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Friday, December 21, 2012

Gold World News Flash

Gold World News Flash


75 Economic Numbers From 2012 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe

Posted: 21 Dec 2012 12:15 AM PST

from The Economic Collapse Blog:

What a year 2012 has been! The mainstream media continues to tell us what a "great job" the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve are doing of managing the economy, but meanwhile things just continue to get even worse for the poor and the middle class. It is imperative that we educate the American people about the true condition of our economy and about why all of this is happening. If nothing is done, our debt problems will continue to get worse, millions of jobs will continue to leave the country, small businesses will continue to be suffocated, the middle class will continue to collapse, and poverty in the United States will continue to explode. Just "tweaking" things slightly is not going to fix our economy. We need a fundamental change in direction. Right now we are living in a bubble of debt-fueled false prosperity that allows us to continue to consume far more wealth than we produce, but when that bubble bursts we are going to experience the most painful economic "adjustment" that America has ever gone through. We need to be able to explain to our fellow Americans what is coming, why it is coming and what needs to be done. Hopefully the crazy economic numbers that I have included in this article will be shocking enough to wake some people up.

Read More @ TheEconomicCollpaseBlog.com

The Fed Is Confiscating The Wealth Of The Middle Class By Destroying The Value Of The Dollar

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 10:43 PM PST

Americans need to take a serious look at how the purchasing power of the dollar is being destroyed.  Rampant poverty, declining real incomes and higher prices are all the guaranteed results of a Federal Reserve that remains committed to destroying the value of the dollar.   A dollar saved today that has less purchasing power a [...]

Precious Metals Decouple from Stock Market

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 10:31 PM PST

Going forward, we have the setup for an amazing contrarian opportunity. The trigger is an exacerbation in economic data and the general markets. As long as the markets are trending higher then Gold and gold stocks won't get much of a bid. Read More...

Giorgi - The New Terrifying World Of Modern Day Pirates

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 10:01 PM PST

For those of you who feel like you have had a rough time in the gold and silver space recently, today King World News interviewed one of the top individuals in the shipping world about modern-day pirates and the terror they cause for both shipowners and passengers. Here is what Roberto Giorgi, President of VShips, had to say about this disturbing situation: "Unfortunately what is happening with piracy is a lot of countries have underestimated what has become a major problem. It has become like a cancer and this cancer has metastasized. This type of situation happens with countries that don't have a strong government."

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

Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Fall Over 1% and 3%

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 10:00 PM PST

Gold fell to as low as $1635.70 by late morning in New York before it bounced back higher in afternoon trade, but it still ended with a loss of 1.23%. Silver slumped to as low as $29.592 and ended with a loss of 3.66%.

QE4 is the Drug of Choice

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 09:30 PM PST

by GE Christenson, Gold Seek:

Goldman Sachs recently announced regarding gold, "We see growing downside risks." Their (GS) forecast for 2014 is only $1,750 per ounce. With their history of lies and deception and their reputation as insiders who front run markets, this looks like a contrary indicator. Perhaps they are preparing to buy at lower prices.

Should we believe Goldman Sachs? My answer is definitely not!

Chris Martenson wrote regarding the announcement of QE4: "Instead stocks initially climbed but then closed red. Gold was mysteriously sold in the thinly-traded overnight markets and again right after the announcement in large, rapid, HFT blocks that swamped the bids. U.S. Treasury bonds actually sold off on the news. The dollar hardly budged. Commodities were mixed across the board but more or less flat on the day, with the exception of the metals, and especially the precious metals, which were sold vigorously."

Read More @ GoldSeek.com

Tom Cloud: How to Sell Gold Without Reporting It

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 08:27 PM PST

In this week's talk with National Numismatic Associates' Tom Cloud, he answers two big questions that confront precious metals buyers: Why are sales of some coins and bars reportable to the IRS and others not? And is it possible to buy and ... Read More...

GoldQuest: Announces Results from Induced Polarization (IP) Survey; Fourth "Deep" Drill Rig Added

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 08:13 PM PST

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Dec. 20, 2012) - GoldQuest (TSX VENTURE:GQC)(FRANKFURT:M1W)(BERLIN:M1W) is pleased to present the initial data from an extensive IP survey and a summary of the 2012 drilling at Las Tres Palmas project, in the Dominican Republic, which includes the Romero and Escandalosa discoveries. The company has ordered a fourth drill rig, capable of reaching 700 metres, which will be mobilized in January 2013 to drill new targets. Assays from the remaining 9 holes drilled at Romero in late 2012 will be released in January 2013.

The Company is currently undertaking an IP survey covering the complete Las Tres Palmas trend and outlying areas in the Company's extensive land position, including Los Comios, Romero West, and Jengibre. This survey, conducted by Insight Geophysics, will investigate to a depth of approximately 500 metres, which is almost twice the depth of the 2011 IP survey that identified the Romero mineralization. Initial results of the current survey at Romero and north of La Escandalosa have identified deeper chargeability anomalies, where higher readings appear to correlate with sulphide mineralization (http://goldquestcorp.com/images/romero_map_new_insight_ip_lines.jpg).

"The 2011 IP program which led to the Romero discovery identified the overall trend, and the new, deeper penetrating IP shows strong correlation with the high grade copper/gold intersections and provides further guidance about the geometry of the targets," commented Julio Espaillat, GoldQuest's President and CEO. "Drilling in the new year will continue at Romero, which remains open at depth and along strike, and will test new targets around the Las Tres Palmas Trend."

The IP survey at Romero, which is located in the most northerly lobe to date of the Las Tres Palmas trend, displays enhanced detail of resistivity and chargeability anomalies, allowing the Company to refine their planned drilling targets, and to gain a greater understanding of the mineralization style and attitude of controls on emplacement of gold, copper and other metals (see http://goldquestcorp.com/images/romero_200w.jpg). The East-West mineralized trend in the northern part of the Romero chargeability anomaly, identified in 2012 by drilling, is visible in this survey, and appears to shows a strong vertical element, strengthening at depth. The Company intends to undertake further drilling in January to test the high chargeability occurrences with three diamond drill rigs, closely followed by testing further refined IP targets as they are generated.

20121220-GQC-Romero-Chargeability

Several IP survey lines have been completed directly north of La Escandalosa outcropping gold occurrence, 2 kilometres south of the Romero discovery, where the company reported a NI 43-101 compliant inferred resource of 3.1 million tonnes grading 3.14 g/t gold (see release of Aug 20th, 2012). The first IP survey lines show a strong chargeability anomaly and La Escandalosa mineralized horizon dips towards this untested anomaly which is open at depth and to the north (see http://goldquestcorp.com/images/escandalosa_IS100N-IP-UTM.jpg). Drilling will commence here with a deep rig, slated to arrive in the Dominican Republic in late January.

20121220-GQC-Romero-Chargeability2
(Images GoldQuest. Full size images at the links above.)

Drilling summary for 2012

The three rigs at Las Tres Palmas have halted for the Christmas break and will resume in early January 2013. Since the announcement of the discovery at Romero on 23rd May 2012, by LTP 90 (231 metres grading 2.4 g/t gold and 0.4 % copper), thirty-two holes have been completed within the Romero area, which represents approximately 20% of the Las Tres Palmas trend. Assays from twenty-three holes have already been reported (see prior press releases of GoldQuest) and assays from the remaining nine holes of the 2012 program will be reported in early January 2013 (see 2012 drill summary at http://www.goldquestcorp.com/pdf/LTP_Reported_Assay_Results.pdf, plan map http://www.goldquestcorp.com/images/mapwithholes.jpg, and the Companies up to date Romero UTMS table at http://goldquestcorp.com/images/Phase_VII.xlsx).

The information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Jeremy Niemi, P.Geo., the Director, Technical Services of GoldQuest and a Qualified Person for the technical information in this press release under NI 43-101 standards.

About GoldQuest

GoldQuest is a Canadian based mineral exploration company with projects in the Dominican Republic traded on the TSX-V under the symbol GQC.V and in Frankfurt/Berlin with symbol M1W, with 143,980,044 shares outstanding (154,856,568 on a fully diluted basis).

Forward-looking statements:

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that GoldQuest expects to occur, are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Such forward-looking statements include the ability of the company to proceed with the expected IP survey and drill programs. Although GoldQuest believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include exploitation and exploration success, differing results from re-assays or other analytical procedures with respect to the drill results, continued availability of capital, financing and required resources (such as human resources, equipment and/or other capital resources) and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of GoldQuest's management on the date the statements are made. GoldQuest undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change, except as required by law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

GoldQuest Mining Corp.
Julio Espaillat
President & Chief Executive Officer
+1-829-919-8701


jespaillat@goldquestcorp.com

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.



GoldQuest Mining Corp.
Sebastian de Kloet
Investor Relations - Toronto
+1-416-214-9151
+1-866-276-8954 (FAX)


investorrelations@goldquestcorp.com

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


www.goldquestcorp.com

Disclosure:  GoldQuest Mining Corp. is a Vulture Bargain Candidate of Interest (VBCI).  Members of the GGR team may hold long positions in GQC.V.  

VIX Decoupling Band Snaps Even As SPX Still Has A Ways To Go

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 07:50 PM PST

A mere 7 hours ago in "Just in case there is no deal" as is now the case, we noted that there was a considerable divergence between the equity market's roiling exuberance (and the accompanying over-confidence of the naive watchers) and the occurrences in the implied volatility world. VIX had decoupled rather notably from stocks (and its term structure had flattened as short-term protection was heavily bid). Sure enough, at the first sign of things not quite going to Plan (A, B, or Z), equity futures have collapsed amid a total farce of a market liquidity to recouple with volatility. With quad-witching tomorrow, we can only imagine the efforts the algos will be going to tonight to keep this afloat.

S&P 500 futures recouple down to VIX

 

Meanwhile S&P 500 futures are anchored to VWAP (but unable to break above)...

 

Of course, the whole point of this superficial equity-to-reality divergence was to fool - very successfully judging by the flash crash - both relatively smart market participants, what little of them is left, as well as superficial sidelines' commentators with zero trading experience.

 

 

 

Chart: Bloomberg

Fake Gold Fake Coins, A discussion with Ralph T. Foster and Darryl Robert Schoon – YouTube

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 07:22 PM PST

Ralph T. Foster explains the secondary gold market and how dealers protect themselves from fake...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://goldbasics.blogspot.com for full Content ]]

Silver & Gold 2013 Price Predictions: Jim Rogers, Robert Kiyosaki & Eric Sprott – YouTube

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 06:38 PM PST

Gold and Silver Price Forecast by Robert Kiyosaki, Eric Sprott and Jim Rogers, Peter Schiff, Marc...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://goldbasics.blogspot.com for full Content ]]

Data Dump Fails To Boost Market – YouTube

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 06:36 PM PST

Data Dump Fails To Boost Market via Data Dump Fails To Boost Market – YouTube.

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://goldbasics.blogspot.com for full Content ]]

NYSE-ICE Merger Dominates Headlines, Markets Turn Positi… – YouTube

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 06:31 PM PST

NYSE-ICE Merger Dominates Headlines, Markets Turn Positive Ahead of Options Expiration Day via...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://goldbasics.blogspot.com for full Content ]]

Eric Fry and Joel Bowman Catch the Train of Opportunity on their way out of the US! – YouTube

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 06:30 PM PST

Eric Fry and Joel Bowman Catch the Train of Opportunity on their way out of the US! Hilarious. If...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://goldbasics.blogspot.com for full Content ]]

Gold Demand In Asia Remains Insatiable

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:49 PM PST

As gold demand in Asia soars, vault companies are racing to keep up with storage demand.  In July, Gold and Silver Blog reported on a massive new gold vault being constructed in Hong Kong by Malca-Amit due to unrelenting physical demand for gold in Asia.  The new vault was designed to hold 1,000 metric tonnes [...]

Is The Short Squeeze Over?

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:44 PM PST

Following up on our recent discussion of the worst-is-first rally that we have all been witness to in the last few weeks, we thought it noteworthy that the 'most-shorted' names in the Russell 3000 and the index itself have now recoupled from their epic divergence post-QE3. We have seen five large short squeezes 'engineered' since the lows in March 2009 - and given Citi and BofA's 17% gains in December alone, we suspect (and have heard from more than a few funds) that year-end is bringing some forced buy-ins as SecLend desks become a little more activist.

The 'Squeezes'

 

QE3's Epic Fail (and Win)... as the index and its shorts have now recoupled post QE3

 

And despite the fact that half BofA's market cap is at risk in 60+day delinquent mortgage loans, it has scaled the epic ranks of a 17% gain in December alone... all makes perfect sense...

 

Was John Paulson really Short Financials and Long Gold / Silver - perhaps?

 

Charts: Bloomberg

Gold Price Lost $21.60 to Close at $1,644.90 it's Oversold but may Move Lower

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:07 PM PST

Gold Price Close Today : 1644.90
Change : -21.60 or -1.30%

Silver Price Close Today : 29.612
Change : -1.43 or -4.61%

Gold Silver Ratio Today : 55.548
Change : 1.863 or 3.47%

Silver Gold Ratio Today : 0.01800
Change : -0.000625 or -3.35%

Platinum Price Close Today : 1546.20
Change : -46.70 or -2.93%

Palladium Price Close Today : 679.25
Change : -18.10 or -2.60%

S&P 500 : 1,443.69
Change : 7.80 or 0.54%

Dow In GOLD$ : $167.29
Change : $ 7.50 or 4.69%

Dow in GOLD oz : 8.093
Change : 0.363 or 4.69%

Dow in SILVER oz : 449.54
Change : 22.63 or 5.30%

Dow Industrial : 13,311.72
Change : 59.75 or 0.45%

US Dollar Index : 79.25
Change : -0.089 or -0.11%

The GOLD PRICE lost $21.60 to close Comex at $1,644.90. Silver lost a bruising 4.6% today, 143.3 cents, to smash support at 3100 AND 3000c by closing at 2961.2c.

For both the gold and SILVER PRICE today's move complete a 61.8% correction of the rise that began last June. Both have oversold RSIs, both have MACDs that are scraping their last bottom, both are below the long term moving averages I watch (150 and 200 for gold, 300 and 200 for silver).

In short, they are oversold and ready to get oversold-er. Perverse, but when morale is broken in a market, it has to have its back completely broken before it reverses.

GOLD/SILVER RATIO also points to more deterioration in silver. Today it gapped up to 55.548. and appears headed to close an old gap between 57 and 57.5. Silver and gold are in the waterfall phase, so this spasm could end in a few days. Will certainly pause for Christmas in any event.

Since both metals cut through their uptrend line form the June 2012 low, underneath them now is only the Downtrend line from the 2011 highs, 2900 - 2850c for silver, $1635 - 1620 for gold.

Sounds like I've got it all scoped out, but if I did I wouldn't have gotten it so wrong till now. More than that, markets never do exactly what you expect them to. They move to support, and instead of stopping, pierce through before they reverse, or never quite reach support. It's as if they know what you are thinking, and dodge on purpose. Thus the proverb that "bull markets always to shake off as many riders as they can." Question is, can YOU hold on? Can you stand the heat?

Thus every day markets give you a highly concentrated dose of humility.

What we surely know is that silver and gold remain in a primary uptrend, and that every day brings us closer to the end of this correction. Just stand back and watch it a few days. There's time, it's not running away, and if it starts to climb, well, give it more time still. We need more certainty here like a dying man needs a drink of water.

Be patient. Still, I have to buy at least a little silver here somewhere. Whenever that gap in the gold silver ratio is filled, that'd be about the day.

Aww, shucks! Tomorrow's the end of the world, according to some interpreters of the Mayan Calendar. Say, I have an idea for all y'all who're convinced the world will end tomorrow: y'all send me your money. Probably better wire it, as there's not much time left. While you're at it, mail me your credit cards, too, and any jewelry you're not planning to take with you.

Dollar index fell 8.9 basis points to 79.245, nothing new there. Euro took advantage of that, hit $1.3300 as yesterday, but too spindly-armed to hold on there. Closed $1.3244, up 0.26%. Yen fell another tiny bit, to 118.49c/Y100. Got to be near the end of that fall.

Stocks suffered a bad beating this morning, but found "sponsorship" in the latter part of the day, and managed to close above 13,300 at 13,311.72, up 59.75. S&P500 rose 0.55% (7.88) to 1,443.69. Weak and wormy, but will climb more, I believe.

Argentum et aurum comparenda sunt -- -- Gold and silver must be bought.

- Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger
The-MoneyChanger.com
1-888-218-9226
10:00am-5:00pm CST, Monday-Friday

© 2012, The Moneychanger. May not be republished in any form, including electronically, without our express permission.

To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate bubble has burst, primary trend down.

WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. Be advised and warned:

Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures.

NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps.

NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced.

NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt.

What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands.

One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose. No, I don't.

Silver Chart and Notes

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:03 PM PST

[url]http://www.traderdannorcini.blogspot.com/[/url] [url]http://www.fortwealth.com/[/url] For you Silver guys out there, by request... With all the recent selling occuring in the silver market, the chart informs us that metal still remains mired within a very broad trading range that has contained price for the better part of 15 months now. The top of range is from $35 - $35.50 while the bottom of the range is between $27.0 - $26.50. Within that range had put in what appeared to be the beginning of an attempt to start a trend back in October with that strong upside reversal week but it then seemed to run out of steam as it approached $35 and now is sinking lower once again. There is a bit of psychological round number support at $30 although that is not really all that much in the way of actual technical support. Very strong support lies down near $28 and extends all the way to $26.50. This region has proved to be rock solid in terms of buying support for that same 15 month per...

In The News Today

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 03:18 PM PST

Jim Sinclair's Commentary

This is today in gold.  The Black Hats are the Gold Banks plus one hat from the US Fed. The tactics in the market fiddle have been so childish that they are totally transparent. It is an act of desperation indicating a total lack of tools for any central bank to

Continue reading In The News Today

Gold Re Accumulation is Health

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 03:07 PM PST

Gold is under going a complex A-B-C correction. So far is very healthy. The benefit of the doubt is that the current gold (GLD) pattern is one of re Accumulation. Why? Because we have not seen a traditional distribution pattern ... Read More...

The Entitlement Cliff

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 02:59 PM PST

The Welfare States of the Developed World are "long growth." Without it, their finances are doomed.

First, a little background…

Generally, investors will pay more for a dollar's worth of earnings from a stock than from a bond. Stocks are riskier than bonds, in the sense that share prices tend to go up and down more, depending on company results. But investors believe this 'risk premium' is worth it, because there is more 'upside' in stocks; they will grow with the economy. Over the long run, therefore, the rate of return on stock market investing should more or less reflect the stream of dividends received, plus the rate of growth in the economy. If the economy doesn't grow, however, the risk premium becomes a costly artifact of an earlier age.

Pension and insurance funds, too, count on growth. They collect money. They invest it and make projections based on what they consider a likely rate of return. The difference between what they collect in premiums…and what they need to invest to cover their costs and payouts…is profit. As of 2012, the typical pension fund — such as those operated by state and local governments — was banking on a rate of investment return as much as four times higher than the GDP growth rate. If growth does not pick up, these funds will go broke.

Private households, pension and insurance funds all are on one side of the trade, betting that growth rates will recover to those of the '80s or '90s. If so, disaster might be averted. Higher growth rates will permit governments to keep the rate of debt growth in line with revenue increases. But if growth doesn't recover, public finances all over the planet are doomed.

Over the last 4 years the number of people on disability has risen more than 7 times faster than the number of people with jobs. The number of people on food stamps has increased by 17 million during Obama's term in office. From the beginning of Obama's first term to the end of it, approximately 4.6 million jobs disappeared. But the number of additions to food-stamp and disability roles jumped 21.2 million.

Why were so many more people suddenly disabled? Was there a plague that struck the nation? Were millions crippled in a nationwide auto pile-up? Of course not. Instead, in a low-growth economy, $1,000-a-month without working had begun to look pretty good.

"You get what you pay for," said Milton Friedman. You pay people to be disabled. You get plenty of them.

Everybody's worried about the fiscal cliff. But there's a much bigger cliff coming up, and it's the "Entitlement Cliff." In the four years since Obama took office, entitlement participants have grown exponentially.

Driving through East Baltimore recently, I saw slews of billboards with ads by shyster lawyers encouraging poor people to get in on disability payments or to sue their employers or their landlords. Here's one of the billboard ads:

DENIED DISABILITY? Call THE FIRM. The Cochran Firm.

Johnnie Cochran was the lawyer who successfully defended O.J. Simpson. Now his firm has 30 offices around the country helping people get on disability. Apparently, he's been pretty successful at this too.

Change in Social Security Disabilty vs. Change in Employment

More and more people are finding ways to get paid without contributing to useful output. This is just another part of the reason that growth slows: much of the society's energy is diverted to unproductive uses.

I had not gone to East Baltimore for pleasure. I was going there to waste energy. Specifically, the state of Maryland required me to have my auto emissions checked. Practically everyone with an automobile is now required to drive where he doesn't really want to go…wait in a line he doesn't really want to be in…and pay $14 to have his auto emissions checked.

As Bastiat reminds us, there are always unseen consequences as well as those that are obvious. For every 'bad' auto the test uncovers — whose emissions are unnecessarily noxious — many more good autos are forced to drive miles and miles they didn't otherwise have to drive, just to take the test. At the test station I used there were six lines of traffic…about six cars in each line…and each idling its motor while waiting to move forward.

"It's worse than that," my secretary volunteered.

"The test doesn't work on newer cars, or at least some models of them. So, you get there…they take your $14 and they just waive you through."

But emissions testing is now a part of the complex economy. Entire industries are devoted to it. Employees are trained to do it. And lobbyists work hard to keep the whole thing going, whether it really makes any sense or not. Once again, it was Milton Friedman who pointed that "there is nothing as permanent as a temporary government program."

And so, a part of the nation's energy — time, money, fuel, capital, engineering ability — is now taken up by emissions testing. Little of this shows up as government spending. It is the private sector that spends the money. You may think of the security checks in airports if you want to find a parallel. Millions of people spend millions of hours per year — an immense 'investment' of energy — merely keeping people who had no intention of blowing up airplanes from doing so. Or, think of filling out your tax forms. It is a cost imposed by government, but not included in the federal budget.

How much of the economy's energy is sapped by these unproductive activities?

Nobody knows. But it must be a lot. Every business now has its own overseers and regulators. Every one spends time and money complying with complex regulations — many of which did not exist a few years ago.

According to the latest estimate, Americans spend 6.1 billion hours just complying with tax legislation. And think of the new paperwork blizzard Obamacare has imposed. Think of the law firms and accountants who work full time trying to figure out how to comply with Fatca, Dodd-Frank and other financial regulations.

Google Dodd-Frank and you get 5,460,000 hits. Each one is an attempt to understand, influence, implement or comment on this legislation. And most of this activity occurs in the private sector of the economy, where it is recorded as positive increments to the GDP! But it is a huge diversion of resources, taking them away from what might otherwise be useful and productive activity.

An article in Cato Institute's "Regulation" magazine, Fall 2012, shows the cost of the 10 Top Regulations Affecting Small Businesses. These are: Energy Conservation Standards, Affordable Care Act Menu Labels, Transportation's Hours of Service Rule, Affordable Care Act Vending Machine Labels, NLRB's Union Notification Standards, Education's Gainful Employment Rule, EPA's Fracking Regulations, Dodd-Frank Regulation Z, Affordable Care Act Physician Fee Schedule, Dodd-Frank Regulation E. Together these cost small businesses $3.5 billion annually, according to the study. And they add 28.7 million hours of paperwork.

We don't have to decide whether Dodd-Frank or emissions testing or airport screening is good or bad…necessary or unnecessary…we only have to recognize that much of our energy is now spent on things that reduce output. As another measure of how much time and energy is wasted, data from the Mercatus and Weidenbaum centers show that budgets for the main federal regulatory agencies multiplied 14 times between 1960 and 2007, in constant dollars. The payoff from all this extra investment is hard to measure; most likely it is starkly negative.

Nor do we have to single out the US as particularly wasteful. France is worse, with more than 50% of the nation's GDP spent by the government. But all mature economies drift towards unproductive activity like old elephants heading for the burial ground. Either they don't know what happens there. Or they feel compelled to go in that direction anyway.

Regards,

Bill Bonner
for The Daily Reckoning

The Entitlement Cliff appeared in the Daily Reckoning. Subscribe to The Daily Reckoning by visiting signup for an Agora Financial newsletter.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Audacious Oligarchy

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 02:44 PM PST

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

Gold selling likely comes from BIS at behest of U.S., Maguire tells King World News

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 02:26 PM PST

4:28p ET Thursday, December 20, 2012

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

In the second installment of his interview with King World News today, London metals trader and silver market whistleblower Andrew Maguire says the recent overwhelming selling in gold is likely coming out of the Bank for International Settlements at the behest of the U.S. government, not, as some rumors would have it, out of hedge fund managers like John Paulson. The seller, Maguire says, is "not somebody seeking the best price."

That the BIS trades in gold and gold derivatives on behalf of its member central banks is a matter of public record, verifiable in the BIS' annual reports, other BIS documents, and press profiles over the years, such as are cited here:

http://www.gata.org/node/11622

http://www.gata.org/node/11502

http://www.gata.org/node/11990

But GATA will pay a thousand ever-depreciating dollars to anyone who can find a mainstream financial journalist who will bother to telephone the BIS, ask for an account of what it has been doing in the gold market this month, and report the bank's answer -- or, rather, its snickering refusal to answer.

An excerpt from the new installment of Maguire's interview is posted at the King World News blog here:

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/12/20_W...

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.



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GoldMoney adds Singapore vaulting option

In addition to its precious metals storage facilities in Hong Kong, Switzerland, Toronto, and the United Kingdom, now with GoldMoney you can store gold and silver in Singapore in a high-security vault operated by Brink's Singapore Pte Limited. To celebrate the launch of this storage option, GoldMoney is offering a discount on buy and exchange fees at this vault for any orders above US$10,000 (or the equivalent) until January 11, 2013. Tthe gold buy rate is 0.98%, while the silver rate is 1.99%. Metal exchanges into Brink's Singapore will also be discounted for this period and will be charged at 0.78% for gold and 1.75% for silver. Simply place your order online and the above rates apply automatically until January 11, 2013, 15.00 UK time. To find out more about the new vault, please visit:

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Sunday-Monday, January 20 and 21, 2013
Vancouver Convention Centre West
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Jim Sinclair About The Gold & Silver Price: A Move Of Desperation By The Fed

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 02:05 PM PST

A thinly traded gold and silver market because of the start of the end of year holiday … an ideal setting apparently to make the precious metals price(s) agressively move. Yes indeed, Paulson could have triggered an initial sell off in the GLD yesterday, causing prices to decline. But today's price action seems too stretched. Logic or not, Jim Sinclair has opinion about it, and it is outspoken:

You cannot fix the problems of the Western Economic system by breaking the telltale thermometer, which is the price of gold.

There is not one professional who does not know sales in extreme volume at a time of low activity internationally have but one purpose, and that is to reduce the price of gold.

Charts and TA in such a manipulated, manufactured market, as understood by you, are totally useless. This is a move of desperation by the Fed via the gold banks based on the false premise that attacking symptoms without meaningful economic intervention is going to cure the problem.

Gold is going to $3500 and above. The US dollar is headed to .7200 and lower.

We are once again giving away greatness by driving gold into the coffers of Asia at bargain process that a powerful academic bureaucrat has selected. It is just that simple.

Nobody said survival from the onslaught of the demons would be easy, but it will be successful.

Source: JSMineset

The charts tell it all. The gold price is dipping in a similar fashion two days in a row, after a first counterintuitive behaviour a week ago (Wednesday 13th December, 2012) in overnight trading, right after the announcement of the Fed for another trillion of fresh money creation in the coming year. Gold is closing the day slightly higher than $ 1,640 and silver right below the important $ 30 mark.

gold price chart 20 december 2012 gold silver price news

silver price chart 20 december 2012 gold silver price news

In Case You're Wondering About Gold And Silver

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 01:54 PM PST

There is no subtler, or surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debase the currency.  The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and it does it in a manner which only one man in a million is able to diagnose  - John Maynard Keynes, "The Economic Consequences of Peace"
 That quote right there is the foundation of Keynesian  economics. 

In response to several email inquiries, I wrote an explanation for the current price correction in gold and silver, since we might have expected that gold and silver would take off to the upside after the FOMC expanded its QE program.

The fact of the matter is that we saw very similar price action in mid-December last year, prior to a big rally in the entire precious metals/mining stock sector in January.  There's a lot of reasons for this and I don't want to pontificate about the illegal manipulation and corrupt nature of our financial system.  Instead, I wanted to focus on a little-known technical aspect of the paper trading on the Comex - tied in explicitly with said manipulation, as has been affirmed by Bart Chilton, one of the CFTC commissioners. 

I highly recommend reading this article.  You will understand an aspect of the gold and silver market that very few people are aware of and even fewer understand:  Comex Open Interest Liquidation Manipulation

Whistleblower: CBs Buying, Who’s Supplying & Is Paulson Selling

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 01:09 PM PST

On the heels of another smash in the gold and silver markets, today renowned silver market whistleblower Andrew Maguire addressed rumors that Paulson is being forced to sell his gold. Maguire also spoke with King World News about the amount of tonnage that central banks have been buying over the past few days and who he suspects is actually supplying the gold.

This is the third in a series of interviews with Maguire lifting the curtain on what is going on behind the scenes in the gold and silver war.

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

Jim Sinclair: A move of desperation by the Fed

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:32 PM PST

By Jim Sinclair
JSMineSet.com
Thursday, December 20, 2012

http://www.jsmineset.com/2012/12/20/a-move-of-desperation-by-the-fed/

You cannot fix the problems of the Western economic system by breaking the telltale thermometer, which is the price of gold.

There is not one professional who does not know that sales in extreme volume at a time of low activity internationally have but one purpose, and that is to reduce the price of gold.

Charts and technical analysis in such a manipulated, manufactured market, as understood by you, are useless. This is a move of desperation by the Federal Reserve via the gold banks based on the false premise that attacking symptoms without meaningful economic intervention is going to cure the problem.

Gold is going to $3,500 and above. The U.S. dollar is headed to .7200 and lower.

We are once again giving away greatness by driving gold into the coffers of Asia in a bargain process that a powerful academic bureaucrat has selected. It is just that simple.

Nobody said survival from the onslaught of the demons would be easy, but it will be successful. ...

It sure looks like the elitists are about to attempt the great train robbery in gold.

All the rumors are crap. This is the biggest manipulative play in gold ever. The only good part is that as soon as the criminals have their positions filled, we are off to $3,500 and above.



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Join GATA here:

Vancouver Resource Investment Conference
Sunday-Monday, January 20 and 21, 2013
Vancouver Convention Centre West
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
http://www.cambridgehouse.com/event/vancouver-resource-investment-confer...

* * *

Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006:

http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html

Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt:

http://gata.org/tshirts

Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:

http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal

Help keep GATA going

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:

http://www.gata.org

To contribute to GATA, please visit:

http://www.gata.org/node/16



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Opinion Around the World Is Changing
in Favor of Gold -- Find Out Why

When Deutschebank calls gold "good money" and paper "bad money". ...

http://www.gata.org/node/11765

When the president of the German central bank, the Bundesbank, pays tribute to gold as "a timeless classic". ...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/09/24/signs-of-the-gold-stan...

When a leading member of the policy committee of the People's Bank of China calls the gold standard "an excellent monetary system". ...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/10/01/signs-of-the-gold-stan...

When a CNN reporter writes in The China Post that the "gold commission" plank in the 2012 Republican platform will "reverberate around the world". ...

http://www.thegoldstandardnow.org/key-blogs/1563-china-post-the-gop-gold...

When the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy of the U.S. House of Representatives twice called on economist, historian, and gold standard advocate Lewis E. Lehrman to testify. ...

World opinion is changing in favor of gold.

How can you learn why and what it will mean to you?

Read the newly updated and expanded edition of Lehrman's book, "The True Gold Standard."

Financial journalist James Grant says of "The True Gold Standard": "If you have ever wondered how the world can get from here to there -- from the chaos of depreciating paper to a convertible currency worthy of our children and our grandchildren -- wonder no more. The answer, brilliantly expounded, is between these covers. America has long needed a modern Alexander Hamilton. In Lewis E. Lehrman she has finally found him."

To buy a copy of "The True Gold Standard," please visit:

http://www.thegoldstandardnow.com/publications/the-true-gold-standard


The Daily Market Report

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:29 PM PST

Gold Drops on Upward Revision to Q3 GDP


20-Dec (USAGOLD) — Gold came under renewed selling pressure on Thursday, weighed by a bigger than expected upward revision to U.S. Q3 GDP, which diminished the yellow metal's appeal as a safe-haven. Gold fell to a new four month low, pushing below the 200-day moving average and leaving the market fully entrenched in the lower half of the $400 dollar range that has dominated for the past year.

The third report for U.S. Q3 GDP came in at 3.1%, on expectations of 2.8% and 2.7% previously. With Fed QE now tied to employment, better than expected economic growth raises the possibility that the Fed may be able to remove extraordinary accommodations ahead of schedule. Right now, Fed central tendencies suggest the potential for the jobless rate to dip below the targeted 6.5% level sometime in 2015.

We've seen these kinds of so-called "green shoots" in the past (remember the "recovery summer" of 2010?) only to have harsh reality settle back over markets. With the fiscal cliff still looming and our national debt near the $16.4 trillion ceiling, there's plenty to still be worried about on the recovery front. The Fed has already committed to $85 bln in asset purchases per month beginning in January, so their balance sheet is headed toward $4 trillion. Even if we were to reach 6.5% unemployment in say late 2014, that balance sheet would be well in excess of $4 trillion by then.

As a result of this debasement, the dollar has come under pressure, dropping to new eight-month lows against the euro. The dollar index has fallen back to 79.00, levels not seen since mid-October. While the dollar and gold have become correlated in recent weeks, the more traditional relationship tends to be inverse. Once the short term speculators are flushed out of the paper market, we anticipate that gold will rebound. Physical buyers have already been taking advantage of these lower prices We've seen this play-out time and time again throughout the secular bull market.

Note: I will be on holiday beginning tomorrow, so this page will not be updating as frequently. I will be back in the office 02-Jan. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

A Move Of Desperation By The Fed

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:18 PM PST

My Dear Friends,

You cannot fix the problems of the Western Economic system by breaking the telltale thermometer, which is the price of gold.

There is not one professional who does not know sales in extreme volume at a time of low activity internationally have but one purpose, and that is to reduce the

Continue reading A Move Of Desperation By The Fed

Why Gold MUST Go Higher

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:35 AM PST

by Adrian Ash BullionVault Wednesday, 19 December 2012 Ooops! Just when everyone said gold must go higher – immediately...! MARKETS are made of opinions, some better than others. There are always plenty of opinions about gold. And right now they're clearly making the market. Just not in the way you would think. "There are too many bulls, including me," warned hedge-fund and commodities legend Jim Rogers to CNBC overnight. He advises caution if you're buying gold on this drop. Unlike most everyone else. Swiss bank UBS last week kept its 2013 forecast for gold to average $1900 per ounce – a rise of 14% from the 2012 average so far – while fellow London market-maker Barclays now sees gold averaging $1815 next year, a snip off its previous 2013 forecast. Investment bank Morgan Stanley takes "a bullish view", as does Bank of America. It thinks gold will average $2,000 next year, rising to $2,400 in 2014. Whereas Capital Economics (who have an opinion on pret...

YES VIRGINIA, THE GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN LYING TO YOU ABOUT INFLATION

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:33 AM PST

Lance Roberts does a great job exposing the lies our government boldly uses to obscure the true level of inflation. I've been harping on this subject for years. There is no better proof than the bullshit CPI figures put out last week by your government owners. They had the balls to tell you that your living expenses only went up by 1.8% in the last year. The largest portion of the CPI is a made up number called Owners Equivelant Rent which is supposed to measure the cost to live in a house or apartment. This morning, another group of lying bastards – the National Association of Realtors – announced that existing home sales rose and that prices are 10% higher than last year. Other organizations have reported that rents for apartments are up 6% in the last year.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE

The government says that Owners equivalent rent has gone up only 2.1% in the last year. If home prices and rents are rising between 6% and 10%, how can this inflation measure be up by only 2.1%? The simple answer is that it can't. The government is lying. Inflation is running above 5%. Read below for more detail. Believe no one. Question everything.

http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpid1211.pdf

Guest Post: Why Reported Inflation Seems Different Than Reality

 
Tyler Durden's picture

Submitted by Tyler Durdenon 12/20/2012 12:45 -0500

Via Lance Roberts of StreetTalkLive,

The subject of inflation has remained an emotionally charged topic of debate over the last several years.  As rising prices for individuals, and businesses, has negatively impacted their prosperity; reported inflation has remained at very low levels.  With the Fed pumping trillions of dollars into financial system the fear of much higher inflation, as the dollar is debased, has caused gold prices to soar in recent years.  As we will discuss momentarily, the issues surrounding government spending, and the massive deficit, has brought the topic of inflation to the forefront of the political debate.

However, a bit of history is needed for context.  The government produces a measure of inflation called the consumer price index (CPI) which is generally broken down into two reports:  Headline and Core.  The only difference between the two measures is that the core reading strips out the volatile food and energy components.  It is this core reading that economists, and the Fed, focus on much to the aggravation of average consumers who quickly point to the fact the food and energy are big part of their daily lives.

The sole purpose in measuring inflation is to help businesses, individuals and government adjust their financial planning for the impact of inflation.  Inflation erodes future purchasing power, and decreases economic prosperity, if not accurately accounted for.  The accuracy of measuring inflation, and accounting for it properly, is essential to long term economic prosperity.   

The original calculation of CPI, which measured the change in the cost of an identical fixed basket of goods priced at prevailing market costs each period, worked reasonably well for the intended purpose into the early-1980's.  However, as the pressure of increasing deficits weighed on political parties, the need to find solutions to reducing spending, without actually cutting spending, led to several substantial changes in the calculation of inflation. 

Shortly after Clinton entered the White House the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) altered the calculation of inflation by changing the weighting of goods in the CPI fixed basket.  Then, over subsequent years, the method of weighting the underlying components was changed from a straight arithmetic weighting method to geometric.  The primary result of the switch to a geometric weighting was a lower weighting to CPI components that were rising in price, and a higher weighting to those items dropping in price which led to lower reported inflation.  

According to John Williams

 
 

"…the net effect was to reduce reported CPI on an annual, or year-over-year basis, by 2.7% from what it would have been based on the traditional weighting methodology. The results have been dramatic. The compounding effect since the early-1990s has reduced annual cost of living adjustments in social security by more than a third."

But the manipulation of the data did not stop there.  Aside from the weighting changes the BLS instituted a system of "hedonic" adjustments.  Hedonics adjusts the prices of goods for the increased pleasure the consumer derives from them.

 
 

"That new washing machine you bought did not cost you 20% more than it would have cost you last year, because you got an offsetting 20% increase in the pleasure you derive from pushing its new electronic control buttons instead of turning that old noisy dial, according to the BLS.

When gasoline rises 10 cents per gallon because of a federally mandated gasoline additive, the increased gasoline cost does not contribute to inflation. Instead, the 10 cents is eliminated from the CPI because of the offsetting hedonic thrills the consumer gets from breathing cleaner air. The same principle applies to federally mandated safety features in automobiles. I have not attempted to quantify the effects of questionable quality adjustments to the CPI, but they are substantial."

Lastly, there is "intervention analysis" in the seasonal adjustment process.  Intervention analysis is critical to the highly volatile areas of food and energy.  When a commodity, like gasoline, goes through periods of violent price swings the BLS steps in and uses "intervention analysis" to smooth out the volatility.  As a result, sharply rising gasoline prices are never fully reflected in the reported headline inflation number.  However, declining prices, which are never adjusted, do show an impact to reducing inflation.

The obvious problem with these manipulations is it changed the measure of inflation from a cost-of-living adjustment to a reduction-of-living adjustment.  The original CPI calculation allowed individuals to understand the rate of return required on investments and incomes to maintain their current standard of living.  However, by artificially suppressing the rate of inflation, the future standard of living is reduced to lower levels. 

CPI-SGS-121812

The chart above shows the original calculation of inflation (which was based on a basket of goods), data sourced from John Williams, versus the current measure of CPI.  It is quite apparent that inflation, as reported by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), is understated by roughly 7% per year.

The deviation between the two measures is strictly due to the redefinitions of the series and adjustments to price measures utilized.  These changes to the CPI have detached the cost-of-living adjustments from the real cost-of-living experienced by those dependent upon a fixed income stream for survival.

According to John Williams: 

 
 

"In particular, changes made in CPI methodology during the Clinton Administration understated inflation significantly, and, through a cumulative effect with earlier changes that began in the late-Carter and early Reagan Administrations have reduced current social security payments by roughly half from where they would have been otherwise. That means Social Security checks today would be about double had the various changes not been made. In like manner, anyone involved in commerce, who relies on receiving payments adjusted for the CPI, has been similarly damaged. On the other side, if you are making payments based on the CPI (i.e., the federal government), you are making out like a bandit."

This is why the average American has repeatedly lashed out at the current measure of inflation as it doesn't represent the inflation rate that they are personally experiencing.   Rising food and energy costs are consuming more and more of a declining level of incomes.   For those individuals dependent on a fixed stream of welfare payments the lower rate of inflation adjustments, while putting more money in the coffers of the government, has led to a steadily declining standard of living for the elderly.

pce-foodandgas-wages-102912

The Chained CPI "Fiscal Cliff" Farce

In the latest attempt to save the economy from the "fiscal cliff" a grand bargain is being crafted that will possibly include a relic from the debt ceiling debate in 2011 called "Chained CPI."  As with the Clinton Administration, once again the need to reduce government spending has given rise to a proposal to further suppress the measure of inflation to reduce the cost of living adjustments for social security recipients.   The issue with "Chained CPI," as with the current measure of CPI, is that it will further misrepresent what the average consumer is living with from day to day.  

The Washington Post stated:

 
 

"Economics and policymakers generally make the assumption that when prices rise, people will turn to a less expensive product. They'll buy chicken instead of more expensive beef, iceberg lettuce instead of arugula, store-brand, instead of name-brand cereal. The chained CPI attempts to account for how people react to inflated prices.

It's an arcane detail in the ongoing budget debate, but the chained CPI is appealing to budget experts and some Republicans and Democrats, because it only slightly tweaks the inflation formula, while building significant savings over time, perhaps more than $100 billion over a decade.

Making such a change also means paying out less in Social Security benefits over time — something liberal Democrats can't stomach. Imagine, for example, a person born in 1935 who retired to full benefits at age 65 in 2000. People in that position had an average initial monthly benefit of $1,435, or $17,220 a year, according to the Social Security Administration. Under the cost-of-living-adjustment formula and 2012 inflation, that benefit would be up to $1,986 a month in 2013, or $23,832 a year. But if payouts were adjusted using chained CPI, the sum would be around $1,880 a month, or $22,560 a year — a cut of more than 5 percent and more as the years go by."

When it is known in advance that tweaking the math will create a "permanent" reduction in the measure of inflation then it is no longer an accurate assessment of inflationary pressures in the economy.  If adopted across the government, the change would have far-reaching effects on the many programs that are adjusted each year based on year-to-year changes in consumer prices.  

The groundswell of aging "boomers" that will are rapidly approaching the point of become welfare program recipients will find that the fixed stream of income payments will not be sufficient to maintain their current standard of living in the future.  This will continue to push an ever aging population into working much longer into their retirement years.

Furthermore, a side effect of artificially suppressing inflation is that taxes would slowly increase because annual adjustments to income tax brackets would be smaller.  This would eventually push more people into higher tax brackets allowing fewer people to be eligible for anti-poverty programs like Medicaid, food stamps and school lunches.  While the annual adjustments will eventually remove individuals from poverty on a statistical basis – it doesn't mean that would be any more capable of supporting themselves.

Lastly, one reason why there has been such a disconnect between reported GDP, and the way that average Americans feel about the economy, is due to the way CPI affects the GDP calculation.  Although the CPI is not used in the actual GDP calculation, there are relationships with the price deflators used in converting GDP data and growth to inflation-adjusted numbers.  The more inflation is understated, the higher the inflation-adjusted rate of GDP growth that gets reported.  The problem is that real inflationary pricing pressures is simultaneously eroding the real prosperity of the average consumer. 

While going to "Chained CPI" will save the government over $100 billion during the next decade in payments to individuals – this is not a good thing for those dependent upon those payments.  Furthermore, the assumptions for budgeting will also be grossly flawed which means that when we get to the end of this decade it is likely that we will be in worse shape than was estimated.  Hopefully, those in Congress will opt not to further suppress the inflation calculation for political gain at the expense of the average American.

In the coming weeks ahead, in collaboration with my friend Doug Short, we will be introducing an inflation index which will be reconstructed along the same lines as the original form of CPI using an arithmetically weighted calculation on a fixed basket of goods.  It is hoped that from this experiment we can establish a baseline from which we may be able to ascertain the actual impact of the current environment on incomes, spending and the economy.  Stay tuned.

Sukhoi Log gold development could propel Russia to world No.1

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:31 AM PST

Russia's Sukhoi Log gold deposit could well be the world's largest but there still seems no rush by the government to develop its riches. It may well be worth even more remaining in the ground.

Read more….

UPDATE: Gold battered again despite weaker dollar

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:31 AM PST

After a weaker day yesterday, gold was marginally stronger in early trade and appeared to be picking up a little more ahead of NY opening due to a weaker dollar before being driven down yet again at COMEX opening.

Read more….

2012 gold price performance really disappoints readers and experts alike

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:31 AM PST

Gold price predictions for 2012 at the beginning of the year from experts and non-experts alike proved to be far too optimistic – market manipulation looks to have been the reason.

Read more….

Agnico Eagle orders gold/silver mine hoist from UK’s DavyMarkham

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:31 AM PST

UK heavy engineering company DavyMarkham is todesign. Manufacture and supply a double drum mine hoist for Agnico Eagle's Pinos Altos gold/silver mine in Mexico.

Read more….

Silver undervalued with respect to gold

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:31 AM PST

Silver is seen as having an investment edge over gold because of its industrial applications in a recovering economy.

Read more….

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