Gold World News Flash |
- Jim Willie: The Coming Isolation of the US Dollar
- Commodities: Muted Trade Likely as Markets Wait for Fiscal Cliff News
- Treason at the Highest Levels in Washington: How a Soviet Spy Shut Down Americas Gold Mines
- Apple Has A Lot of “Tricks Up Its Sleeve” in 2013: David Kirkpatrick | Daily Ticker – Yahoo! Finance
- Dr. Marc Faber: My Greatest Concern−The US Could Confiscate Gold, Again (originally aired 09/06/12) “Best of 2012” Re-Broadcast | James J Puplava CFP | FINANCIAL SENSE
- 16 Things About 2013 That Are Really Going To Stink
- Felix Zulauf: Europe’s Recession Will Worsen Next Year (originally aired 9/7/12) Zulauf: We are in the late stages of the fiat money system; get into gold while you still can | James J Puplava CFP | FINANCIAL SENSE
- Stocks Go Cliff Diving
- ‘US fiscal cliff threatens world economy’ – YouTube
- Silver Update 12/27/12 Central Planning – YouTube
- Harvey Organ: Cartel Manipulation of Gold & Silver is the Ultimate Treason, As US Wealth Flows East
- Next Move May Be A Stunning $3,620 For Gold & $125 Silver
- Fiscal Cliff Effect On Gold and Silver Prices – YouTube
- Silver Update 12/27/12 Central Planning
- Gold, silver charts imply end to consolidations, resumption of strong increases
- HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS, AND ZOMBIES-IN-HEADLIGHTS
- TAKERS OUTNUMBER MAKERS
- FIRST ROUND OF 2013 PREDICTIONS
- DHS INSIDER PART TWO
- DHS INSIDER PART ONE
- The Gold Price Rose $2.80 to $1,662.60 I Have Been Buying and a Drop Would Make it Even More Attractive
- Fiscal Thursday – Last Ditch Efforts
- Guest Post: No More Industrial Revolutions, No More Growth?
- Reid-Off; Boehner-On; McConnell-Off; Reality-Gone
- Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Slightly Higher
- Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Deja Vu All Over Again
- Jim's Mailbox
- An Oily Holiday
- Comex Pressure Point, The Coming Isolation Of The Us Dollar
- If You Think Silver Is Going To Increase In 2013 Here?s How to Best Maximize Your Return
- The Three Legs of the Precious Metals Bull: Part I
- LGMR: Precious Metals "Under Pressure" Ahead of Year-End, US "Due to Hit Debt Ceiling This Monday" says Geithner
- US Energy Independence: The Next Big Thing for 2013?
- Major Silver Producer: Thousands Of “Generalist” Pension & Mutual Funds Now Eyeing Gold And Silver Producers
- Will Gold Follow What it Did This Time Last Year?
- 3 Key Charts Show Massive Money Flows Into Gold & Silver
| Jim Willie: The Coming Isolation of the US Dollar Posted: 28 Dec 2012 01:00 AM PST by Jim Willie, The Golden Jackass, Silver Doctors:
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| Commodities: Muted Trade Likely as Markets Wait for Fiscal Cliff News Posted: 28 Dec 2012 12:13 AM PST courtesy of DailyFX.com December 27, 2012 11:03 PM Commodity markets are likely to see a quiet end to the short trading week as investors wait for cues from the weekend’s fiscal cliff talks for direction cues. Commodity markets are likely to see a quiet end to the short trading week as investors wait for cues from the weekend’s fiscal cliff talks for direction cues. Talking Points [LIST] [*] Commodities to See Muted Trade as Markets Wait for Fiscal Cliff News [*] Last-Minute Budget Deal Likely to May Boost Crude Oil, Gold Prices [/LIST] The spotlight remains on Washington, DC as financial markets return from the Christmas holiday, where US policymakers have a mere five days left to deliver a deal avoiding the so-called “fiscal cliff”, a set of tax hikes and government spending cuts due to trigger at the turn of the year. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects the jolt of austerity will tip the US back into recession. Critica... | |||
| Treason at the Highest Levels in Washington: How a Soviet Spy Shut Down Americas Gold Mines Posted: 28 Dec 2012 12:10 AM PST Charleston Voice | |||
| Apple Has A Lot of “Tricks Up Its Sleeve” in 2013: David Kirkpatrick | Daily Ticker – Yahoo! Finance Posted: 27 Dec 2012 11:26 PM PST Check our website daily at http://www.figanews.com 2012 has been a tumultuous year for both Apple... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://goldbasics.blogspot.com for full Content ]]  | |||
| Posted: 27 Dec 2012 11:20 PM PST Check our website daily at http://www.figanews.com Dr. : My Greatest Concern−The US Could... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://goldbasics.blogspot.com for full Content ]]  | |||
| 16 Things About 2013 That Are Really Going To Stink Posted: 27 Dec 2012 11:20 PM PST from The Economic Collapse Blog:
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| Posted: 27 Dec 2012 11:11 PM PST Check our website daily at http://www.figanews.com : Europe's Recession Will Worsen Next Year... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://goldbasics.blogspot.com for full Content ]]  | |||
| Posted: 27 Dec 2012 11:00 PM PST Check our website daily at http://www.figanews.com Stocks Go Cliff Diving Thu 27 Dec 12 |... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://goldbasics.blogspot.com for full Content ]]  | |||
| ‘US fiscal cliff threatens world economy’ – YouTube Posted: 27 Dec 2012 10:09 PM PST Check our website daily at http://www.figanews.com Incompetent American politicians have brought... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://goldbasics.blogspot.com for full Content ]]  | |||
| Silver Update 12/27/12 Central Planning – YouTube Posted: 27 Dec 2012 10:08 PM PST Check our website daily at http://www.figanews.com APMEX isn’t a hedge. they buy and sell to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://goldbasics.blogspot.com for full Content ]]  | |||
| Posted: 27 Dec 2012 10:05 PM PST from Silver Doctors:
Harvey stated that the end game is being played out, and that an Asian group has decided to take on the cartel and drain the physical silver from the COMEX. He states that the bullion banking cartel's suppression of the gold and silver markets is the ultimate treason against Americans, as 350 years of US wealth is being drained East due to the price suppression of gold and silver. MUST READ! | |||
| Next Move May Be A Stunning $3,620 For Gold & $125 Silver Posted: 27 Dec 2012 09:40 PM PST from KingWorldNews:
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| Fiscal Cliff Effect On Gold and Silver Prices – YouTube Posted: 27 Dec 2012 09:01 PM PST Check our website daily at http://www.figanews.com This video explains everything you have to know... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://goldbasics.blogspot.com for full Content ]]  | |||
| Silver Update 12/27/12 Central Planning Posted: 27 Dec 2012 08:51 PM PST from BrotherJohnF: | |||
| Gold, silver charts imply end to consolidations, resumption of strong increases Posted: 27 Dec 2012 06:42 PM PST 8:37p ET Thursday, December 27, 2012 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver): King World News tonight publishes some charts showing the rises and consolidations in the price of gold since 2005 and the price of silver since 2003. The implications are very bullish -- that consolidations should end soon and push prices much higher. The charts are posted at the King World News blog here: http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/12/27_Next_Move_May_Be_A_Stunning_$3,620_For_Gold_%26_$125_Silver.html CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer ADVERTISEMENT How to profit in the new year with silver -- Future Money Trends is offering a special 16-page silver report with our forecast for 2013 that includes profiles of nine companies and technical analysis of their stock performance. Six of the companies have market capitalizations of less than $800 million and one company has a market cap of only $30 million. The most exciting of these companies will begin production in a few weeks and has a market cap of just $150 million. Half of all proceeds from the sale of this report will be donated to the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee to support its efforts exposing manipulation and fraud in the gold and silver markets. To learn about this report, please visit: http://www.futuremoneytrends.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=376&tmp... Join GATA here: Vancouver Resource Investment Conference * * * Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006: http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: ADVERTISEMENT GoldMoney adds Singapore vaulting option In addition to its precious metals storage facilities in Hong Kong, Switzerland, Toronto, and the United Kingdom, now with GoldMoney you can store gold and silver in Singapore in a high-security vault operated by Brink's Singapore Pte Limited. To 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: http://www.goldmoney.com/singapore?gmrefcode=gata GoldMoney customers can take delivery of any number of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bars from any GoldMoney vault, as well as personally collect their bars stored in the Hong Kong, Switzerland, and U.K. vaults. It's easy to open an account, add funds, and liquidate your investment. For more information, visit: http://www.goldmoney.com/?gmrefcode=gata | |||
| HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS, AND ZOMBIES-IN-HEADLIGHTS Posted: 27 Dec 2012 05:34 PM PST Nicely written piece taking a larger view of our current and likely future course as a nation and as a people. I particularly enjoyed the bit about the definition of war.
http://lewrockwell.com/orig11/edmonds-s4.1.1.html
My Highlights for the Yearend and Predictions for the Coming Years: Wars, Czars and the Zombie Majorityby Sibel Edmonds "The czar was always sending us commands – you shall not do this and you shall not do that – till there was very little left that we might do, except pay tribute and die." ~ Mark Antin With only a few days left to the start of a new year, the majority of the mainstream media and blog-o-sites are busy preparing and displaying either a roundup of major highlights of the past year or predictions on the highlights of the coming year. The Boiling Frogs Post will be doing neither. This is not due to being a contrarian. Okay, to make it more accurate: this is not solely due to me being a contrarian. I may include a few macro highlights, but those highlights cover a much larger time span. I am looking at least a few decades in the past with an emphasis on the last decade. Similarly, I may make a prediction or two, but then again, those won't be limited to the coming year but rather the coming few years. Now, if you are getting in a holly jolly mood and don't want to ruin it, just skip this post. Either don't read it, or, save it for after the jolly holiday break. However, if you are like me and are able to reflect on grim realities yet enjoy the holiday season with your loved ones, then please be my guest and read this yearend post. The Expanding Wars at Home & Abroad Let's start by saying: "So what's new? Same-O-Same-O" and be right, shall we? I am not talking about this almost-over year. I am talking about the year before, and the year before that, the decade before, and the decades before that. When was the last time we ended a warless year? Thinking? That's right, just keep thinking. Let me put it this way: If you were to ask the 15 year olds they'd tell you: I've never had such a year. If you ask a 100 year old (assuming their brain functions are still intact) they'd squint, and squint a little more, and then say: a couple of years here and a couple of years there. Now, if you ask a knowledgeable realist who knows his history he'd say: Not in the last hundred years. That's right: not in the last century. Of course everybody knows that we've had the World Wars, Cold War, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, Bosnian War, Kosovo War, War on Terror, Iraq-Afghanistan-Libya wars and a few others. Some would be knowledgeable enough to mention the unmentionable wars: our covert wars all over the world – whether in Latin America, in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus. Some would add our 'Secret Wars' – whether in Somalia or in Syria. A few would mention other wars, such as the War on Drugs and the coming War on Guns. Basically, we've been in a constant war mode – declaring and waging wars – overtly and covertly. Similarly, our media, and now that includes the pseudo alternatives and blog-o-media, year after year, this time of the year keep busy with the soon-to-be-past year's wars as their highlights. Actually, it should be more like lowlights, but let's stick with the traditional expressions for this post. I wonder what kind of reaction we would get from people (if any) if the year-end media war highlights would include a longer time-span: take the ending-year's wars, and then add them and truly highlight them next to the list of all our wars for the past century. And then include the results and consequences of every single one of those wars. By that I mean:
Yeah. That's what I mean by a different highlighting each ending year. I wonder what kind of effect that would have on our majority. I wonder what kind of effect doing that would have on the perpetual wars course of our nation. However, I don't ever wonder why our media has never done this, and why they would never do it. Do you? Same goes for our 'other' wars here at home. This year they will include our about-to-begin War on Guns in their yearend highlights. But don't expect them to put it in a reality context by listing all our other similarly declared and waged ongoing wars such as the War on Drugs. No. Don't dare being that naïve by expecting that from our government propaganda outlets. They won't list facts such as:
No. Don't expect to see factual highlights like that. Instead expect to see a glorified highlighting of a newly declared war. This coming year will be all on the War on Guns. The year or so after that it will be the War on Provocative Internet Text, and a couple of years after that it will be the War on … whatever. Trillions of dollars more. Tens of thousands of more government foot soldiers sucking up our nation's wealth. Millions more incarcerated. And with all that: Far bigger problems associated with whatever it was we officially declared the war against. Let's put this under my predictions for the coming years. Shall we? I checked several places and dictionaries for the definition of War. Pretty much the noun refers to: A Conflict carried by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation. I am going to emphasize 'between the parties within a nation' and say that our government's wars have been expanding, and will be expanding to a point where one party is going to be known as 'the government' and the other 'the people.' Let's put that under my list of predictions for the coming years. Our government has been secretive for many years, but in the last few decades has become far more secretive of many of its operations and intentions. Yet, when you look at its perpetual wars agenda, you see some incredible transparent signs as to its real agenda, and even more so to its real status and position. Let me give you an example: The gradual and bold expansion of the Czar title within the US government, followed by very little adverse reaction from the general population. Woodrow Wilson's Industry Czar followed by Roosevelt's Transportation Czar, Synthetic Rubber Czar and Food Czar. Nixon created the offices of Drug Czar and Energy Czar. We have had Obama's Terrorism Czar, Cybersecurity Czar, and War Czar. Some may argue the symbolic nature of the czar positions without the absolute power going along with it. For me, and a few others, it is neither about the level of actual powers nor is it about the process and its rationale. It is about the usage of this grandeur term by the government, and most importantly it is about the people of a nation that pride themselves as the offspring of a nation's founding fathers who loathed and fought kingdoms and tyranny. It is about what our people have been reduced to. It is about the apathy and absolute indifference towards all government realities contradicting the nation's founding principles-Constitution. It is the escalating level of Zombie-ism. When the realities on the ground point to a government with its self-image as the absolute power, when the permanent status of our nation is war – internally and externally, when the notion of a government of the people by the people for the people appears to be replaced by the people governed and ruled by the Czars, when the people lack reaction thus any counter-action, and when the majority become apathetic Zombies … well, then, unfortunately it becomes easy to come up with fairly solid predictions not only for the coming year but many years to come: The expansion of the government czars, the continuation of our perpetual wars, and our nation's people becoming poorer, more subservient and Zombie-like. Reprinted with permission from BoilingFrogsPost.com. December 27, 2012 Sibel Edmonds is the founder and president of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding national security whistleblowers. She has appeared on national radio and TV as a commentator on matters related to whistleblowers, national security, and excessive secrecy & classification, and has been featured on CBS 60 Minutes, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and in the New York Times, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The American Conservative, and others. Her book, Shooting the Messenger, co-authored with Professor William Weaver, is forthcoming from Kansas University Press in the fall of 2010. Copyright © 2012 BoilingFrogsPost.com | |||
| Posted: 27 Dec 2012 05:34 PM PST Government Dependents Outnumber Those With Private Sector Jobs In 11 U.S. States http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-number-of-people-on-welfare-exceeds-the-number-of-people-with-jobs-in-11-states America is rapidly becoming a nation of takers. An increasing number of Americans expect the government to take care of them from the cradle to the grave, and they expect the government to dig into the pockets of others in order to pay for it all. This philosophy can be very seductive, but what happens when the number of takers eventually outnumbers the number of producers? In 11 different U.S. states, the number of government dependents exceeds the number of private sector workers. This list of states includes some of the biggest states in the country: California, New York, Illinois, Ohio, Maine, Kentucky, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, New Mexico and Hawaii. It is interesting to note that seven of those states were won by Barack Obama on election night. In California, there are 139 "takers" for every 100 private sector workers. That is crazy! The American people have become absolutely addicted to government money, and it gets worse with each passing year. If you can believe it, entitlements accounted for 62 percent of all federal spending in fiscal year 2012. It would be one thing if we could afford all of this spending, but unfortunately we simply cannot. We are drowning in debt, and we are stealing more than a hundred million more dollars from future generations with each passing hour. No bank robber in history can match that kind of theft. Yes, we will always need a safety net. There are many people out there that simply cannot take care of themselves. We certainly don't want to see anyone sleeping in the streets or starving to death. But if the number of people jumping on to the safety net continues to grow at the current pace, the net will break and it will not be available for any of us. For example, the number of Americans on food stamps grew from about 17 million in 2000 to more than 47 million today. It nearly tripled in just 12 years. What will happen if it nearly triples again over the next 12 years? The federal government even has a website (benefits.gov) that guides people through the process of figuring out what welfare programs they can take advantage of. Overall, the federal government runs nearly 80 different "means-tested welfare programs" and more than 100 million Americans are already enrolled in at least one of those programs. Yes, I realize that figure is very hard to believe. I had a hard time believing it when I first came across it. And it is even more shocking when you realize that the figure of 100 million Americans does not even include those who only receive Social Security or Medicare. Today, there are 56.76 million Americans on Social Security. To support all of those Americans on Social Security, there are only about 94.75 million full-time private sector workers. So there are just 1.67 full-time private sector workers to support each American that is on Social Security. Medicare is also growing like crazy. As I wrote about the other day, the number of Americans on Medicare is expected to grow from 50.7 million in 2012 to 73.2 million in 2025. How much farther can we push things before the entire system collapses? In order to support this exploding entitlement system, we need a lot more Americans to be working good paying jobs. Unfortunately, millions of good paying jobs continue to be shipped overseas and they aren't coming back. We are even losing good jobs to our own prisoners. The United States has the largest prison population in the world by far, and the exploitation of that low wage labor pool has become a boom industry in America. Even Microsoft and Boeing are using prison labor now. Meanwhile, there are millions upon millions of law-abiding Americans that cannot find jobs and that cannot take care of their families. So poverty and dependence on the government are absolutely exploding. We have a system that is so messed up that it is hard to even put it into words. The middle class is being viciously shredded, and most Americans just continue to applaud the politicians from both parties that are doing this to us. Our economy is being gutted at the same time that the welfare state is experiencing unprecedented growth. Instead of giving us real answers, our "leaders" just continue to borrow, spend and print more money. We are about to hit the debt limit again, and the Obama administration is saying that we should just do away with the debt limit permanently. Most of our politicians don't seem to understand that they are systematically destroying our economy and the bright futures that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have. But there are some politicians out there that get it. Unfortunately, many of them live in other countries. For example, Canadian MP Pierre Poilievre seems to have a firm grasp on what debt is doing to the United States. The following are some excerpts from one of his speeches… "By 2020, the US Government will be spending more annually on debt interest than the total combined military budgets of China, Britain, France, Russia, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, India, Italy, South Korea, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Spain, Turkey, and Israel." "Through government spending the indulgence of one is the burden of another; through government borrowing, the excess of one generation becomes the yoke of the next; through international bailouts, one nation's extravagance becomes another nation's debt" "Everyone takes, nobody makes, work doesn't pay, indulgence doesn't cost, money is free, and money is worthless." And if we continue down this path it is most definitely true that our money will eventually become worthless at some point. Just today I was down at the grocery store, and a can of chili that I was able to get on sale for 75 cents a couple of years ago now has a "sale price" of $1.69. If the Federal Reserve keeps recklessly printing dollars, eventually we will be fortunate to get a can of chili for 10 bucks. Things cost too much already, and the Fed seems absolutely determined to cut the legs out from under the U.S. dollar. Unfortunately, printing money is the only way that we are going to be able to service the gigantic amounts of debt that we are accumulating. According to Chris Cox and Bill Archer, two men who served on Bill Clinton's Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform, there is no way in the world that we could raise taxes high enough to pay for all of the obligations that we are currently taking on. They say that even if we taxed all corporations and all individuals at a 100% tax rate on all income over $66,193, "it wouldn't be nearly enough to fund the over $8 trillion per year in the growth of U.S. liabilities." Are you starting to get an idea of how much trouble we are in? We don't have enough money to pay for all of this. We are broke. Our current economy is a debt-induced illusion, and we will soon be waking up to a tremendous amount of pain. | |||
| FIRST ROUND OF 2013 PREDICTIONS Posted: 27 Dec 2012 05:33 PM PST I figure we'll have a few of these lists show up over the next month or so. Might as well get the shitflinging party started! To wit:
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/12/10-predictions-for-2013.html#more
10 Predictions for 2013 This past year, 2012, was an eventful year. We had another Olympics, a U.S. presidential election, the warmest year on record, and lived through the Mayan apocalypse. However, many things did not occur that many of the trend seers predicted, especially dramatic events that made the boldest predictions. As we enter 2013, time itself seems to be speeding up or condensing to make the potential for dramatic events more likely. Tipping points appear to have been breached on many fronts, and what waits on the other side is difficult to know. But let's break out the crystal ball here and make some bold predictions for 2013. These predictions weren't acquired by some esoteric powers to see the future; rather they're derived from riding the current wave of information and guessing where that flow may lead. They may seem bold to some, while the most aware readers may recognize them as foregone conclusions. So without further ado, here are our top 10 predictions for 2013: 1. Stock market decline: Many economic forecasters have been predicting a stock market crash every year since the financial crisis of 2008. Yet, it has remained strong and even hit a 3-year high in September, 2012. There are many false reasons for this strength that don't have to do with real economic growth; devalued dollars, cheap money for Wall Street banks, corporations hoarding cash and investments, etc. It's a false bull market. That is why we feel comfortable predicting a significant decline in the stock market during 2013. The real economy has been papered over for decades, but the numbers in the false economy can no longer dam the wave of reality. Endless quantitative easing, a quadrillion in world derivatives, over-extended personal debt, lowest ever percentage of the population working, and increased social burden of record food stamps and other programs will finally burst the dam in 2013. The Baltic Dry index, which is believed to be the best indicator of our consumer economy, suffered a dramatic loss in December. Some say a new recession is already here and the stock market will soon reflect that with a crash in 2013. Look for the Dow Jones to dip below the 10K mark (around 30% or more) next year. 2. Precious metals rise over 50%: Using the same data points as the previous prediction, we predict gold and silver to rise at least 50%. As the mass exodus from the stock market and other paper investments takes place, individual and institutional investors will start a new gold rush. Indeed, this is already happening. Central banks around the world are snatching up new gold and moving to secure their foreign gold, while investment titans like George Soros have been increasing their positions where they previously denounced gold as a viable investment. 3. Schools start to install body scanners: Since these recent shootings actually resulted in horrific deaths of innocent people including children, the public is scared enough to accept just about anything. So we predict naked body scanners will begin to appear in schools and other public venues in 2013. There are several reasons for this prediction. The public is clamoring for protection and many inner-city schools already have metal detectors, so the upgrade will be acceptable if not preferred in suburban areas. Next, the body scanner companies who lobby the government need more customers, and they usually get what they want. And, finally, the authorities love to remove our rights in the name of security, making this move a no-brainer. 4. European Union announces central Treasury: The Eurozone debt crisis will once again flare up particularly within the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain), as well as in new countries. Instead of resorting to constantly increasing their "rescue fund" to bail out ailing European nations, the European Central Bank announced unlimited bond purchasing of any member state in need this September. This action of issuing new debt-based money for the sole purpose of buying debt has become known as quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve. The EU has repeatedly stated the need to form a central Treasury that has the power to collect direct taxes from member states, essentially turning the Eurozone into the United States of Europe. Look for this to come into reality in 2013 with possibly the first EU president elected as well. 5. Marijuana legalization sweeps America and the world: After Colorado and Washington voters proved it can be done, marijuana legalization is an idea whose time has finally come. No amount of fear mongering or lies will stop its liberation now. Although 15 states have decriminalized marijuana possession, along with 18 states with legal medical cannabis, this past election will be viewed as the tipping point in the full-scale legalization of weed. The ripple effects are already traveling quickly as at least 7 more states are considering legalization. Meanwhile, Mexico is reconsidering its war on weed and Uruguay is already designing its regulatory rules for legalization, which will make it the first country with full legalization. Expect 2013 and beyond for marijuana legalization to be a foregone conclusion with anyone standing in the way looking extremely foolish. 6. Major cyber attack hits America: All governments and many large corporations want to put more controls on the Internet. However, the general population does not want to see their beloved Internet change, so there must be an event that sways the public to believe that Internet "security" is a priority. This can't just be some minor attack that hits a small business sector. It would have to be something that inflicts pain on the public; perhaps an extended Internet outage or electric grid crash that's blamed on cyber terrorists would do the trick. Many officials have been predicting a cyber 9/11 or "Pearl Harbor" event for some time, claiming it's not a matter of if but when. That "when" will be 2013. Major antivirus companies such as McAfee are also warning of just such an event in 2013, labeled Project Blitzkrieg. And just like prior to 9/11, there is freedom-crushing legislation sitting on the shelf just waiting to be enacted if a cyber version of 9/11 were to take place. The level playing field of information on the Internet poses a huge threat to all regimes and their puppet media corporations around the world. They can't wait much longer before putting a stop to the free flow of information; therefore, this attack will be a classic false flag operation. Mark it down, this will happen in 2013. 7. Syria's Assad is toppled: Many pundits predicted this would have happened already, but without a NATO no-fly zone (aka massive air strikes on Assad in a Libya-style destruction) the ragtag rebels have proven to be no match for the Syrian government thus far. However, we have seen that when there is full-scale commitment by NATO, as with Libya, it's virtually guaranteed. Since the West has increased their support of the Jihadist rebels with training, arms, money, and Patriot missiles in Turkey, their commitment is clear. Furthermore, the UN has warned of sectarian genocide, and U.S. officials have clearly stated the ultimate line in the sand: Assad's use of chemical weapons. As if on cue, PressTV and Fars News are reporting that militants have indeed used chemical weapons. Whether or not this particular event is confirmed, expect it to happen at some point in 2013 to be spun as justification to take out the Assad regime — it's been in the cards for years. 8. West attacks Iran, starts WW3: The toppling of Syria will leave Iran as the only nation in the Middle East not controlled by the West. Besides having vast oil reserves, Iran also has the last strategic public central bank not run by the international banking cartel — and they want it. It is the endgame written about by many think tanks. The war with Iran has been years in the making and has already technically begun with crippling economic sanctions and strategic military bases surrounding it. Indeed, World War 3 already began as well when America invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, but this decade-plus-long war is about to get much more intense. Additionally, the establishment will need a distraction from the economic crisis of 2013, and only a large new war will effectively serve that purpose. The West has been goading Iran into an attack for years to justify further aggression. Iran, to their credit, has failed to take the bait. But once Syria falls, the full force of pressure will become too much for Iran to bear and they'll be forced to defend themselves. The West will portray it as aggression against them and launch their attack. The question will be how other super powers like China and Russia react to this aggression against their ally? 9. Food and oil prices break records, again: This might have the highest guarantee of coming true, since it is mathematically impossible for it not to in an era of unlimited money creation, expanding conflicts in oil regions, and record demand but unstable climates for food production. Some food and commodity prices set new record highs in 2012, while oil is still chasing its 2008 high of $147/bbl. First, let's look at oil since it is also a major contributor to the price of food. Oil will have conflicting price pressures in 2013. There will be reduced demand due to a sharp economic downturn, but that will be more than offset by the devalued petrodollar and the fallout of regional conflicts. We predict oil will soar past its previous high to over $150/bbl. This high price of oil will cause food prices to rise significantly since industrial agriculture is utterly dependent on oil from plowing, fertilizing, pesticides, harvesting, processing, to transport. Couple this very real cost to the rush away from stocks into more tangible assets like commodities that are also traded in rapidly devaluing dollars. This speculation will lead to much higher food prices. Throw in more extreme weather, and we have a recipe for a major food crisis. Food will hit new all-time highs in 2013. Average citizens will spend a much higher percentage of their salaries on food in 2013 which will put further pressure on the rest of economic output. Most extremely, a large portion of the population may realize starvation for the first time in their lives. Certainly, we can expect food stamp usage to explode even faster than it has in the last five years. On the upside, bulk food will be one of the best investments for 2013. 10. More extreme weather and earth changes: Extreme weather appears to be the new norm. In 2012 we saw the warmest year on record, record droughts in America's bread basket, and an odd super storm Hurricane Sandy which still has thousands without power more than two months later. However, the jury is still out on what's causing our extreme weather. Since the climates appear to be changing on all of the celestial bodies in our solar system, it seems unlikely that increased CO2 is the primary cause of climate change. Many experts point to the rapidly shifting North Pole and the sun's awakening to a new solar maximum as major contributors to our changing climate. And speaking of celestial weather, two great comets will appear in 2013 close to Earth whose impact on our weather, if any, is impossible to predict. Additionally, it appears that the Ring of Fire is awakening with increased earthquake and volcanic activity. For 2013, we predict more super storms starting with winter storms that will now be named for the first time, and an even bigger increase in earthquake activity, and more devastating crop damage. Many of these predictions seem negative and scary, but with awareness of their possible outcomes, one can prepare and position themselves to survive and even thrive under conditions which might seem horrific. It is also never to late to reach out to your local community by sharing information in a positive way, and encourage discussion of strategies for enhancing local resistance to larger global events. | |||
| Posted: 27 Dec 2012 05:32 PM PST http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/archives/7310 The latest from "DHS Insider" (Part II)   24 December 2012: The following is the second part of my in-person interview with a DHS insider. For Part I, please click HERE. DH: Wait, this sounds way, way over the top. Are you telling me… [Interrupts] RB: [Over talk/Unintelligible] …know who was selected or elected twice now. You know who his associates are. And you are saying this is way over the top? Don't forget what Ayers said – you talked to Larry Grathwohl. This guy is a revolutionary. He does not want to transform our country in the traditional sense. He will destroy it. And he's not working alone. He's not working for himself, either. He has his handlers. So don't think this is going to be a walk in the park, with some type of attempt to rescue the country. Cloward-Piven. Alinsky. Marx. All rolled into one. And he won't need the rest of his four years to do it.
DH: I need you to be clear. Let's go back again, I mean, to those who speak out about what's happening. RB: [Edit note: Obviously irritated] How much clearer do you want it? The Second Amendment will be gone, along with the first, at least practically or operationally. The Constitution will be gone, suspended, at least in an operational sense. Maybe they won't actually say that they are suspending it, but will do it. Like saying the sky is purple when it's actually blue. How many people will look a the sky and say yeah, it's purple? They see what they want to see. So the DHS, working with other law enforcement organizations, especially the TSA as it stands right now, will oversee the confiscation of assault weapons, which includes all semi-automatic weapons following a period of so-called amnesty. It also includes shotguns that hold multiple rounds, or have pistol grips. They will go after the high capacity magazines, anything over, say 5 rounds. They will also go after the ammunition, especially at the manufacturer's level. They will require a special license for certain weapons, and make it impossible to own anything. More draconian than England. This is a global thing too. Want to hunt? What gives you the right to hunt their animals? Sound strange? I hope so, but they believe they own the animals. Do you understand now, how sick and twisted this is? Their mentality? The obvious intent is to disarm American citizens. They will say that we'll still be able to defend ourselves and go hunting, but even that will be severely regulated. This is the part that they are still working out, though. While the plans were made years ago, there is some argument over the exact details. I know that Napalitano, even with her support of the agenda, would like to see this take place outside of an E.O. [Executive Order] in favor of legislative action and even with UN involvement. DH: But UN involvement would still require legislative approval. RB: Yes, but your still thinking normal – in normal terms. Stop thinking about a normal situation. The country is divided, which is exactly where Obama wants us to be. We are as ideologically divided as we were during the Civil War and that rift is growing every day. Add in a crisis – and economic crisis – where ATM and EBT cards will stop working. Where bank accounts will contain nothing but air. They are anticipating a revolution and a civil war rolled into one (emphasis added by this author). Imagine when talk show hosts or Bloggers or some other malcontent gets on the air or starts writing about the injustice of it all, and about how Obama is the anti-Christ or something. They will outlaw such talk or writing as inciting the situation – they will make it illegal by saying that it is causing people to die. The Republicans will go along with everything as it's – we have – a one party system. Two parties is an illusion. It's all so surreal to talk about but you see where this is headed, right? DH: Well, what about the lists? RB: Back to that again, okay. Why do you think the NSA has surveillance of all communications? To identify and stop terrorism? Okay, to be fair, that is part of it, but not the main reason. The federal agencies have identified people who present a danger to them and their agendas. I don't know if they are color coded like you mentioned, red blue purple or peach mango or whatever, but they exist. In fact, each agency has their own. You know, why is it so [deleted] hard for people to get their heads around the existence of lists with names of people who pose a threat to their plans? The media made a big deal about Nixon's enemies list and everyone nodded and said yeah, that [deleted], but today? They've been around for years and years. DH: I think it's because of the nature of the lists today. What do they plan to do with their enemies? RB: Go back to what Ayers said when, in the late 60′s? 70′s? I forget. Anyway, he was serious. But to some extent, the same thing that happened before. They – the people on some of these lists – are under surveillance, or at least some, and when necessary, some are approached and made an offer. Others, well, they can be made to undergo certain training. Let's call it sensitivity training, except on a much different level. Others, most that are the most visible and mainstream are safe for the most part. And do you want to know why? It's because they are in the pockets of the very people we are talking about, but they might or might not know it. Corporate sponsorship – follow the money. You know the drill. You saw it happen before, with the birth certificate. It's people that are just under the national radar but are effective. They have to worry. Those who have been publicly marginalized already but continue to talk or write or post, they are in trouble. It's people who won't sell out, who think that they can make a difference. Those are the people who have to worry. Think about recent deaths that everybody believes were natural or suicides. Were they? People are too busy working their [butts] off to put food on the table to give a damn about some guy somewhere who vapor locks because of too many doughnuts and coffee and late nights. And it seems plausible enough to happen. This time, when everything collapses, do you think they will care if it is a bullet or a heart attack that takes out the opposition? [Deleted] no. DH: That's disturbing. Do you… [interrupts] RB: Think about the Oklahoma City bombing in '95. Remember how Clinton blamed that on talk radio, or at least in part. Take what happened then and put it in context of today. Then multiply the damnation by 100, and you will begin to understand where this is going. People like Rush and Hannity have a narrow focus of political theater. They'll still be up and running during all of this to allow for the appearance of normal. Stay within the script, comrade. But as far as the others, they have certain plans. And these plans are becoming more transparent. They are getting bolder. They are pushing lies, and the bigger the lie, the easier it is to sell to the people. They will even try to sell a sense of normalcy as things go absolutely crazy and break down. It will be surreal. And some will believe it, think that it's only happening in certain places, and we can draw everything back once the dust settles. But when it does, this place will not be the same. DH: Will there be resistance within the ranks of law enforcement? You know, will some say they won't go along with the plan, like the Oath Keepers? RB: Absolutely. But they will not only be outnumbered, but outgunned – literally. The whole objective is to bring in outside forces to deal with the civil unrest that will happen in America. And where does their allegiance lie? Certainly not to Sheriff Bob. Or you or me. During all of this, and you've got to remember that the dollar collapse is a big part of this, our country is going to have to be redone. I've seen – personally – a map of North America without borders. Done this year. The number 2015 was written across the top, and I believe that was meant as a year. Along with this map – in the same area where this was – was another map showing the United States cut up into sectors. I'm not talking about what people have seen on the internet, but something entirely different. Zones. And a big star on the city of Denver. Sound like conspiracy stuff on the Internet? Yup. But maybe they were right. It sure looks that way. It will read that way if you decide to write about this. Good luck with that. Anyway, the country seemed to be split into sectors, but not the kind shown on the internet. Different. DH: What is the context of that? RB: Across the bottom of this was written economic sectors. It looked like a work in progress, so I can't tell you any more than that. From the context I think it has to do with the collapse of the dollar. DH: Why would DHS have this? I mean, it seems almost contrived, doesn't it? RB: Not really, when you consider the bigger picture. But wait before we go off into that part. I need to tell you about Obamacare, you know, the new health care coming up. It plays a big part – a huge [deleted] part in the immediate reshaping of things. DH: How so? RB: It creates a mechanism of centralized control over people. That's the intent of this monster of a bill, not affordable health care. And it will be used to identify gun owners. Think your health records are private? Have you been to the doctor lately? Asked about owning a gun? Why do you think they ask, do you think they care about your safety? Say yes to owning a gun and your information is shared with another agency, and ultimately, you will be identified as a security risk. The records will be matched with other agencies. You think that they are simply relying on gun registration forms? This is part of data collection that people don't get. Oh, and don't even think about getting a script for some mood enhancement drug and being able to own a gun. Ayers and Dohrn are having the times of their lives seeing things they've worked for all of their adult lives actually coming to pass. Oh, before I forget, look at the recent White House visitor logs. DH: Why? Where did that come from? RB: Unless they are redacted, you will see the influence of Ayers. Right now. The Weather Underground has been reborn. So has their agenda. DH: Eugenics? Population control? RB: Yup. And re-education camps. But trust me, you write about this, you'll be called a kook. It's up to you, it's your reputation, not mine. And speaking about that, you do know that this crew is using the internet to ruin people, right? They are paying people to infiltrate discussion sites and forums to call people like you idiots. Show me the proof they say. Why doesn't you source come forward? If he knows so much, why not go to Fox or the media? To them, if it's not broadcast on CNN, it's not real. Well, they've got it backwards. Very little on the news is real. The stock market, the economy, the last presidential polls, very little is real. But this crew is really internet savvy. They've got a lot of people they pay to divert issues on forums, to mock people, to marginalize them. They know what they're doing. People think they'll take sites down – hack them. Why do that when they are more effective to infiltrate the discussion? Think about the birth certificate, I mean the eligibility problem of Obama. Perfect example. DH: How soon do you see things taking place? RB: They already are in motion. If you're looking for a date I can't tell you. Remember, the objectives are the same, but plans, well, they adapt. They exploit. Watch how this fiscal cliff thing plays out. This is the run-up to the next beg economic event. I can't give you a date. I can tell you to watch things this spring. Start with the inauguration and go from there. Watch the metals, when they dip. It will be a good indication that things are about to happen. I got that little tidbit from my friend at [REDACTED]. NOTE: At this point, my contact asked me to reserve further disclosures until after the inauguration. | |||
| Posted: 27 Dec 2012 05:32 PM PST This is from the Northeast Intelligence Network – Douglas Hagmann. The latest from "DHS Insider" (Part I)Introduction 23 December 2012: After a lengthy, self-imposed informational black-out, my high-level DHS contact known as "Rosebud" emerged with new, non-public information about plans being discussed and prepared for implementation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the near future. It is important to note that this black-out was directly related to the aggressive federal initiative of identifying and prosecuting "leakers," at least those leaks and leakers not sanctioned by the executive office – the latter of which there are many.
Due to those circumstances, my source exercised an abundance of caution to avoid compromising a valuable line of communication until he had information he felt was significant enough to risk external contact. The following information is the result of an in-person contact between this author and "Rosebud" within the last 48 hours. With his permission, the interview was digitally recorded and the relevant portions of the contact are provided in a conversational format for easier reading. The original recording was copied onto multiple discs and are maintained in secure locations for historical and insurance purposes. Meeting The following began after an exchange of pleasantries and other unrelated discussion: DH: Do I have your permission to record this conversation? RB: You do. DH: I've received a lot of e-mail from people wondering where you went and why you've been so quiet. RB: As I told you earlier, things are very dicey. Weird things began to happen before the election and have continued since. Odd things, a clampdown of sorts. I started looking and I found [REDACTED AT THE REQUEST OF THIS SOURCE], and that shook me up. I'm not the only one, though, that found a [REDACTED], so this means there's surveillance of people within DHS by DHS. So, that explains this cloak and dagger stuff for this meeting. DH: I understand. What about the others? RB: They are handling it the same way. DH: I've received many e-mails asking if you are the same person giving information to Ulsterman. Are you? RB: No, but I think I know at least one of his insiders. DH: Care to elaborate? RB: Sorry, no. DH: Do you trust him or her. I mean, the Ulsterman source? RB: Yes. DH: Okay, so last August, you said things were "going hot." I printed what you said, and things did not seem to happen as you said. RB: You'd better recheck your notes and compare [them] with some of the events leading up to the election. I think you'll find that a full blown campaign of deception took place to make certain Obama got back into office. The polls, the media, and a few incidents that happened in the two months before the election. I guess if people are looking for some big event they can point to and say "aha" for verification, well then I overestimated people's ability to tell when they are being lied to. DH: What specific incidents are you referring to? RB: Look at the threats to Obama. Start there. The accusations of racism. Then look at the polls, and especially the judicial decisions about voter ID laws. Bought and paid for, or where there was any potential for problems, the judges got the message, loud and clear. Then look at the voter fraud. And not a peep from the Republicans. Nothing. His second term was a done deal in September. This was planned. Frankly, the Obama team knew they had it sewn up long before election day. Benghazi could have derailed them, but the fix was in there, so I never saw anything on my end to suggest a ready-made solution had to be implemented. DH: What's going on now? RB: People better pay close attention over the next few months. First, there won't be any meaningful deal about the fiscal crisis. This is planned, I mean, the lack of deal is planned. In fact, it' necessary to pave the way for what is in the short term agenda. DH: Wait, you're DHS – not some Wall Street insider. RB: So you think they are separate agendas? That's funny. The coming collapse of the U.S. dollar is a done deal. It's been in the works for years – decades, and this is one of the most important cataclysmic events that DHS is preparing for. I almost think that DHS was created for that purpose alone, to fight Americans, not protect them, right here in America. But that's not the only reason. There's the gun issue too. DH: So, what are you seeing at DHS? RB: We don't have a lot of time, tonight – our meeting – as well as a country. I mean I have heard – with my own ears – plans being made that originate from the White House that involve the hierarchy of DHS. You gotta know how DHS works at the highest of levels. It's Jarrett and Napolitano, with Jarrett organizing all of the plans and approaches. She's the one in charge, at least from my point of view, from what I am seeing. Obama knows that's going on and has say, but it seems that Jarrett has the final say, not the other way around. It's [screwed] up. This really went into high gear since the election. But it's a train wreck at mid management, but is more effective at the lower levels. A lot of police departments are being gifted with federal funds with strings attached. That money is flowing out to municipal police departments faster than it can be counted. They are using this money to buy tanks, well, not real tanks, but you know what I mean. DHS is turning the police into soldiers. By the way, there has been a lot of communication recently between Napolitano and Pistole [TSA head]. They are planning to use TSA agents in tandem with local police for certain operations that are being planned right now. This is so [deleted] important that you cannot even begin to imagine. If you get nothing else out of this, please, please make sure you tell people to watch the TSA and their increasing involvement against the American public. They are the stooges who will be the ones to carry out certain plans when the dollar collapses and the gun confiscation begins. DH: Whoa, wait a minute. You just said a mouthful. What's the agenda here? RB: Your intelligence insider – he knows that we are facing a planned economic collapse. You wrote about this in your articles about Benghazi, or at least that's what I got out of the later articles. So why the surprise? DH: There's a lot here. Let's take it step by step if you don't mind. RB: Okay, but I'm not going to give it to you in baby steps. Big boy steps. This is what I am hearing. Life for the average American is going to change significantly, and not the change people expect. First, DHS is preparing to work with police departments and the TSA to respond to civil uprisings that will happen when there is a financial panic. And there will be one, maybe as early as this spring, when the dollar won't get you a gumball. I'm not sure what the catalyst will be, but I've heard rumblings about a derivatives crisis as well as an oil embargo. I don't know, that's not my department. But something is going to happen to collapse the dollar, which has been in the works since the 1990′s. Now if it does not happen as soon as this, it's because there are people, real patriots, who are working to prevent this, so it's a fluid dynamic. But that doesn't change the preparations. And the preparations are these: DHS is prepositioning assets in strategic areas near urban centers all across the country. Storage depots. Armories. And even detainment facilities, known as FEMA camps. FEMA does not even know that the facilities are earmarked for detainment by executive orders, at least not in the traditional sense they were intended. By the way, people drive by some of these armories everyday without even giving them a second look. Commercial and business real estate across the country are being bought up or leased for storage purposes. Very low profile. Anyway, I am hearing that the plan from on high is to let the chaos play out for a while, making ordinary citizens beg for troops to be deployed to restore order. but it's all organized to make them appear as good guys. That's when the real head knocking will take place. We're talking travel restrictions, which should no be a problem because gas will be rationed or unavailable. The TSA will be in charge of travel, or at least be a big part of it. They will be commissioned, upgraded from their current status. They, I mean Jarrett and Obama as well as a few others in government, are working to create a perfect storm too. This is being timed to coincide with new gun laws. DH: New federal gun laws? RB: Yes. Count on the criminalization to possess just about every gun you can think of. Not only restrictions, but actual criminalization of possessing a banned firearm. I heard this directly from the highest of my sources. Plans were made in the 90′s but were withheld. Now, it's a new day, a new time, and they are riding the wave of emotion from Sandy Hook., which, by the way and as tragic as it was, well, it stinks to high heaven. I mean there are many things wrong there, and first reports are fast disappearing. The narrative is being changed. Look, there is something wrong with Sandy Hook, but if you write it, you'll be called a kook or worse. DH: Sure RB: But Sandy Hook, there's something very wrong there. But I am hearing that won't be the final straw. There will be another if they think it's necessary. DH: Another shooting? RB: Yes. DH: That would mean they are at least complicit. RB: Well, that's one way of looking at it. DH: Are they? Were they? RB: Do your own research. Nothing I say, short of bringing you photographs and documents will convince anyone, and even then, it's like [DELETED] in the wind. DH: So… RB: So what I'm telling you is that DHS, the TSA and certain, but not all, law enforcement agencies are going to be elbow deep in riot control in response to an economic incident. At the same time or close to it, gun confiscation will start. It will start on a voluntary basis using federal registration forms, then an amnesty, then the kicking-in of doors start. Before or at the same time, you know all the talk of lists, you know, the red and blue lists that everyone made fun of? Well they exist, although I don't know about their colors. But there are lists of political dissidents maintained by DHS. Names are coordinated with the executive branch, but you know what? They did not start with Obama. They've been around in one form or another for years. The difference though is that today, they are much more organized. And I'll tell you that the vocal opponents of the politics of the global elite, the bankers, and the opponents of anything standing in their way, well, they are on the top of the list of people to be handled. DH: Handled? RB: As the situations worsen, some might be given a chance to stop their vocal opposition. Some will, others won't. I suppose they are on different lists. Others won't have that chance. By that time, though, it will be chaos and people will be in full defensive mode. They will be hungry, real hunger like we've never experienced before. They will use our hunger as leverage. They will use medical care as leverage. DH: Will this happen all at once? RB: They hope to make it happen at the same time. Big cities first, with sections being set apart from the rest of the country. Then the rural areas. There are two different plans for geographical considerations. But it will all come together. End of Part I | |||
| Posted: 27 Dec 2012 04:56 PM PST Gold Price Close Today : 1,662.60 Change : 2.80 or 0.17% Silver Price Close Today : 30.184 Change : 0.201 or 0.67% Gold Silver Ratio Today : 55.082 Change : -0.276 or -0.50% Silver Gold Ratio Today : 0.01815 Change : 0.000090 or 0.50% Platinum Price Close Today : 1531.80 Change : -3.10 or -0.20% Palladium Price Close Today : 707.35 Change : 15.95 or 2.31% S&P 500 : 1,418.10 Change : -1.73 or -0.12% Dow In GOLD$ : $162.83 Change : $ 7.50 or 4.83% Dow in GOLD oz : 7.877 Change : 0.363 or 4.83% Dow in SILVER oz : 433.88 Change : -3.52 or -0.80% Dow Industrial : 13,096.31 Change : -18.28 or -0.14% US Dollar Index : 79.63 Change : 0.028 or 0.04% The GOLD PRICE rose $2.80 to $1,662.60. The SILVER PRICE rose today 20.1 cents to 3018.4c. That brings Gold plumb up to the 200 DMA ($1,662.61) and riding along the uptrend line from the June 2012 low. Not clear to me whether gold will make one more plunge down toward $1,620 or even terrifyingly lower, or it has finished its bottom-scraping. If the GOLD PRICE did go lower, it would only make it MORE attractive than it is now. Of course, it doesn't FEEL that way. It feels like your stomach is going to climb out of your mouth and go its own way, but that's precisely the time you have to grab hold and remember that the Primary Trend is up, that this correction will end shortly, and that 2013 will smile brightly on gold. The SILVER PRICE chart is plainer to me than gold's, and makes me expect one more push down toward 2900 cents. Here's how you will know. Low last week was 2964c, so if it trades down there, lower prices will come. On the other hand, it silver can climb above 3100, say 3132 (the 300 DMA), then the bottom is probably in. Neither metal feels very frisky, but part of that may be the absence of traders for the holiday. By frisky, I mean a day when metals rise 2 or 3% or more, slapping all the shorts silly. Be patient. I have been buying along here, even knowing we might see another little spike down. Other alternative is to wait and buy as it climbs, but sometimes it gets away from you. But I'm just a natural born fool from Tennessee, and can hardly spell "cintrul bank." Here's how kind I am to y'all: not even ONE time in this commentary will I refer to the fiscal cliff, although I will volunteer to push over it the next person I hear say it. It's all a silly mouse-burp deal that doesn't amount to a hillock of beans. Out of it will come for y'all nothing good, only higher taxes and more spending. Don't believe me? Hide and watch. In the world of disgusting, scrofulous, scabby, cheating, no-good, low-life white trash fiat currencies the Japanese yen has run away with the race to the bottom. Let us pass over as a matter too painful for fastidious minds the bubbling folly of the next Japanese prime minister wanting the Bank of Japan to inflate by at least 2% a year. I will not bore you by repeating yet again that all the inflation in the world only hurts and can never help any economy. I only observe that the yen today hit yet another new low for the move, ending down another 0.58% at 116.16 cents/Y100. This has crossed over the Y85=US$1 line in the sand I speculate the Central banks want to protect. Probably every goof in the world has hopped on and shorted the yen, offering central bank and Nice Government Men the opportunity to prove to them that what they thought was investing genius is really only crowd-following folly. A major picking of pockets will occur. Meantime, this can't go on much longer. Yen is more oversold than membership in the US senate. US dollar index rose a microscopic 2.8 basis points (0.04%) to 79.633. Has almost reached its 20 day moving average (79.84), and appears to have been carefully steered away from wrecking support at 79. Still headed down. The euro rose 0.8% today to $1.3237, having bounced off $1.3300. I 'spect it has another point in it, to $1.3400, maybe higher, but I wouldn't buy euros with your money. All the European foundation, the banks, all the rest, remains rotten. US$1=Y86.09=E0.7555=0.033 130 oz. Ag=0.006 014 oz Au. Stocks are forcing me to question whether they will yet rally past 13,300 on the Dow (1,450 on the S&P500). Both indices are greener than a ten-year-old smoking cheap cigars. Dow has pierced its 20 DMA (13,144.44), 50 DMA (13,078.50), and 200 DMA (13,015.87), although it climbed from its 12,964 low today to close down only 18.28 (0.14%) at 13,096.31. S&P500 closed down 1.73 (0.12%) at 1,418.10. Main spur to my doubt is the Dow in Gold and the S&P500 in Gold. Both traced out a dramatic island reversal, both have fallen away. More, the island reversal came as they broke out upside, showing exhaustion Only way I could be persuaded that stocks had not turned down against gold would be for that island reversal's top to be exceeded, chances of which are more vanishingly small than my chance of becoming the lead dancer in the Bolshoi Ballet. On this black day for freedom, justice, and truth in 1945, 28 nations signed an agreement to create the World bank and the International Monetary Fund. Banks raised the level of looting from the national to the international. 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.  | |||
| Fiscal Thursday – Last Ditch Efforts Posted: 27 Dec 2012 04:38 PM PST Fiscal Thursday – Last Ditch EffortsCourtesy of Phil of Phil's Stock World 4 more days! This is much more exciting than Christmas. So exciting that President Obama and Congress have cut short their winter vacations to give us hope – right before they snatch it away again. Will it be a bad plan or no plan? I can hardly wait to find out… We have a bit of data today with the usual Jobless Claims, Bloomberg's Consumer (dis)Comfort Index, New Home Sales, Consumer (lack of) Confidence, Oil Inventories and even a look at the Fed's Balance Sheet and the Money Supply after the markets close. Tomorrow we get the Chicago PMI and Pending Home Sales but none of it matters compared to whatever rumor comes out of Washington over the next 48 hours.
Meanwhile, we're focused on our technical levels and, as you can see from the Big Chart (above), we are right on the 50 dma of the Dow (13,083) and the Nasdaq (2,991) and not too far on the S&P (1,413) with the NYSE (8,400) and the Russell (840) testing (and failing, so far), their 5% lines. See my additional comments to Members in morning chat but, suffice to say, we need to watch these levels very carefully as well as the Dollar – which is right on the 79.50 line as the Euro attempts to get back over $1.33 and the Pound goes for $1.62 while the Yen remains extremely weak (and supportive of the Dollar) at 85.76 to the Dollar. As I said to Members:
We also have an adjusted TZA spread – just in case those levels don't hold up. Our HLF play from last week really kicked into gear as the stock has already jumped back from $25 to $27.50. That trade idea was from last Friday and made for a nice Christmas present as I said in Member Chat:
Our aggressive play paid off already with the May $22.50 puts falling to $4.30 and the $30/40 spread holding $2.70 for a quick $1.50 profit off the net $3.10 credit (48%). As noted yesterday, this is how we trade the news and it looks like we caught a good bottom on that one!
The Atlantic agrees with me on household formation, calling it "The Most Overlooked Statistic in Economics" and furthers my case that it's poised for a comeback in 2013. This chart from that article illustrates the tremendous amount of money that can be pumped into the economy if we do get a strong recovery but, even a mild recovery will be quite a boost (grey dots). Barry Ritholtz pointed out two good reads this morning - We know nothing because we read newspapers (Fabius Maximus) and The media – a broken component of America's machinery to observe and understand the world (Fabius Maximus) – both are good reads if you are in the mood to do some thinking. Be very careful out there as the markets are in no mood for thinking – they are simply reacting (or over-reacting) to whatever the latest rumor is out of Washington. We should take our levels seriously and hedge if we need to, but cashy and cautious is the watch-word coming into the long weekend as this thing could go either way – sharply! | |||
| Guest Post: No More Industrial Revolutions, No More Growth? Posted: 27 Dec 2012 02:49 PM PST Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog, The common feature of the transformative technologies of the 20th and 21st centuries is that they were one-offs that cannot be duplicated. What if the engines of global growth that worked for 65 years (since 1945) have not just stalled but broken down? The primary "engines" have been productivity gains from industrialization, real estate development and expansion of consumption based on the continual expansion of debt and leverage--in short-hand, financialization. The Status Quo around the globe has responded to the obvious endgame of financialization (the 2008 financial crisis) by doing more of what has failed: expanding credit and leverage, flooding the global economy with liquidity (money available for borrowing), credits and subsidies for real estate development and a near-religious belief in "the next industrial revolution" that will spark rapid growth in employment, profits and productivity. "The usual suspects" for the next engine of growth include nanotechnology, biotechnology, unconventional energy and Digital Fabrication, i.e. 3-D printing and desktop foundries. But are any of these capable of not just replacing jobs and revenues in existing industries, but creating more jobs and expanding revenues and profits? There is a growing literature on this very topic, as many start questioning the quasi-religious faith that there will "always" be another driver of growth, i.e. the expansion of wealth, profit, employment and assets. The Status Quo dares not even entertain this question because the only way to service the fast-rising mountain of debt that is sustaining the Status Quo is to "grow our way out of debt," i.e. expand the real economy faster than debt. The past 250 years has been one long "proof" that we can indeed "grow our way out of debt" because the low-hanging fruit of industrialization and cheap, abundant energy enabled wealth to be created at a faster pace than debt. Clueless Keynesians mock those questioning the possibility that the low-hanging fruit has been plucked by noting that doomsdayers were actively decrying the ballooning debt of the British Empire in the mid-1700s. We all know how that story ended: what looked like crushingly massive debt in 1780 was reduced to a trivial sum by the rapid expansion of industrialization. But suppose the end of cheap, abundant energy (replaced by abundant, costly energy) and the Internet spells the end of centralized models of growth? What if all the innovation currently bubbling away only produces marginal returns? Take biotechnology for example. Those with little actual knowledge of biotech are quick to latch onto the potential for genetic engineered medications, biofuels, etc. What they don't ask is if these technologies can scale up while costs decline, i.e. the computer technology model where everything progressively gets cheaper and more powerful. Biofuels may have promise, but it still takes "old fashioned" energy to collect the feedstock, and it is a non-trivial task to keep micro-organisms alive on the scale that would be needed to produce a useful amount of liquid fuels, i.e. a few million barrels every day. Some processes may not scale up, and others may not see any significant reduction in fuel costs once the full input costs are calculated. Genetic engineering also may not scale up--it may be limited by key barriers of individual patient complexity and by intrinsic costs that do not drop enough to make a difference. Consider the diseases that have almost been eradicated--polio, for example--and the lifestyle diseases such as diabesity. The wave of diseases that were eradicated were caused by bacteria or viruses: a vaccine or agent that disabled or killed the bacteria/virus wiped out the disease. Diabesity, cancer and heart disease are not caused by a single virus or bacteria. The "one med/vaccine works for all" model has failed and will always fail because diabesity and other lifestyle diseases have multiple, non-linear causes that are beyond the reach of a single "solution." These diseases may well be tied to epigenetic factors, for example, the interaction of "junk DNA" with environmental stresses that extend back into the individual genome. What we face is the confusion of symptoms and effects with causes. Lowering cholesterol is not the "magic bullet" many hoped for, and neither was hormone therapy. In the technology sector, it is clear that the Internet is destroying entire sectors of employment. The jobs that have been lost for good have not been replaced by jobs created by the Internet, nor is there any credible evidence to support this hope: automated software continues chewing up one industry after another, and the politically protected fiefdoms of healthcare (sickcare), education and government have yet to taste the whip of real innovation. Rather than add jobs, we will lose tens of millions of jobs as faster-better-cheaper breaches the walls of these massive politically protected fiefdoms. Healthcare spending is clearly in terminal marginal return: our collective health continues to decline in key metrics even as spending doubles, triples and quadruples. The same can be said of defense, education and many other industries. Sectors such as agriculture have already seen employment decline by 98% even as production rose; there are still improvements in agriculture (robotic milking machine, for example) but the low-hanging fruit in agriculture as well as in medicine, education, etc. have all been picked. The next wave of innovation will destroy protected profit centers and employment; even the Armed Forces are not immune, as the "ships of the future" will have relatively small crews and robotic drones will replace high-cost, high-employment weapons systems. The semi-magical belief that technological innovation will create wealth in such quantities that all other problems become solvable may well be false. We may have entered an era of marginal returns, where innovations destroy jobs, wealth, assets and debt--the very foundations of "growth." I have begun to speculate about a future where energy might be abundant but few can afford to consume much: money and income may be scarcer than energy. The one innovation that might energize an entirely new field of employment is digital fabrication, the decentralization and distribution of production. But this will also creatively destroy jobs dependent on the present supply chain. National governments have over-promised entitlements to their citizens on a vast scale, and the current "solution" to the mismatch of promises to national surplus is to borrow monumental sums to fund the promises. If innovations actually shrinks employment, incomes and wealth, then the base for taxes and debt will quickly shrink to the point that the debt is unserviceable. The Status Quo will collapse financially, even if energy and labor are both abundant. Consider END OF GROWTH - six headwinds: demography, education, inequality, globalization, energy/environment, and the overhang of consumer and government debt.(via Zero Hedge) The point made in this lengthy essay is a powerful one: the common feature of the transformative technologies of the 20th and 21st centuries is that they could only happen once. They are one-offs that cannot be duplicated. Doing more of what has failed will only set up a grander failure as returns on all our debt-based "investments" become ever more marginal and the return on increasing complexity drops into negative territory. Once complexity yields negative returns, the systems that depend on complexity quickly destabilize and implode. The Collapse of Complex Business Models This essay was drawn from Musings Report 48. The Musings are sent weekly to subscribers and major financial contributors (those who contribute $50 or more annually). My new book Why Things Are Falling Apart and What We Can Do About It is now available in print and Kindle editions--10% to 20% discounts. | |||
| Reid-Off; Boehner-On; McConnell-Off; Reality-Gone Posted: 27 Dec 2012 02:14 PM PST UPDATE: ES -7 after-hours from closing highs (McConnell-Off) Equity markets started the day off slowly but with confidence disappointing and Harry Reid's name-calling, not even the arrival of the chosen one was enough to juice anything but a minimal bounce in stocks. It looked like S&P 500 futures (ES) were going to retest the flash-crash lows from last week but thanks to a well-timed piece of news that Boehner will be in session on Sunday night (though no accompanying notes on exactly what magical book of crap they will sign off - or not - on) was enough to spur Johhny-5 and his friends into algo-asm action. The initial jerk was perfectly to VWAP and the second jerk took AAPL up to yesterday's closing VWAP. This strength dragged ES higher - reconnecting with a less excited risk-asset market that had remained flat from the day-session open. FX and vol were the main levers to the upside with Treasuries less enamored - though HYG was lifted to fill Monday's gap. Mitch McConnell spoiled the party a little into the unchanged close. As the markets ramped there were notable blocks and the large delta appeared to be sellers - which accompanied with VIX compression (big roundtrip today) suggests this strength enabled a few more big players to exit their underlying positions and unwind hedges. Gold rose as late-day USD weakness (and Treasury selling) jerked commodities higher. ES auctioned up to pre-Reid levels but was unable to hold those algo gains.
The S&P magically managed to get green for the month by the close...
The day in the S&P 500 futures market... with Scott Brown's on-again off-again facebook post impact... ending the UNCH!
Asset classes in general were all over the place with the US Open to EU Close session seeing a big EUR dump (on Reid's comments) after some more reptraiation strength early on. Gold rallied on that and stayed high all day. Evidently Treasuries (red) were not as excited with the ramp as the US and Oil)...
Equities did actually drop considerably more than risk-assets (upper right) in general today and the last day ramp dragged us back up to a more synchronized view of the world - even if correlations were weak overall. ETFs were relatively better-behaved (upper left) and stayed in close sync up and down - with VXX the major driver - though HYG was abused higher into the close (filling Monday's gap)... Cross-asset class correlation picked up notably into the close (lower right)
VIX round-tripped from low 19s to almost 21% and back down - and while much was made of VIX's compression it remains excessively bid relative to stocks - suggesting hedgers remain. Clearly, managers bid protection over the past week or so - knowing they could not sell down their exposures too aggressively; now we see headline-driven ramps that enable puts to be unwound profitably (higher vol and lower underlying price) and also to sell down exposure into the market's levered excitement (of retail) which then fades after-hours - just as it did after the last time - would not be surprised to see another ES cliff dive tonight.
Apple was heading for a 4 handle slowly but surely but the Boehner Boner enabled an absolute algo-gasm as we tested up to yesterday's closing VWAP...and stalled there
The problem, of course, as we tweeted an hour before the close, is that:
Charts: Bloomberg and Capital Context
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| Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Slightly Higher Posted: 27 Dec 2012 02:10 PM PST Gold fell $8.09 to $1652.01 at about 9:45AM EST, but it then jumped to as high as $1665.39 in the last minutes of trade and ended with a gain of 0.25%. Silver slipped to $29.685 in London, but it then rose to as high as $30.466 in New York and ended with a gain of 0.8%. | |||
| Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Deja Vu All Over Again Posted: 27 Dec 2012 02:10 PM PST  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |||
| Posted: 27 Dec 2012 02:04 PM PST Jim Sinclair's Commentary After all is said and done, CIGA Tommy's Photoshop draws the correct picture. Jim Sinclair's Commentary This is a brief of discussions within a private self financed research group in Holland. It demands respect and my gratitude for their contribution of this ever more complicated subject, Gold. They can Continue reading Jim's Mailbox | |||
| Posted: 27 Dec 2012 01:39 PM PST December 27, 2012
Last year between Christmas and New Year's Eve, oil crested $100 because of bluster from Iran about Western sanctions. Yesterday, oil crested $90 for the first time in two months because of… well, take your pick:
The media portrays this last item as a tiff over an unpaid natural gas bill — like Comcast charging you for an on-demand movie you never watched. That's easier than trying to explain centuries-old ethnic grievances. Or the craven stupidity of diplomats who redrew the map of the Middle East after World War I. We fully expect these conflicts to deepen in 2013. As we write this morning, oil has jumped again to $91.24. [Ed. Note: The complex news today underscores Byron King's determination to stick to energy plays outside the Middle East. In today's 5 Min. Forecast PRO -- our new "sixth minute" of actionable advice -- we describe one of his favorites. Our 5 PRO edition remains in beta-test with Platinum Reserve members. If you're among them -- by all means tell us what you think. We begin a full "rollout" next week -- stay tuned!]
Last month, unlike the central banks in many of the world's emerging markets, Turkey trimmed its gold holdings. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Turkey cut back its stash by nearly 6 metric tons to 314. "Turkey allows commercial banks to use gold as collateral for loans," Reuters tries to explain, "and changes to its balance sheet are often connected to such activity." The real story, we believe, is much more interesting… and relevant.
"March 2012 was, conveniently, the same month U.S. and European economic sanctions tightened on Iran — cutting off Iran from the global payments network called SWIFT.
"Without Iran, Turkey would depend almost entirely on a single gas supplier to keep the lights on — Russia. Under the sanctions, Turkey can't pay for Iranian gas with dollars or euros." That's where Turkey's gold supply has come in extremely handy. The U.S. Congress hopes to crack down on the gas-for-gold trade with Iran, tighten the screws on the mullahs and get them to give up their nuclear program once and for all — a gambit we believe is sure to fail. Two takeaways for you as you follow the story: a) the futility of using sanctions to resolve political tensions and b) the enduring value of gold as "money"… even if the Fed and Treasury would have you believe it's merely a commodity. Our full dispatch on the Turkey-Iran gas-for-gold trade goes out in a special alert to Apogee readers later today — a supplement to the 2013 forecast issue. Not a subscriber yet? Here's where to join up.
After the close yesterday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced Uncle Sam would bump up against the debt ceiling on Monday. Ooh, a debt ceiling-fiscal cliff combo platter! If the idea was to tank the markets and spur Congress to action… it didn't work; the futures barely budged. Fiscal cliff debt ceiling worries are likely baked into stock prices already. Rather, the slide this morning coincided with subpar consumer confidence numbers. And slagging retail sales numbers over the holidays dawning on mainstream news outlets.
"We had a long, hot, miserable summer in the resource markets. The share price for many "junior" resource plays went into the tank. As summer turned to fall, the Toronto Venture Exchange was a painful investment scene. Overall, a large fraction of listed TSX-V companies were (and are, alas!) trading under 25 cents, with only a few months of cash left in the bank." And good luck raising new money in that environment: "I'm reminded of analogies to that movie The Green Mile, about 'dead men walking,' if not the long casualty lists from one of those historic battles of World War I. Even the best of the resource lot — great assets, great management, cash in the bank — had a tough time gaining and keeping market traction."
"Meanwhile, all summer and into the fall, many sellers took even slight upward moves by junior resource players as an opportunity to take a gain off the table. The sellers neutered quite a few momentum efforts." Again, it can't last: "I foresee good days for gold and well-run gold miners," says Byron. "There are the usual reasons. I foresee too much government spending and not enough revenue to pay for it. I foresee too much Federal Reserve 'quantitative easing' (QE). I foresee monetary inflation."
We've tackled the theme with gusto going back to the beginning of this year… fully aware that it rests uncomfortably alongside our ongoing forecast that the mother of all financial bubbles will burst. But both trends continue to unfold in real time, so we attempt to stay ahead of them.
"So now people will complain about what is made here and what still isn't," says Chris. "Too funny. I would remind people that the goal is not autarky. Trade is a good thing. And please resist the urge to play overlord. Nobody knows how much of what should be made where. That is why we have markets. It is a process of discovery. "The economics of it all, as always, will dictate what goes where — as it should be."
"He mentioned," says Patrick, "that some of his investors are being forced to sell portions of their portfolios for tax reasons. We know, with the change in tax rates coming, that a lot of people are going to be doing this. "This creates an enormous opportunity for those who would like to benefit from the foolish government policies. As I've said often of late, the biggest pressure on government in the coming years will be to lower health care outlays." Thirty million Americans show signs of a condition called fatty liver disease, and "about 10% of those people will develop the full-blown disease, which can be effectively treated today only with liver transplantation." Expensive. The company Patrick's talking about can "reverse liver disease for a fraction of the costs associated with the oncoming epidemic of fatty liver disease." And hepatitis C, we might add. If you're courageous enough to stare over the fiscal cliff and are ready to put your money into companies with explosive wealth-building potential in the coming year, it's time to take advantage of our "loyalty reward" program. It furnishes access to Patrick's high-end tech recommendations… Byron's premium resource picks… Chris' special situations… and much more. All told, you get lifetime access to a suite of stock-picking services worth $4,094 annually — if you subscribed to each service separately. We call this suite the Equity Reserve… and it's still available to new members through midnight tomorrow night. For a full rundown of the savings, look here.
The Kony 2012 phenomenon appears to be waning as the calendar turns to 2013, but it's still delivering its share of quirky items for The 5, above and beyond filmmaker Jason Russell's "out-of-body" (and out of clothes) experience. Now comes Mr. Axe, a journalist who ventured to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2010 to report on Joseph Kony's rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army. "I wrote a graphic novel script based on my reporting, and artist Tim Hamilton agreed to draw it," he explains. The duo lined up a publisher. All was fine until last month, when a U.S. agency called the Office of Foreign Assets Control confiscated the bulk of their advance payment, "claiming that we were laundering the money for onward transfer to a terrorist organization. "Yes, you read that right: The feds believe Tim and I are terror financiers."
"You would think," writes Mike Masnick at TechDirt, "that once that red flag went up, some bureaucrat somewhere would then have looked at the damn book and realized that it's not some terrorist conspiracy. I guess that's too much to ask." The naivety is almost touching, no?
"We have reached the stage at which income tax is inequitable, unwieldy and requires major bureaucracy to manage. It would pay to look at a smaller-country example, such as New Zealand, where a flat consumption tax was imposed and income tax tiers were rationalized and reduced. "This is not to say that we should get rid of the capture of funds flowing to offshore investments, or company taxes, just that a fairer personal tax system takes the heat out of the debate around who ought to pay more. A consumption tax, in essence, is simple. The more you earn, the more you spend, ergo, the more you pay in tax. "Evidently, one cannot replace the other, but provided there are checks and balances around the disposition of capital gains and repatriated earnings, a consumption tax beats the heck out of an income tax for simplicity and effectiveness, as well as removing the heat from the politics of class. "Tax reform and nationwide debate around it ought to be a lot higher on the national agenda than it is."
"Under this scenario, unless disabled, rich or retired, the less a person earns, the less a person keeps. Corporations, which seem to have the same legal status as people, could be plunked in the regressive tax rule bucket also. "Wow… think about how frantically that kind of tax law would get everyone scuttling around, each trying really hard to make an additional dollar! Also, all dollars earned would actually be reported… and… a bazillion dollars, currently parked in foreign countries, would be repatriated right pronto. Ah… what a swell world we would have."
"I would say his heir is lucky the IRS/government goons don't claim that some of that was his mother's and that he didn't properly pay estate taxes in 1992 when she died. Imagine the scene: "Let's see, (sound of 10-key calculator…) with penalties, (sound of calculator), interest (more key punching…), late filing fee (more calculator sounds)… and the grand total $7.4 million should cover it Arlene… will you be paying by check?" The 5: Cynical, you are. With good reason, of course. Cheers, Dave Gonigam P.S. "Receipt of The 5 has been very hit-or-miss over the last two weeks. Is there an archive of the latest ones so that I can catch up on the ones I have missed? Enjoy the work very much and look forward to making more use of it." The 5: It's true, we've had some intermittent email issues. But our tech guys tell us they've been ironed out. The complete archive of The 5 is right here… careful, there's nearly six years' worth of episodes in there.        | |||
| Comex Pressure Point, The Coming Isolation Of The Us Dollar Posted: 27 Dec 2012 01:17 PM PST The typical human reaction to any infection, vermin, danger, or toxicity is to stand back, to isolate the agent, to trap it, to prevent its further spread or release, then to remove it in a safe secure way if possible using trained professionals. Eventually decisions must be made on the level of acceptable risk on the removal, like what is willing to be lost or damaged or killed in the process. Risk analysis, cost trade-offs, and minimization decisions must be evaluated and executed. The toxic agent in global trade, global banking, and global bond market is the USDollar. In 2009, the Jackass began making a certain firm point. Those nations that depart from the entire USDollar system early will be the leading nations in the next chapter, with stronger foundations, richer solvency, emerging economies, healthier financial markets, efficient credit engines, growing wealth, stronger political helm activity, and better functioning systems generally. Imagine a contaminated blood system that infects, corrupts, and destroys all interior organs from the spread of the toxin. | |||
| If You Think Silver Is Going To Increase In 2013 Here?s How to Best Maximize Your Return Posted: 27 Dec 2012 12:54 PM PST [B][B][B]“[B]Follow the munKNEE” [/B][/B]via[B][B][B][B][B][B][B] twitter [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B]&[B][B][B][B][B][B][B] Facebook[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B] I am not normally*a big fan of precious metals but in 2013 I am an unabashed fan of silver. If *SLV were to return 15%*next year there is a 95% probability that*a ProShares Ultrashort Silver ETF (ZSL) put option on SLV*would return 80%+!* [Let me explain how I have come to that conclusion.] Words: 985 So says the Macro Investor*in edited excerpts from an article* posted on Seeking Alpha entitled A High Risk/High Reward Play For Silver In 2013. [INDENT]This article is presented compliments of [COLOR=#ff0000][COLOR=#ff0000]www.FinancialArticleSummariesToday.com [/COLOR](A site for sore eyes and inquisitive minds) and [COLOR=#ff0000]www.munKNEE.com [/COLOR](Your Key to Making Money!) and may have been edited ([ ]), abridged (…) and/or reformatted (some sub-titles and bold/italics emphases) for the sake of... | |||
| The Three Legs of the Precious Metals Bull: Part I Posted: 27 Dec 2012 12:49 PM PST Normally, at this time of year writers tend to turn their thoughts toward making predictions for the upcoming year. My own belief is that this practice has turned into a Fool's Game; as the saturation-level corruption in our markets and endemic propaganda from the Corporate Media mean that rationality is out the window. Without accurate information and legitimate, vigilant regulation; our markets have become nothing but rigged casinos – where "the House" doesn't even honour its losing bets when inconvenient. Prices are no longer the product of supply/demand fundamentals, but merely the outcomes of crime. In such an environment, investors are forced to purely "play defense." The object is not simply to seek out promising investment opportunities, but rather to survive the rapacious plundering of the banking cabal. It is not enough to identify assets which "should" or "probably" will turn a profit. Instead, investors need to identify asset classes which must appreciate in value (over the long term) at a greater rate than the spiraling inflation generated from the exponential money-printing of the banksters. At the top of the list are gold and silver, humanity's ultimate shield against financial crime in general and (predatory) inflation in particular. For those craving certainty/security in the most uncertain of times, the precious metals bull market (which began over a decade ago) offers "three legs" of support; or (alternately) three reasons why we know that gold and silver must outperform most/all other asset classes in our current circumstances. Excessive money-printing: Currency dilution is neither a theory, nor is it some obscure concept which can only be grasped by those with training in economics. Rather, it is the obvious and inevitable result of a simple relationship of arithmetic. Incredibly, while nearly all but the most novice of investors understand the concept of "dilution" when it applies to the printing of shares by our corporations, virtually none of those same investors comprehend the dilution of our (fiat) currencies – despite the fact that currency-dilution is precisely analagous to share-dilution in virtually every respect. If a corporation prints excessive quantities of its own shares, the share price will plummet. If the corrupt (private) bankers holding monopolies to all of our sovereign(?) printing presses print these fiat currencies in excessive quantities, they must plummet in value (i.e. purchasing power). This is "inflation." As we saw with the hyperinflation of Weimar Germany, it is possible to delay the effects of even the most extreme/insane excesses of money-printing. However, it is never possible to prevent such monetary depravity from totally destroying the value of one's own paper. How much is "too much" when it comes to money-printing? Under ordinary (i.e. sane) circumstances that can be a difficult answer to determine. Unfortunately current parameters are "extraordinary" in every respect – and not for the better. Current Western money-printing grossly exceeds any other time in any modern, major Western economy, with the exception of Weimar Germany. Worse still, it continues to ramp-up at an exponential rate. And even worse, we have these rapacious banksters now openly using words like "unlimited" (Europe) and "open-ended" (the U.S.) to describe their suicidal money-printing. | |||
| Posted: 27 Dec 2012 12:28 PM PST London Gold Market Report from Ben Traynor BullionVault Thursday 27 December 2012, 05:45 EST U.S. DOLLAR gold prices traded above $1650 an ounce Thursday morning, in line with where they started the week, as the London market reopened following Christmas. Silver meantime hovered either side of $30 an ounce, while stock markets edged higher and the Dollar fell, following news that the US Treasury is to take extraordinary measures to avoid hitting the federal debt ceiling next Monday. "I am still friendly with the [precious metals] market, but it looks like until the new year starts, it's under pressure," says Yuichi Ikemizu at Standard Bank in Tokyo. US president Barack Obama has flown back early from Hawaii to resume talks on the so-called fiscal cliff, the $600 million of spending cuts and tax cut expiries due to come into effect from Monday. The House of Representatives remains on vacation. "The Senate must act first" said a statement issued Wednesday by House spea... | |||
| US Energy Independence: The Next Big Thing for 2013? Posted: 27 Dec 2012 12:25 PM PST Oil and Gas Here's a little energy investment 101: when oil moves up, so does the dollar. Energy bulls bet on increasing momentum, whereas gold bugs amass hard assets for the day the dollar collapses. Well, that's the way it used to be; global energy markets have become so schizophrenic that this once self-evident correlation is about as reliable as India's power grid. But one indisputable fact remains, as Porter Stansberry pointed out in his Dec. 13 interview, "End the Ban on US Oil Exports": "One of the biggest drags on the U.S. dollar over the last several decades has been the trade deficit resulting from petroleum imports." Wacky oil and gas differentials aside, outsourcing energy production has taken its toll on the national budget and the dollar itself. But if the U.S. doesn't rely on international imports, could it make do with domestic supply? Potentially, argues Rick Rule in his Nov. 27 interview, "A Global Perspective on U.S. Energy Independence." Responding to the I.E... | |||
| Posted: 27 Dec 2012 11:10 AM PST I just got off the phone with a major silver producer. Of worthy note, is that over the last 3 months, phone calls from what this gentlemen referred to as "generalists" have spiked, and are continuing during this quiet holiday period. "What is a generalist?" I asked. "A generalist is a fund manager oriented towards general market investments—not precious metals specifically," he replied. "What is occurring due to the extremely low valuations of gold and specifically quality silver producers," he explained, is that "general market growth and value-focused funds are now eyeing these companies." Further, this gentlemen joked that generalists are also referred too as cockroaches, in that when you see one—there are usually ten more hiding behind them, looking to buy. When asked how many generalist funds are quietly calling silver producers during this time he responded, "It could be hundreds…or thousands. We're talking pension funds, mutual funds, value funds…guys who move the price of the stock and move the price of silver itself…those who need a week or more to take a position" Very interesting conversation indeed. Best, | |||
| Will Gold Follow What it Did This Time Last Year? Posted: 27 Dec 2012 10:46 AM PST As you can see, gold had a 'tap tap' bottom at the end of last year, with a final intraday low on the 29th, the second last trading day of the year. It rallied in January back to where it had been at the beginning of December. | |||
| 3 Key Charts Show Massive Money Flows Into Gold & Silver Posted: 27 Dec 2012 10:45 AM PST  Many of the King World News readers have asked how much physical gold and silver are available and stockpiled around the world. Today we are pleased to provide the answer with several key graphics which were sent to us from Nick Laird of ShareLynx out of Australia. This is the second in a series of charts that KWN will be releasing from Laird which give a visual snapshot of what is really taking place in the gold and silver markets. We thank Laird for sharing these fascinating charts with our global readers. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
The typical human reaction to any infection, vermin, danger, or toxicity is to stand back, to isolate the agent, to trap it, to prevent its further spread or release, then to remove it in a safe secure way if possible using trained professionals. Eventually decisions must be made on the level of acceptable risk on the removal, like what is willing to be lost or damaged or killed in the process. Risk analysis, cost trade-offs, and minimization decisions must be evaluated and executed. The toxic agent in global trade, global banking, and global bond market is the USDollar. In 2009, the Jackass began making a certain firm point. Those nations that depart from the entire USDollar system early will be the leading nations in the next chapter, with stronger foundations, richer solvency, emerging economies, healthier financial markets, efficient credit engines, growing wealth, stronger political helm activity, and better functioning systems generally. Imagine a contaminated blood system that infects, corrupts, and destroys all interior organs from the spread of the toxin. Those nations that stick with the crumbling USDollar system stubbornly will find a horrible fate with devastating effects, rampant economic damage, broken financial markets, sputtering credit engines, tremendous loss of wealth, wrecked supply lines, poverty spreading like wildfire, ruined political structures, social disorder, isolation from the rest of the world, and a fast ticket to the Third World. That is EXACTLY what is happening in the last several months.
The beginning of the year has traditionally been a time of optimism when we all look forward to the exciting things that are going to happen over the next 12 months. Unfortunately, there are a whole bunch of things about 2013 that we already know are going to stink. Taxes are going to go up, good paying jobs will continue to leave the country, small businesses will continue to be destroyed, the number of Americans living in poverty will continue to soar, our infrastructure will continue to decay, global food supplies will likely continue to dwindle and the U.S. national debt will continue to explode. Our politicians continue to pursue the same policies that got us into this mess, and yet they continue to expect things to magically turn around. But that is not the way that things work in the real world. Bad decisions lead to bad outcomes. Instead of realizing that what we are doing is not working, our "leaders" continue to give us more of the same. As a result, there are going to be a lot of things about 2013 that will not be great. Sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that everything will be "okay" somehow is not going to help anyone. We've got to make people understand exactly what is happening and why it is happening if we ever hope to see real changes. 
The Doc sat down with Harvey Organ Wednesday for the first of several interviews regarding the recent massive cartel intervention in the gold and silver markets post the QE4 announcement, the fiscal cliff, the CFTC's silver probe, and the 
The following charts were put together exclusively for King World News by Kevin Wides, out of Switzerland. Once again, this is a way for all King World News readers globally to take an important step back and look at the big picture in both gold and silver as we head into 2013. These charts show the next pulse higher for gold and silver may stretch to $3,620 and $125, respectively. 
For example: take the Vietnam War, and do all of the above fact-checking and calculations. Millions dead on their side, tens of thousands dead on our side, hundreds of thousands injured for life on both sides, and the billions of dollars spent, and … what the heck was the result again? What did we achieve? What was it really for? What did we the people gain from it?
As the world turns. 
"It wasn't hard to connect the dots: Natural gas is the source of almost all electricity in Turkey. More than 90% of Iran's gas exports go to Turkey. Iran furnishes 18% of Turkey's natural gas.
Will their book be banned as a result?The authors have lawyers on the case. They surmise the title of the book "threw up a red flag."
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