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Trump Delirium Triggers Stock Market Brexit Upwards Crash Towards Dow 20,000!

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 09:33 AM PST

There were two consensus views heading into the US Presidential Election count night. Firstly that Hillary Clinton would win the election, after all Nate Silver had her penned at a 71% probability whilst the New York Times was touting 85% and so were the betting markets discounting a Hillary win with Trump trading on Betfair at 6.6 whilst Hillary stood at just 1.17 an hour before the polls closed. Then there were Hillary's wall street backers who had all but discounted their candidate winning.

Russia Adds Record 1.3 Million Ounces of Gold During October

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 09:19 AM PST

Gold Stock Bull

Doug Pollitt: Like his businesses, Trump administration promises the dull pangs of regret

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 08:18 AM PST

11:21a ET Saturday, November 19, 2016

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

In this week's market letter for Pollitt & Co. in Toronto, Douglas Pollitt writes, "If you are a creditor, the last person you want to see on the other side of the table is Donald Trump. ...

"If there were a central theme in Trump's campaign it was that the dollar was too high, unfairly benefiting trading partners. 'You see [devaluations] almost everywhere except for the United States,' he told CNBC back in March. 'We do nothing about it. We just sit back and let everybody do it. And that's getting to be very dangerous.' On the same program, he even broached the possibility of default: 'I would borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal.'"

But adding that no one can know if Trump is serious, Pollitt predicts that conflicting agendas and and Trump's indifference will tie his administration into knots, even as world trade can never be fair as long as one country runs the world reserve currency.

Pollitt's letter is headlined "And the Dull Pangs of Regret" and with his kind permission it's posted at GATA's internet site here:

http://www.gata.org/files/PollittMarketLetter-11-16-2016.pdf

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org



ADVERTISEMENT

Sandspring Resources Commences 2016 Exploration Campaign

Company Announcement
August 17, 2016

Sandspring Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:SSP, US OTC: SSPXF) is pleased to announce commencement of the 2016 exploration campaign at its Toroparu Gold Project in Guyana, South America.

In 2015 the company completed a 3,700-meter diamond drilling program on the promising Sona Hill Prospect, located 5 kilometers southeast of the main Toroparu deposit. Sona Hill is the easternmost gold anomaly in a cluster of 10 gold features located within a 20-by-7-kilometer hydrothermal alteration halo around Toroparu. Drilling at Sona Hill in 2012 and in 2015 intercepted high-grade mineralization in both saprolite and bedrock, and confirmed the continuity and grade potential of the Sona Hill mineralization.

For the remainder of the announcement and highlights of the 2015 drill program:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sandspring-resources-commences-2016-explo...



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

AttachmentSize
PollittMarketLetter-11-16-2016.pdf714.09 KB

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Trump and Gold: The Look Ahead

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 07:00 AM PST

This post Trump and Gold: The Look Ahead appeared first on Daily Reckoning.

On Election Night, Nov. 8, gold prices rocketed up by over $50 per ounce at one point, to $1,335 per ounce.

This was as news spread about the likely come-from-behind victory of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. Asian stock markets tumbled as panic selling took hold.

By the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 9, Trump was president-elect. Then — and this struck me as odd — by the time Clinton gave her belated concession speech, gold prices were giving up gains. After Clinton conceded, gold prices began to retreat below the previous day's starting point. Global stock markets commenced a strong rally.

Now at the end of this week, gold trades at $1,212, which is below pre-Brexit levels. Silver is almost at pre-Brexit levels, under $17 per ounce. Meanwhile, broad stock markets have been whipping around.

Obviously, markets were surprised when Trump won the election. Trump's win was not what most people expected — not in the mainstream media. Even people in the Trump camp were dubious about his odds. Of course, my partner Jim Rickards as much as predicted that Trump would win.

Markets will do what they do. Markets often confound expectations. After Trump won the election, gold and silver prices fell, while broad market indexes rose firmly.

I believe Trump's election is bullish for gold prices, which you can already see in trading charts and new buying patterns. That means Trump's policies are also bullish for well-run, up-and-coming gold mining firms.

With a Trump administration in the cards, America, and other nations across the world, are in for massive policy changes in many areas. It's not just "a big, beautiful wall" along the Mexico border and "better trade deals," either.

In fact, the bedrock of change under Trump will be his administration's approach to monetary policy, taxation and ultimately the value of the dollar — which includes moving the price of gold.

Looking ahead, we should expect a Fed interest rate hike in December. But that won't be a surprise. It's the most advance-advertised hike in modern history and is mostly priced into markets by now, according to Jim.

By 2017, Jim and I believe that gold-silver will be off to the races. I still believe that we could see gold move back up over $1,400 per ounce by March.

And that could just be the beginning.

If you've never before read the inimitable Mogambo Guru, this is your chance, below, to drink from the Guru's muddy water.

He's an old friend of Agora Financial and much of our Baltimore team. He's definitely not for everybody, but for many years, he's highlighted and skewered the long-running black comedy that passes for monetary policy in this day and age. Why should you own gold? Read on.

Regards,

Byron King
for The Daily Reckoning

The post Trump and Gold: The Look Ahead appeared first on Daily Reckoning.

Zombies for Dinner

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 07:00 AM PST

This post Zombies for Dinner appeared first on Daily Reckoning.

Did you ever notice how dinnertime conversation always seems to get around to somebody asking you for money? Or they want you to spend some of your Precious Mogambo Time (PMT) with them, "doing" something "together as a family" where you act like a "real father" for "a welcome change"?

Me, too! Weird huh?

And are you really, really getting tired of politely replying "Go to hell", only to have them unexpectedly get all angry and anti-social, for absolutely no reason? Like some vicious bi-polar demons from hell?

Me, too! Again, weird huh?

Anyway, the reason that I bring this up is that last night's dinner began with the kids having some stupid-yet-serious discussion about some stupid zombie show on TV. Zombies, no less!

Naturally, being the ever-loving and devoted father who frets over the education of his darling children, I am already aghast that half of young people today have "no problem" with socialism.

At the risk of going off on a tangent where I become predictably hysterical with outrage, this is absolute proof that our schools have been taken over by evil socialists and communists to spread their laughable, long-discredited, low-IQ theories of "all you need is love and an expanding money supply."

And now we're discussing zombies, as if they really exist! Zombies, for crying out loud!

I deftly seized the moment to provide some educational value to the conversation which was obviously, by this time, sorely lacking.

So I helpfully offered "Did you notice that zombies never have any money? I mean, it's no wonder they dress so badly! And why they don't go to the dermatologist for their awful skin conditions!"

Immediately, all conversation stopped. I was, of course, hoping that they were, at last, having an epiphany about the importance of a functional monetary system.

Excitedly, I decided to start the tutorial with the basics. "And they are so lazy and stupid that they don't even try the barter system!" I said. "The zombies could offer some labor, like babysitting the kids for the weekend so the desperate parents could get away for a long, relaxing retreat, in exchange for the brain of a dead relative who died recently!"

Alas, they just sat there, looking at me with that blank look of incomprehension upon their faces, but, thankfully, not actually drooling in their slack-jawed bewilderment.

Quickly wrapping up this important lesson about zombies, ruinous monetary policy and the evils of socialism with a triumphant flourish, I said "And now their money is ruined, they are ruined, and everything is a nightmarish, deathly dystopian mess. But note how they are still greedy little socialists, wanting to eat your brain without paying for it! Hahahaha!"

Naturally, I wanted them to suddenly say "Dad! How brilliant! A wonderful way to segue from popular culture into a devastating and withering attack on socialism and modern monetary policy! Tell us more!" while my wife would sit beaming with pride, instead of everything immediately ending with someone abruptly crying, jumping up and storming out, screaming hysterically about how they hate me, wish I was dead, worst father/husband/lunatic in the world, blah, blah, blah. You know. The usual.

Instead, to my amazement neither happened. Perhaps trying a new tack to shame me into behaving like a "normal" husband and father, they took up the theme that I, they, and the whole family would benefit if I cared about things other than monetary policy, gold, tasty snack foods, and, of course, television.

Stung at the bitter criticism, I wanted to acidly reply right in their nasty faces "Not care about gold and silver when the damnable Federal Reserve is committing every monetary sin ever thought of by anyone, anytime, anywhere in the history of the world, to expand government spending, by exploding the money supply, and now actually buying securities for itself to force asset prices up? Are you insane?"

But I didn't say it. I admit I was distracted, as I was simultaneously thinking of an essay by Chuck Butler of EverBank, who recently wrote "The 10 largest Central Banks now own assets totaling $21.4 trillion!", and which is a "10% increase from the end of last year", and an essay by David Stockman, of the eponymous DavidStockmansContraCorner.com, who wrote "at a nosebleed 25X reported GAAP earnings, and after an 18% decline from their September 2014 peak already, the broad stock market is more over-valued than any time in history, including the peaks before 2008, 2000 and 1929."

Any time in history! 1929! Ever! Yikes! Do you think this kind of insane bubble market could possibly exist without an exploding money supply? Hahahahaha!

Instead of going down that dark road, I decided to lighten the mood. "Hey! It's riddle time! You like riddles, don't you?" I jovially asked. "So, answer this: How is having gold like having children?"

Surprisingly, they replied almost in unison "Because you love gold and you hate us!"

Shocked that they would think such a terrible thing about their own loving dad, I had to gently admonish them "The riddle is how are they ALIKE, you morons, not different!"

Things went surprisingly downhill at that point, and nobody even tried to solve the riddle.

Of course, the answer is obvious when you think about it. The answer is that kids are like gold because they are both necessary investments and insurance in the future, but, in the meantime, a really giant pain in my Big Mogambo Butt (BMB).

How, you ask? Why is gold such a pain in my BMB? Well, owning silver and gold, and storing silver and gold, and safeguarding silver and gold is, as previously mentioned in a paragraph above, a giant pain in my Big Mogambo Butt (BMB), especially when you drop a roll of ounces and they go skittering all over the place and you have to crawl around on your hands and knees looking for them under furniture, and you hit your head, and you get dust bunnies and spiderwebs all over you, and it's, well, take it from me, a giant pain in the BMB.

Ditto having kids is a pain in my BMB, but they will be valuable one day when I am old and will need people to wait on me hand and foot, wiping drool off my chin, endlessly ferrying me back and forth to a long list of medical professionals, and serving as volunteer organ donors in case, you know, I need a little something in the "transplant" vein.

I can hear you asking "What in the hell is the point? Is there a point to any of this? Do you ever have a point, you moron? Or is it that you are willing to marginally extend your own life by a few years by harvesting your children?"

Yes, there is a point, as I will now make, since that you have asked so nicely. The point is that nobody can stop the monetary insanity, and the Federal Reserve and the other central banks must keep creating cash and credit until it is, literally, no longer possible.

Why? Because so much, so terrifyingly much, so stupendously much, so unbelievably much debt is owed that it is utterly impossible to even start trying to pay it back, because the economy would completely and cataclysmically collapse if we did.

So, cleverly summarizing, it is ruinous bankruptcy now for everybody if we stop going into more debt, but it is possible to keep the game going a little longer with ever-larger infusions of new cash and credit so that we have a bigger, MORE ruinous bankruptcy later on.

And it is not just Wall Street insiders who would suffer. Public pensions are underfunded by grossly unpayable amounts, all retirement savings of all private pensions are invested in the stock and bond markets, and government is getting bigger and bigger.

In short, We're Freaking Doomed (WFD): Eventual WFD if we keep amassing more and more un-payable debt, and we're likewise WFD if we stop, as the saying goes, Right Freaking Now (RFN).

Then will be the time for "Money, money, money! Saving pensions! Saving jobs! Saving banks! Saving everybody and everything, as far as the eye can see! And if there are really zombies, then them, too!"

And then it will be time for consumer inflation to soar as it destroys the economy (as history says it inevitably will) and it will be time for gold to pay off (as history says it will), and time for the kids to pay off what they owe me (one way or the other) for putting up with them all these years.

In the meantime, I have some Happy Mogambo News (HMN)!

You can relax! Take five! Take a break! Smoke if you got 'em, because governments and delusional Keynesian economists will do everything they can to make sure it is not today, or anytime really soon, regardless of how devastatingly worse it will eventually make things. Maybe featuring zombies.

And so, with a little more time to accumulate silver and gold to make sure you will not financially die, and organ donors maturing at hand to make sure that you don't literally die, you gotta realize that "Whee! This investing stuff is easy!"

Regards,

The Mogambo Guru
for The Daily Reckoning

The post Zombies for Dinner appeared first on Daily Reckoning.

Speculators Are Finally Bailing Out Of Gold – And That’s A Good Thing

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 03:29 AM PST

All this talk of massive new infrastructure spending financed with a tsunami of freshly-minted currency should be lighting a fire under gold. That it hasn’t is a testament to how out-of-whack the precious metals market had gotten during the first six months of this year. As gold rose, the futures contract traders whose games tend to dictate near-term price action had set the metal up for a fall. Specifically, the speculators (who are always wrong at the extremes) were ridiculously long. With the suckers all-in, a big correction was needed to restore balance.

Breaking News And Best Of The Web

Posted: 19 Nov 2016 01:37 AM PST

US dollar soaring, now at highest level of the year. Interest rates rising, bond prices falling. Mortgage rates up. Gold and silver correcting, setting the stage for the next bull market. Political class still searching for an explanation (see “Best of the Web”). Trump’s cabinet takes shape, with mostly old and a few new faces. […]

The post Breaking News And Best Of The Web appeared first on DollarCollapse.com.

No comments:

Post a Comment