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Leeb - Expect $6 per Gallon Gas & Huge Surge in Gold & Silver
Today acclaimed money manager Stephen Leeb told King World News that investors need to prepare for $6 per gallon gasoline, instead of the $5 we are currently seeing. Leeb also said tremendous inflation will cause gold and silver to begin a major surge to the upside which will take both of them to new highs. Leeb is Chairman & Chief Investment Officer of Leeb Capital Management. Here is what he had to say: “Gold rallying is a recognition that virtually every large economy in the world is reflating. It’s a situation where a lot of money is being pumped into the financial system and every country in a race to the bottom with regards to their currencies. Interestingly, gold is moving higher with the yen moving lower. Of course the yen is moving lower because of aggressive Japanese monetary stimulation.”
Here’s How Iran Could Launch Silver To $100
Dominique de Kevelioc de Bailleul: As the latest news from Tehran suggests Iranian oil exports to France and the UK will be cut off in response to EU sanctions on the world’s fifth largest oil producer, the oil price inches to a breakout price above $105 per barrel. Silver, too, is again prepping in sympathy for the possibility of a major move up to test $37, which, if cleared, could prompt traders to eye the last bastion of resistance at $50!
In essence, by his latest move, the confident and smiling and Ahmadinejad has told the Obama Administration to ‘bring it on’ and be thrown out of office as the US teeters to a market-driven bankrupt, not unlike Russia 1989 following its war with Afghanistan.
Bix Weir: “SIlver Is More Precious Than Gold
”
SGT talks to Bix Weir of RoadToRoota.com about about the $6 TRILLION in seized Bonds, the Ben Fulford and David Wilcock information and the mounting evidence that there are stores of gold on the planet which have never been revealed, making SILVER far more rare and precious than the yellow metal. In Part 2 we discuss the very real possibility of a Spring 2012 financial CRASH – and Ron Paul restoring our Constitutional form of government once he’s seated in the White House. Guess what?! The world is waking up and the idea of Liberty is more popular than ever.
Silver Wheaton CEO: “Demand for Silver Exploding”
From Jim Puplava and Financial Sense:
Randy Smallwood: Demand for Silver Exploding; Gold/Silver Ratio Favors Silver
Jim is pleased to welcome back Silver Wheaton CEO Randy Smallwood this week. Randy believes that investor demand is the key to the silver story, and the gold/silver ratio will shift to favor silver. In terms of Silver Wheaton, Randy expects growth in silver production to advance by 70% and the dividend payout to triple by the fourth quarter of this year.
The Pathetic Wooden Crusader Rick Santorum
The real danger to America’s status and national security that Russ Feingold refers to in his book, I believe, is if Rick Santorum somehow, perhaps through some Divine intervention, shows up in the White House as the President of the United States, or even as the Vice President as some say he might be shooting for.
by Kam Zarrabi
In his new book, While America Sleeps, the former Senator from Wisconsin, Russ Feingold, cautions the nation about the dangers to America’s best interests if foreign policy issues remain totally overshadowed by purely internal concerns. He criticizes the Republican presidential candidates for their lack of international savvy and the use of nonsensical sound-bites and unmeasured bellicose statements, reflecting “[S]uch a silly view of the rest of the world.”
He is absolutely right. However, an important point seems to be neglected in that assessment: There is a significant difference between politicians who know better but feel compelled to stoop down to the their potential voting blocks’ mindsets, and the politicians who truly believe in what they proclaim.
Firsthand Account: Israeli Plot to Murder Former US Senator
by Alison Weir
James Abourezk represented South Dakota in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1971 to 1973 and in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 1979. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including Advise & Dissent: Memoirs of South Dakota and the U.S. Senate. CNI asked Mr. Abourezk about his experiences with the Israel Lobby while he served in Congress. In his response he told of an Israeli plot against him that has received perplexingly little coverage in the U.S. press.
Below is his description of this and other incidents:
Q: Despite such books as Paul Findley’s They Dare to Speak Out, Edward Tivnan’s The Lobby, and Mearsheimer and Walt’s The Israel Lobby, some people still tend to downplay the power of the Israel Lobby. Can you tell us about some of your experiences with it?
A: I’m an eyewitness to what the Lobby does to Members of Congress, including to me during the time I spent in D.C. I was threatened, marginalized, attacked, lied about, among other matters in an effort to silence my criticism of Israel’s policies and of the Lobby.
At one time Bob Cordier, from the Washington FBI office, called me to tell me that, during the investigation into Alex Odeh’s murder (Alex was one of my staff people) the FBI had uncovered a “plot” on my life. Not a threat, but a plot, but, he said it’s OK now, as the guy who intended to murder me had now gone back to Israel. Alex Odeh’s murder came not long after I had run four full page ads in the Washington Post asking for support against the Israel Lobby. My assumption was that, reading the ads had enraged the plotter, which led him to bomb the ADC office in Orange County, California.
The Greatest Conspiracy of Them All
by Gary Kinghorn
A breathtaking testimony was given this past week in the aftermath of the Underwear Bomber trial by someone who was on the flight and witnessed the bomber passing through security and boarding the plane. The “Victim Impact Statement” was read in open court by a Michigan man under state law that allows victims five minutes to say how they were affected by a crime. Kurt Haskell and his wife, Lori flew back to Detroit from Amsterdam that fateful day, and recounted the following:
On Christmas Day 2009, my wife and I were returning from an African safari and had a connecting flight through Amsterdam. As we waited for our flight, we sat on the floor next to the boarding gate. What I witnessed while sitting there and subsequent events have changed my life forever. While I sat there, I witnessed Umar dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt, being escorted around security by a man in a tan suit who spoke perfect American English and who aided Umar in boarding without a passport. The airline gate worker initially refused Umar boarding until the man in the tan suit intervened. The event meant nothing to me at the time. Little did I know that Umar would try to kill me a few hours later as our flight approached Detroit. The final 10 minutes of our flight after the attack were the worst minutes of my life. During those 10 minutes I sat paralyzed in fear. Unfortunately, what happened next has had an even greater impact on my life and has saddened me further.
Hiding the Elephant: Fort Knox’s Vanishing Act
by Kal Kotecha
In one of Harry Houdini’s finest moments as a magician, he made a 6,000-pound, Asian elephant disappear – into thin air. Billed as the “world’s most incredible conjuring illusion”, Houdini swept onto the stage at the New York Hippodrome in 1918 and proclaimed “allow me to introduce Jennie, the world's only vanishing elephant.”
The elephant was then escorted into a large colored cabinet. The doors were closed. The stage was set and the drum roll began. Moments later, with a flourish, Houdini flung open the doors of the box. Six thousand pounds of elephantine flesh had vanished into thin air. The crowd went wild.
In the years that followed, Houdini presented that trick to wide-eyed audiences of a million and more. Magic historian, Jim Steinmeyer, exactingly chronicled this – and other - conjuring tricks in “Hiding the Elephant”, an exposé of stage illusions.
In 1933, with America five-years deep into The Depression, the stage was set for a magic act of unprecedented proportions. History shows a wicked warlock at work.
WTF, Warren Buffett?
For value investors of a certain age (e.g. mine), discovering that Warren Buffett could be wrong is like suddenly not believing in Father Christmas. This twinkly-eyed, raspy-voiced, avuncular old gentleman almost embodies Clint Eastwood crossed with a Care Bear. And nobody can hold a candle to his long-term investment record.
And yet, the rot set in (at least as far as this writer is concerned) when Buffett went from investing in private non-financial businesses to siding with the establishment, using his institutional heft to win sweetheart deals in dubious banking institutions way beyond the reach of regular Joes.
In other words, somewhere along the line he went from representing the 99% to representing the 1%. And at the first sign of trouble, he simply wraps himself up in the American flag.
Nigel Farage - Catastrophe Imminent & Gold to Break $2,500
With Europe desperately trying to stabilize Greece, today Nigel Farage told King World News that, despite the bailout, downside risks in the banking system are still enormous. He also said a modern day catastrophe is about to occur. But first, here is what Farage had to say about the ongoing crisis in Greece: “I want to just share with your listeners, Eric, the state of things in Greece. We have 50% unemployment amongst young people in Greece. 25% of all commercial companies have gone bankrupt in Greece in the last four years. We have now thousands of people in Athens literally sleeping in cardboard boxes in the streets. We have families giving up their kids for adoption because they feel they (the children) would be better off if someone else looked after them because they simply can’t feed them.”
Here Is Why The Dow Just Passed 13,000
Wondering why the DJIA just passed 13K again? Wonder no more: as the chart below shows it is entirely due to the nearly $7 trillion pumped by global central banks into the world stock markets just in the past 4 years. As Sean Corrigan from Diapason notes, the aggregate global central bank balance sheet has doubled in four years, after doubling in the 5 years before that. We would add that with the entire centrally planned ponzi scheme hell bent on preserving the illusion of nominal gains, global liquidity is now fungibly sloshing from one market to another with absolutely zero resistance whatsoever. At this rate, it should double again in 3 years, then 2, and so on. Will the Dow hit 52K in 5 years in that case? Why most certainly. Just ask any remaining citizens of the Weimar Republic.
Greece Debt Deal: "Kicking Giant Beer Keg Down Road Risks Destroying The Road"
Gold rose to its highest in a week today after euro zone policymakers sealed an agreement for a second debt deal with Greece. Gold remained flat at $1,736/oz in Asian trading after the deal was reached but then saw some buying which saw gold quickly rise to $1,740/oz and then creep up to over $1,743/oz.
U.S. gold rose 1% from Friday's close to $1,743.5 following the Greek bailout, catching up with gains in cash prices after the U.S. market was shut on Monday for a public holiday yesterday. Gold subsequently fell back to $1,737/oz in mid morning European trade.
Gold Bulls Cheer Greek Deal
Jeb Handwerger, editor of GoldStockTrades.com, says the Greek deal is bullish for gold stocks, especially the junior miners..
CFTC: Funds Trim Speculative Length In Gold But Add To Long Positioning In Other Metals
Large speculative accounts trimmed their net long position in gold futures but extended their net length to multi-month highs in all of the other metals during the latest reporting week.
In both the “legacy” and “disaggregated” reports released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission late Friday, large speculators on balance exited from some of their long gold positions, in which they previously bought.
As of the Feb. 14 reporting deadline, money managers were net long 162,956 lots for futures and options combined in the disaggregated report, down from the previous week’s nearly five-month high of 173,172. This mainly was due to a decline of 8,001 total longs, although there was also some fresh selling as reflected by an increase of 2,215 shorts. In the legacy report, the non-commercial accounts—commonly referred to as the funds—trimmed their net length to 183,801 lots from 195,691 the prior week, as the number of total longs fell by 9,106 lots and the number of shorts rose by 2,784..
Eric Sprott: Silver Will Become a Currency Again
With the Greek crisis nearing a climax, The Doc spoke with Eric Sprott of Sprott Asset Management this week to discuss the Euro debt crisis, silver fundamentals, and the recent PSLV follow-on offering.
When asked about his recent efforts to convince silver mining companies to save in silver rather than cash or treasuries Eric responded:
I think we have a bit of a voice in the silver market, and the reason for the letter was just the simple analysis that the paper traders were determining the price…and why should you physical silver producers let that happen?
And that was the primary thing- would you guys please think about what’s happening in your silver market! Plus the fact that it got bombed last year, and are you just going to sit back and lose $25 an ounce that you might otherwise be making, or are you ready to take a stand here? The other very easy argument for me, is when you have your money in a bank, you get no return. You essentially have no return. In fact I think it was expressed very well by the gentleman that runs UC Resources that you actually get a negative return at the end of the year because inflation’s higher than the return you’re getting on your money! I happen to be of the view that having money in the bank is a dangerous thing!
And you know they keep bailing out the banks all the time such as the recent G6 announcement that we’ll give unlimited loans to banks: well, they had to give unlimited loans to banks, because there were some banks that were on the brink! That tells you that it’s risky having money in a bank! So not only do you have to accept the risk, you get a negative return!
Why don’t you believe in your own product that also has been a currency and also will become a currency?
That’s really why I went there. I thought that if we could just tip a few of these silver producers around to thinking about what’s going on in the market, and who’s determining the price, maybe we’ll let the physical markets determine the price instead of the paper markets determining the price.
Silver and Opium
by Antal E. Fekete - Professor Fekete.com
The opium wars do not belong to the glorious episodes of Western history. Rather, they were instances of shameful behavior the West still has not lived down. Mercantilist governments resented the perpetual drain of silver from West to East in payment for Oriental goods (tea, silk, porcelain) that were in high demand in the Occident, facing low demand in the Orient for Occidental goods. From the mid-17th century more than 9 billion Troy ounces or 290 thousand metric tons of silver was absorbed by China from European countries in exchange for Chinese goods.
The British introduced opium along with tobacco as an export item to China in order to reduce their trade deficit. Under the disguise of free trade, the British, the Spanish and the French with the tacit approval of the Americans continued sending their contraband to China through legitimate as well as illegitimate trade channels even after the Chinese dynasty put an embargo on opium imports. Because of its strong appeal to the Chinese masses, and because of its highly addictive nature, opium appeared to be the ideal solution to the West's trade problem. And, indeed, the flow of silver was first stopped, and then reversed. China was forced to pay silver for her addiction to opium smoking that was artificially induced by the pusher: the British.
Gold to $6,000 plus - eventually - and silver growth even more explosive: McCoach
Greg McCoach feels gold is ultimately headed above $6,000/oz and silver into the hundreds of dollars and gives reasons for his optimistic projections. Interview with The Gold Report
Author: Zig Lambo
The Gold Report: You last spoke with The Gold Report in October 2010. A lot of things have happened since then. You were predicting that the Fed would start printing money to pay its debts, thereby creating a Ponzi scheme, which it had, sort of, been doing all along. So, have things played out the way you thought they would? And, what are you expecting is going to happen in the rest of 2012? Greg McCoach: I think we've been very accurate in that we'd see additional quantitative easing (QE) events. I remember saying when QE1 came out that they'd be doing QE2 and QE3. Of course the Fed denied that and the media said that's not going to happen. Well, it has and we are now at QE3. I believe we're going to see QE events indefinitely until the whole system implodes. So, on that part I feel we've been very accurate. But, on other parts we haven't been so accurate. The junior mining share market certainly hasn't participated with the higher metals prices that we hit last year at $1,900/ounce (oz) gold and $49/oz silver. The juniors performed very poorly relative to those metals prices, particularly into the latter part of 2011 when the market really tanked. Tax-loss selling varies from year to year but last year was brutal, and even the best-of-class companies took a hit. But, I'm bullish for the long term.
Gold Miners: The Run Is Done
Gold miners have not been leveraging the rise in the price of the gold since the summer of 2011. This fact has been acknowledged by investors, writers and pundits. In wrestling with this concept, I decided to pursue this line of thought further with some backwards analysis of historical chart prices.
I used the HUI index of the 15 largest gold miners that do not largely hedge their gold outputs for comparison, since even if it is not tradable, it has a history that is chartable. The HUI is a dollar weighted index, with rebalancing performed infrequently every quarter. The miner components of this index are listed as following:
Beware The False Signs Of Spring In America
Is Obama’s America God’s Country?
Patrick J. Buchanan
The political beliefs of Barack Obama, said Rick Santorum last week, come out of “some phony theology. … Not a theology based on the Bible, a different theology, but no less a theology.”Given the opportunity on “Face the Nation” to amend his remarks, Santorum declined the offer and plunged on:“I don’t question the president’s faith. I’ve repeatedly said that I believe the president is a Christian. He says he is a Christian. I am talking about his worldview and the way he approaches problems in this country. … They’re different than how most people do in America.”
Obama’s surrogates on the Sunday shows charged Santorum with questioning the president’s faith.
Not exactly. What Santorum is saying is that in the struggle for the soul of America, though Obama may profess to be, and may be, a Christian, he is leading the anti-Christian forces of what Pope Benedict XVI has called “radical secularism.”
In Plano, Texas, last week, Santorum was even more explicit:
“They (the Obamaites) are taking faith and crushing it. Why? Why? When you marginalize faith in America, when you remove the pillar of God-given rights, then what’s left is the French Revolution. … What’s left in France became the guillotine.
Dominionism and Dominion Theology
Dominionism and Dominion Theology are not denominations or faith groups. Rather, they are interrelated beliefs which are followed by members of a wide range of Christian denominations.
In his article on dominionism, researcher and author Chip Berlet credits sociologist Sara Diamond with popularizing the term dominionism as "a growing political tendency in the Christian Right." Diamond defined dominionism in 1995 as:
Christians alone are Biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns--and there is no consensus on when that might be."Dominionism," Berlet writes, "is .. a tendency among Protestant Christian evangelicals and fundamentalists that encourages them to not only be active political participants in civic society, but also seek to dominate the political process as part of a mandate from God.
Gottfried Takes on the Straussians
by Allen Mendenhall
What Paul Gottfried writes about conservatism is never dull or conciliatory; it always signals – with strength and subtle wit – the most urgent controversies dividing and defining the conservative movement and so transfiguring the shape of American politics writ large. Gottfried is a self-proclaimed paleoconservative with a sweeping knowledge of intellectual history, and it’s from that unique vantage that his latest book, Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America: A Critical Appraisal, a thin hardback published by Cambridge University press, must be read.
Although ruthless and exacting in his criticism of Straussians, Gottfried cannot be called cantankerous. He is even at times reserved, and he goes out of his way to express gratitude to Straussians like Peter Minowitz and Ted McAllister, who provided feedback on his manuscript. Opponents of Gottfried who expect him to adopt the tone of a grouch or a whiner will, I hope, be pleased to discover that Gottfried instead has written a work of careful scholarship, as thoughtful in its denunciations as it is thorough in its analyses.
Greenwald: Indefinite detention policies have become normalized legally, politically and culturally in Israel and the US
Writing today about the Adnan case in The National, Joseph Dana explains that Israel imprisons Adnan and so many like him pursuant to “a framework of laws and statutes to govern all aspects of life in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” and “many, if not most, of the laws governing movement of Palestinians, freedom of speech and association are draconian in nature; none is more alarming than the administrative detention order. The order enables Israel to hold prisoners indefinitely without charging them or allowing them to stand trial.” Behold the principles of justice driving this Israeli behavior:
Mr Adnan’s story is emblematic of the administrative detention experience of many Palestinians. He claims to have been beaten and humiliated by Israeli soldiers while in custody, and began his hunger strike in protest. On January 8, Mr Adnan was given a four-month administrative detention order, which can be renewed indefinitely, after a military judge reviewed classified information against him. Evidence and allegations have not been made available to Adnan or to his lawyer.
"Judge" Andrew Napolitano fired from Fox News for (nearly) telling truth about Jews and Israeli treachery.
mediawatch
2/20/2012
Gold rises on China's monetary easing, Greek optimism
Spot gold climbed 0.6% to $1,733.96/oz on Monday, on course for its biggest daily rise in two weeks, supported by China's monetary policy easing and hopes for Greece to seal a bailout fund.
Author: By Rujun Shen
Gold prices climbed more than half a percent on Monday, as investors buoyed by easing moves by China's central bank and hopes for Greece to seal a bailout deal at a meeting with euro zone officials later in the day.
An easing monetary stance boosts sentiment in gold by raising the inflation outlook down the road and attracting investors to bullion, a good hedge against inflation.China cut its required reserve ratio over the weekend, joining a number of central banks in relaxing monetary policies to promote economic growth while the euro zone debt crisis continues to overhang the global economy.The optimism on a deal later in the day between Greece and euro zone on the second bailout for Greece sent equities and the euro up, helping support gold.
Gold hub: Singapore to scrap tax
Singapore is seeking to lure bullion refiners by scrapping taxes on gold, an action that could also attract trading houses to open storage facilities and transform the country into a key Asian pricing hub, industry sources said on Monday.
Singapore will exempt investment-grade gold and other precious metals from a 7% goods and services tax to spur the development of gold trading, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Friday.
The change takes effect in October and may lift demand for gold bars and coins in the fourth quarter and into 2012. Singapore's investment gold demand nearly tripled to 3.5 tonnes in 2011, according to consultancy firm GFMS.
It seems a little unfair to put a sales tax on what is essentially money. The removal of the GST on gold will allow Singapore to better compete with Hong Kong and other bullion trading centres in the region, said Nick Trevethan, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ in Singapore.
Silver Price Could Double by Year End
Were you cursing at your computer screen when silver nearly tripled during the short 9 months from September 2010 to May 2011? Silver at $20 seemed like an insurmountable threshold for quite some time. This caused many silver investors to give up just prior to the ascent, completely missing the ride towards $50. I believe silver is about to offer a similar ride. While it is unlikely to match the 180% advance mentioned above, look for silver to make new highs in the coming months, with the potential to double to $65 by year end.
Following the record gains in silver during late 2010 and early 2011, the metal crashed towards $25 and has since rebounded to around $33. Investor sentiment has crashed along with it. The threat of Euro nations defaulting, banks announcing they are, well, bankrupt, and a series of other factors have scared away many of the Johnny-come-lately silver bulls.
LISTEN: BrotherJohnF talks Triple Digit Silver
Fitzwilson - Pulling Back the Curtain on the Financial System
40 year market veteran, Robert Fitzwilson, writes for King World News and states that the worldwide financial system is now trapped. He also believes we are looking at tremendous price increases going forward. Robert is the founder of The Portola Group, one of the premier boutique firms in the Unites States, and today King World News was given exclusive distribution rights to the following extraordinary piece:
Greek Default Therapy
The Greek crisis has been solved...again. Let's see...that's probably about 24 "solutions" during the last 24 months.
But since these solutions never seem to solve anything, Europe's central bankers, technocrats and politicians get to huddle together every few weeks and solve the crisis over and over again. It's kind of like Disneyland for euro-meddlers. They get to keep going on their favourite ride over and over again.
Sure, they have to wait in line for a while each time, but the ride is so worth it! Lots of meddling, lots of intervening, lots of "tough negotiations," lots of prescribing what's best for others, while spending lots of money that belongs to someone else.
If that's not an "E-Ticket," what is?
The “Global Crises of Capitalism”; Whose Crises, Who Profits?by Prof. James Petras
From the Financial Times to the far left, tons of ink has been spilt writing about some variant of the “Crises of Global Capitalism”. While writers differ in the causes, consequences and cures, according to their ideological lights, there is a common agreement that “the crises” threatens to end the capitalist system as we know it.
There is no doubt that, between 2008-2009, the capitalist system in Europe and the United States suffered a severe shock that shook the foundations of its financial system and threatened to bankrupt its ‘leading sectors’.
However, I will argue the ‘crises of capitalism’ was turned into a ‘crises of labor’. Finance capital, the principle detonator of the crash and crises, recovered, the capitalist class as a whole was strengthened, and most important of all, it utilized the political, social, ideological conditions created as a result of “the crises” to further consolidate their dominance and exploitation over the rest of society.
2/19/2012
UH OH: Gas Prices Are Getting Close To The Magic Freak-Out Point
When oil prices began their big surge about a decade ago, doomsayers immediately began bloviating about how rising gas prices were going to put the smackdown on the economy.
But as gas prices blew through milestone after milestone--$2, $2.50, $3, $3.50--this fear proved completely unfounded. The economy kept cranking right along.Right up until the moment gas hit $4 a gallon.
Then everyone freaked out.When gas blew through $4, the car companies all suddenly started talking about how it was a new era and they were going to completely redesign their fleets, etc.
The bogus billion dollar bill: Eight arrested after Italian police seize $6 TRILLION of fake U.S. bonds
Paper trail: An Italian Carabinieri shows off the stash fake bonds
The huge haul could make a huge dent in Italy's national debt, which currently stands at around $2,525,436,170,700 (€1,920,483,780,000).
Recently, Carabinieri carrying out a routine search at a highway rest stop found a briefcase containing $20billion in fake bonds.
And in 2009, Italian financial police seized $742billion of fake U.S. bearer bonds in the northern Italian town of Chiasso, near the Swiss border.
Case for the prosecution: The bonds were sealed in this trunk
4 Gold Stocks That Appear Undervalued
In this article, I will look at four major gold companies (Barrick Gold, Silvercorp Metals, Goldcorp Inc. and Polyus Gold), each with a market cap of over $1 billion. Three of the four companies are among the top 10 largest gold companies in the world. All of these stocks appear to be undervalued, and I will explain why by pointing out the dwindling supply of gold against increasing demand, the problems with paper currency, and the slow growth of the world economy.
Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX) is the world's largest gold company with a market cap of approximately $47.63 billion. Barrick stock is currently trading at just under $48 a share which is almost 15% below its 2011 high. However, January was a good month for the company, with gold rising 11% during the 31 day period. Gold bugs like to extol the virtues of the precious metal every time there is an economic crisis, mainly because investors use gold as a hedge against inflation, which is currently standing at 3.01%.
Open Innovation: Goldcorp Challenge
Rob McEwen is the Founder and former Chairman and CEO of Goldcorp. He stunned the gold mining industry by sharing his company’s proprietary geological data so that people all over the world could do the gold prospecting for him.
The Story:
Rob McEwen was sitting on a fortune; the trouble was he didn’t know exactly where it was located.
It’s the year 2000 and the CEO of Goldcorp Inc., a gold producer headquartered in Vancouver, Canada was concerned about an underperforming mine in Ontario. The company’s Red Lake mine was only producing a relatively small 50,000 ounces of gold a year at a high cost of $360 an ounce. The main deposits were deeper underground, but his company’s geologists were not sure of the exact location of the precious metal.McEwen wanted new ideas of where to dig and he figured that if his Red Lake employees couldn’t find the gold then someone else would be able to.
Pento - CB’s Global Assault to Destroy All Paper Currencies
Today Michael Pento told King World News that central banks are in the process of destroying their paper currencies. Pento, who founded Pento Portfolio Strategies, also said it is incredibly important for investors globally to protects themselves in this environment. Pento had this to say about the situation: “This is the age of a globalized phenomenon, where central bankers around the world view the market forces of deflation as public enemy number one and inflation as the panacea for anemic growth.”
Buffett's comments on gold touch nerve
By Steve Jordon WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
An article by Warren Buffett in Fortune magazine touched off criticism by calling gold a "valueless asset" and saying its price rise over the past decade is an investment "bubble" that will inevitably pop.
"And then the old proverb is confirmed once again: What the wise man does in the beginning, the fool does in the end," he wrote.
The article, adapted from the letter that Buffett will send to shareholders of Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on Saturday, elaborates on Buffett's long-held belief that it's best to own something that will produce wealth.
If you had $10 trillion, he wrote, you could buy all the gold in the world, or else buy all U.S. farmland and 16 corporations the size of Exxon Mobil, with $1 trillion left over. Over 100 years, he reasoned, the farmland and the corporations will produce trillions of dollars in profits and still have value, while the gold will be worth only what someone else is willing to pay.
Responded the BullionValue website: "Warren Buffett says he doesn't like gold because it doesn't do anything or go anywhere. But that is precisely the reason for Buying Gold."
According to the Daily Telegraph in London, a private British bank named Coutts said its clients include the Queen of England, who counts gold as a "key asset in investment portfolios."
"I think it is fair to say that the Queen of England knows her history," wrote Eric Harding in the International Business Times, under the headline "When the World's Wealthiest Man Says a Really Silly Thing,"
Commercials Increase Net Silver Shorts by 83% in Last 4 Weeks!
Last Friday's COT report revealed that the commercials had increased their net short position to 34,650.
Not surprisingly, the commercials increased their net short position an additional 2,660 contracts (13.3 million ounces) in the week ending 2/14, bringing their net shorts to 37,310 contracts, or 186,550,000 ounces!
In the last 4 weeks, the commercials have increased their net shorts by 83% from 101.91 million ounces to 186.55 million ounces! This means that the large commercials traders (allegedly mainly JP Morgan) have NEARLY DOUBLED THEIR NAKED SHORT SILVER POSITION IN THE LAST 4 WEEKS!
James Turk More Bullish On Silver Than Gold
GoldMoney founder sees more upside with the white metal in 2012.
James Turk is founder and chairman of GoldMoney.com, which is a European-based precious metals firm that presently safeguards $2.1 billion of precious metals assets owned by customers. Turk is a popular speaker at conferences as well as on radio and television. His latest book is “The Coming Collapse of the Dollar.” HAI Managing Editor Drew Voros caught up with Turk to discuss central bank gold buying, the debasing of the dollar and why he favors silver over gold.
Hard Assets Investor: You’ve written that once silver crosses $35 an ounce, you expect it to hit $70 in two to three months. You're attributing this to a descending wedge price pattern. Could you explain this for readers?
James Turk: I said it would hit $68 to $70. And the descending wedge pattern is really only part of the overall analysis I’m resting this forecast on. I am both a technician as well as a fundamental analyst. The technicals are very good with this pattern that’s being formed. It looks very powerful. Silver was up 19 percent in January, so it’s been a great start for the year. But the fundamentals are also very bullish, which suggests to me that silver has significant upside potential once we take out this level. It’s just a combination of demand relative to limited supply. People are exiting currencies everywhere around the world and moving into the precious metals.
Live Streaming Greek Protest
1,500 in new Greek protest on eve of Eurogroup meeting
Some 1,500 protesters gathered in central Athens on Sunday to protest deep budget cuts as the Eurozone prepared to approve a new 130 billion euro bailout.The new demonstration comes a week after violent protests were sparked when parliament passed the measures, which include a 22 percent cut in the minimum wage, while pensions of more than 1,300 euros ($1,700) a month will be slashed by 12 percent.
"Poverty and Hunger Have No Nationality," read one banner, while another, in English, read: "We Are Greeks, Merkel and Sarkozy Are Freaks," referring to the German and French leaders.One protester, taxicab owner Gregoris Militis, 52, told AFP: "People aren't taking taxis anymore except for emergencies. Everyone should take to the streets."
Greece's private and public sector unions joined forces to call Sunday's protest, rejecting what they called "unacceptable demands" set by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, saying they violate workers' rights and collective agreements.The cuts are aimed at reviving Greece's moribund economy by making Greek businesses more attractive to investors and reducing the size of the parallel economy.
Insider Documents Detail a March 23 Greek Default Plan; Gov to Freeze Bank Accounts, Eliminate Euro, Restrict Capital Flow
That a default in Europe is coming has never been the question. For the astute observer the only thing at issue is how and when it will happen. While the mainstream financial media and government officials have tried to spin this story as one that involves only Greek debt, the fact of the matter is that this isn’t isolated to a single country. Italy, Portugal, Ireland and most other European countries are in exactly the same boat.
Despite all of the propaganda and machinations from leading financial powers like the United States, Germany, and France, it’s should be clear that there is no viable solution to the debt debacle facing Europe. As such, we should understand that a situation similar to what led to the Great Depression of the 1930′s is now unfolding once again. The ability of entire nations to pay off their debt is now in question, and given the sheer size of the numbers we’re talking about, any reasonable person could agree that there is simply no plausible resolution that will make all parties whole again.
Greece’s Emerging Barter Economy
In the realm of financial calamities, never doubt the extent of man’s adaptability to changing circumstances.
In a recent Forbes column, the great free market advocate Bill Frezza makes mention of a new trend popping up in the economic sideshow known as Greece:
Ironically, the inventors of democracy may be the first to rediscover the moral foundations of money, as barter networks begin springing up across a demonetized Greece. Hundreds of them are now in operation, many in anticipation of the shock to come when Greece is inevitably forced to say goodbye to the euro. These networks are lubricating commerce just as jobs and euros in the formal economy are running dry.Members of barter clubs receive Local Alternative Units, or TEMs for their Greek acronym, in return for some product or service rendered to another member of the closed community. Fellow community members agree to redeem these TEMs in kind, and are cast out if they don’t."
Argentina: Barter Clubs
Before the Spanish conquest of the Americas, many pre-Columbian civilizations were organized economically on the basis of barter. If a family harvested a certain type of food, they traded it with another clan that had a different kind, or perhaps swapped it for lands, cattle, or garments. Today, in the midst of a dramatic economic crisis in Latin America, that wise approach has apparently revived.
In Argentina, more than 50 percent of the population is poor, and unemployment is above 40 percent. Barter clubs began to appear in 1995, but expanded enormously two years ago during a social and economic crisis, at about the same time that President Fernado de la RÂœa was ousted from power following a massive popular uprising. According to a study by Centro de Estudios Nueva Mayor'a, more than 6 million people were part of the barter economy in 2001. Barter has also encouraged many people to become small entrepreneurs, developing production systems by exploiting their best skills.
Barter Clubs are organized in "nodes" or meeting points, and participants attend once or twice a week. Members introduce their products or services and the range is large, everything from homemade food, clothes, and building or plumbing services to language or marketing classes, body massages, Web page building, or computer repair. Almost anything you can buy with money can be acquired here without spending a centavo.
In 2001, 5000 nodes were operating across the country. However, less than 1000 have survived, since the massive number of people joining the system caused an asymmetry between supply and demand
Barter 101
I wrote about this back in January, but the questions still come to me regularly, so I'll reiterate it again, with more details. "I'd better get a few small gold coins so that I can barter when the dollar fails." "I need silver coins so I can trade them for stuff when the dollar fails." Statements like that are indicative of the person's lack of faith in the dollar, and I can't blame them. The dollar is one failing, absolutely ridiculous currency, which has already lost 98% of its purchasing power of a few decades ago, and will undoubtedly continue. It will reach absolute zero as other un-backed paper monies have in 100% of history, and that's why people are afraid they'll have to barter to eat and stay alive. I understand the feelings, but I don't agree.
Basically, barter is good only between two people. "I'll trade your antique car for my antique sofa or picture." Yard sales are actually barter. "I'll give you two bucks for your toaster." "I'll trade my Krugerrand for your 1998 Ford?" Surely that is barter also. It works between two people, and works very well, Sales taxes and other taxes are avoided, naturally, and besides it is fun. "I'll give you a silver coin for three dozen eggs." If you are close to a farmer, and he doesn't need dollars, that will work also.
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2/18/2012
Posted on February 18, 2012 by WashingtonsBlog
Millions of Evangelical Christians Want to Start World War III … to Speed Up the Second Coming
Millions of Americans believe that Christ will not come again until Israel wipes out its competitors and there is widespread war in the Middle East. Some of these folks want to start a huge fire of war and death and destruction, so that Jesus comes quickly.
According to French President Chirac, Bush told him that the Iraq war was needed to bring on the apocalypse:
The Destructive Madness of Extremism: First McCarthyism, Then Radical Zionism
Deflect attention from reality, create fear, and take the “high road”. This is the way extremists operate. It has always been so.
The right-wing government leaders of the state of Israel, bolstered by their powerful US allies, are trembling with excitement at the prospect of a military attack against Iran.
Everything is in place for Iraq Redux. This time the Extremists are determined to get it right. No ground troops, just highly sophisticated bombing runs that will target nuclear targets in Iran.
The American public is being manipulated by Israel’s Zionist extremists to believe that Iran is on the verge of developing nuclear arms which will be able to “wipe Israel off the map”.
Time to choose up sides, folks: Are you with us or against us?
Republican candidates for president, congressional Republicans and conservative Democrats, with the active encouragement of the always predictable Israel Lobby, are all spoiling for a fight for “our side”.
Truth of the matter, as Paul Pillar reported in the website , The National Interest, Israel has already launched its war with Iran through stealth assassinations of Iranian scientists, who may have, or more likely, did not have, a part in developing nuclear military capability. Pillar’s source is a report by Richard Engel and Robert Windrem, developed for NBC news:
John Williams: $8,890 Gold, $517 Silver & Hyperinflation Update
John Williams, of Shadowstats, discusses some extraordinary prices for gold and silver as well as giving an update on his hyperinflation watch. Williams also says that there is no recovery in the economy and inflation is picking up steam. Here is what Williams had to say about the situation: “Hyperinflation Watch: The upside pressure on oil prices, at the moment, largely is from escalating political tensions in the Middle East, not from significant new weakness in the U.S. dollar. Risk remains high, though, of a sharp sell-off in the U.S. dollar and dumping of dollar-denominated paper assets, particularly as the euro area crises come to head and the damages are absorbed, in due course, by the global financial system.”
A (silver) bird in the hand - Eagles soaring
A history of the American Silver eagle coin and its remarkable growth as an investment hedge - a growth which will surely continue.
Author: Richard (Rick) Mills
In World War I severe material shortages played havoc with production schedules and caused lengthy delays in implementing programs. This led to development of the Harbord List - a list of 42 materials deemed critical to the military.
After World War II the United States created the National Defense Stockpile (NDS) to acquire and store critical strategic materials for national defense purposes. The Defense Logistics Agency Strategic Materials (DLA Strategic Materials) oversees operations of the NDS and their primary mission is to "protect the nation against a dangerous and costly dependence upon foreign sources of supply for critical materials in times of national emergency."
The NDS was intended for all essential civilian and military uses in times of emergencies. In 1992, Congress directed that the bulk of these stored commodities be sold. Revenues from the sales went to the Treasury General Fund and a variety of defense programs - the Foreign Military Sales program, military personnel benefits, and the buyback of broadband frequencies for military use.
When gold was undergoing its latest (and certainly not greatest) near-parabolic move last year, there were those pundits consistently calling for comparisons to 1980, and the subsequent gold crash. Yet even a simplistic analysis indicates that while in the 1980s gold was a hedge to runaway inflation, in the current deflationary regime, it is a hedge to central planner stupidity that will result as a response to runaway deflation. In other words, it is a hedge to what happens when the trillions in central bank reserves (at last check approaching 30% of world GDP).
Collections: gregory747′s Gold Coin Collection
Suitcase With $134 Billion Puts Dollar on Edge: William Pesek
It’s a plot better suited for a John Le Carre novel.
Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland. Details are maddeningly sketchy, so naturally the global rumor mill is kicking into high gear.
Are these would-be smugglers agents of Kim Jong Il stashing North Korea’s cash in a Swiss vault? Bagmen for Nigerian Internet scammers? Was the money meant for terrorists looking to buy nuclear warheads? Is Japan dumping its dollars secretly? Are the bonds real or counterfeit?
The implications of the securities being legitimate would be bigger than investors may realize. At a minimum, it would suggest that the U.S. risks losing control over its monetary supply on a massive scale.
The trillions of dollars of debt the U.S. will issue in the next couple of years needs buyers. Attracting them will require making sure that existing ones aren’t losing faith in the U.S.’s ability to control the dollar.
The dollar is, for better or worse, the core of our world economy and it’s best to keep it stable. News that’s more fitting for international spy novels than the financial pages won’t help that effort. It is incumbent upon the U.S. Treasury to get to the bottom of this tale and keep markets informed.
[UPDATE 2-17-12 1854 HST: Just produced an mp3 of Lord Blackheath's speech: http://tinyurl.com/6n8qmta (11 min., 2 MB). More information in the article below.]
“The timing of BOTH of these stories is very encouraging. FINANCIAL TYRANNY is now the defining standard of investigative journalism into this subject.
“Now that Zero Hedge has picked up our story, and pointed out our identical Chicago bond chest pictures, how much longer can the rest of the media refer to these cases without mentioning our investigation — or the Keenan lawsuit?
“Whether by synchronicity or deliberate intent from insiders, these events are causing many more people to ask questions — and when enough people begin investigating this subject, the truth will automatically prevail.”
2/17/2012
Erin Burnett: Worst of the worst
I’m finishing up a long investigative article that will be posted later this morning, but I just could not let go unnoted this commentary on The Iranian Threat by CNN’s Erin Burnett (“frightening,” she observed). I barely know what to say about it — the critiques of media fear-mongering I wrote the last two days apply in spades to this — but it really just mocks itself. It’s the sort of thing you would produce if you set out to create a mean-spirited parody of mindless, war-hungry, fear-mongering media stars, but you wouldn’t dare go this far because you’d want the parody to have a feel of realism to it, and this would be way too extreme to be believable. She really hauled it all out: WMDs! Terrorist sleeper cells in the U.S. controlled by Tehran! Iran’s long-range nuclear missiles reaching our homeland!!!! She almost made the anti-Muslim war-mongering fanatic she brought on to interview, Rep. Peter King, appear sober and reasonable by comparison.
By: emptywheel
The name of the latest FBI-produced terrorist is Amine el-Khalifi. He is 29 and from Morocco. He was arrested today outside of the Labor Department in DC.
As is usual with most of FBI’s terrorist arrests of late, the FBI provided the suspect with the weapons he would have used to attack the target–in this case, the Capitol. As is usual, this appears to be an instance where the FBI found someone talking about violence–usually online–and then cultivated that violent desire over time.
So it seems like this is a now-familiar story.
I am rather amused that this particular FBI-written story includes an inert suicide vest.
He was carrying with him a vest that he believed was packed with explosives but that actually contained harmless material, officials said.
The man thought he was being assisted by members of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, but they were really undercover FBI agents, officials said.
[snip]
“The arrest was the culmination of an undercover operation during which the suspect was closely monitored by law enforcement,” Carr said in a statement. “Explosives the suspect allegedly sought to use in connection with the plot had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement and posed no threat to the public. [my emphasis]
I find that interesting only as a matter of coincidence. After all, we just charged Majid Khan, in part of donning what appears to have been an inert suicide vest.
Back in the summer of 2009, a peculiar story circulated when two Japanese individuals were arrested trying to smuggle $134 billion in US bonds into Switzerland from Italy. The story quickly died down after it was subsequently reported that the bonds were merely fake bearer bonds. Nobody heard much about it since then. Until today, when out of the blue we get a new story which blows that one out of the water. According to Bloomberg, "Italian anti-mafia prosecutors said they seized a record $6 trillion of allegedly fake U.S. Treasury bonds, an amount that’s almost half of the U.S.’s public debt." From here the story just gets weirder: "The bonds were found hidden in makeshift compartments of three safety deposit boxes in Zurich, the prosecutors from the southern city of Potenza said in an e-mailed statement. The Italian authorities arrested eight people in connection with the probe, dubbed “Operation Vulcanica,” the prosecutors said.
Why Were The Trillions In Fake Bonds Held In Chicago Fed Crates?
While there is precious little in terms of detail coming out of the latest and literally greatest "fake" bond story in history, the BBC has been kind enough to release the pictures of the boxes that the supposedly fake bonds were contained in. While we reserve judgment on the authenticity of the bonds, what we wonder is whether the boxes were also fake. Because while we can understand why someone would counterfeit the Treasury paper itself, what we don't get is why someone would go the extra effort to also create a "fake" compartment in which to store it. In this case a compartment that is property of the "CHICAGO FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM.
Now We Have Obviously-False "News"
Italian anti-mafia prosecutors said they seized a record $6 trillion of allegedly fake U.S. Treasury bonds, an amount that’s almost half of the U.S.’s public debt.
.....
The U.S. embassy in Rome has examined the securities dated 1934, which had a nominal value of $1 billion apiece, they said in the statement. Officials for the embassy didn’t have an immediate comment.
Two problems:
- There wasn't anywhere near $6 trillion in bonds available dated in 1934.
- Any bonds dated from 1934 would have long-since matured (30 years was the longest maturity period in US history) which makes the claim even more farcical.
But it gets better.
The individuals involved were planning to buy plutonium from Nigerian sources, according to phone conversations monitored by the police.
Bull****.
Plutonium is not naturally-occurring. It is only produced by nuclear activity in a reactor -- specifically, by the bombardment of U-238 (naturally occurring) with neutrons (not naturally-occurring in the quantity required.)
Nigeria has dabbled with joining the nuclear club for power production but does not have the infrastructure to have produced what these people were allegedly going to buy, and certainly not in the quantity implied by the amount of bogus "bonds" involved.
There is an interesting tie in this story however, if you look at my previous posting on possible fraud within HSBC:
The financial fraud uncovered by the Italian prosecutors in Potenza includes two checks issued through HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA)in London for 205,000 pounds ($325,000), checks that weren’t backed by available funds, the prosecutors said.
Hmmmm.... now that is interesting.
Could we have some truth here please?
Stephen Leeb - This Will Spark the Next Leg Higher in Gold
Today acclaimed money manager Stephen Leeb told King World News that gold is ready to breakout to the upside. Leeb also said he is very concerned about a potential supply disruptions in the oil market occurring, not because of Iran but because of potential problems in Saudi Arabia. Leeb is Chairman & Chief Investment Officer of Leeb Capital Management. Here is what he had to say: “Gold is ready to go. There are any number of things that could spark the next leg higher in gold. I think the world right now is extraordinarily complacent and that complacent attitude could come to an end at any point in time. When it does, gold will begin to fly. New highs will come very, very quickly and beyond that we will be in another leg of this bull market.”
Sprott's John Embry:“The Current Financial System Will Be Totally Destroyed“
Sprott strategist John Embry has never been a fan of the existing financial system. Today, he makes that once again quite clear in this interview with Egon von Grayerz' Matterhorn Asset Management in which he says: "I think that the current financial system, as we know it, will be totally destroyed, probably sooner rather than later. The next system will require gold backing to have any legitimacy. This has happened many times in history." Needless to say, he proceeds to explain why a monetary system based on gold, one in which one, gasp, lives according to one's means, is better. Logically, he also explains why the status quo, whose insolvent welfare world has nearly a third of a quadrillion in the form of unfunded future liabilities, will never let this happen. Much more inside.
Respectfully Disagreeing With Buffett's Recent Views On Gold
After getting a sneak peek at Buffett's Annual Letter, I decided to write this essay as it is my humble opinion that Buffett has taken his view of gold to a level that is more sophism and rhetoric than factual while completely disregarding gold's historical role as a medium of exchange.
Before I continue, I just want to make it very clear that Buffett is my ultimate investment idol and I have learned a great deal from his writings and through two short encounters in Omaha. As far as practicing the fundamental principles of Benjamin Graham, there has been no better investor in the world.
It is my opinion that Buffett fully comprehends gold's historical importance but has chosen to complicate the layman's understanding of its qualities under an altruistic guise of protecting the investor from rampant speculation.
Silver Update: “Rigged Markets”
Hecla reports largest silver reserves, resources in company's history
For the sixth consecutive year, Hecla increased reserves and resources setting a new record in both categories for 2011, says Hecla CEO Phil Baker.
Author: Dorothy Kosich
Hecla Mining Thursday reported the largest silver reserves and resources in the company's history.
Silver reserves increased by 4% to 148 million ounces as of Dec. 31, 2011, while silver resources rose 13% to 281 million ounces.
The company also reported that gold resources increased by 33% to 597,600 ounces, while lead and zinc resources increased by 21% and 26%, respectively.
Hecla replaced mined silver production from 2011 and added new reserves and resources. Total silver reserves increased from 142 million ounces in 2010 to 148 million ounces in 2011, while silver resource ounces increased from 248 million in 2010 to 281 million last year.
Reserves at the Lucky Friday mine in Idaho are the highest in its 70-year history, replacing 2011 production while adding 503,700 tons containing 7 million ounces of silver. However, production at Lucky Friday has now been suspended
2/16/2012
Ted Butler: Short position in SLV has fallen substantially
CFTC: Flawed Silver Investigations and Breaking The Law
Bix Weir
Commodities Drop From Six-Month High as Greek Default Concerns Intensify
Silver market analyst Ted Butler, who long has complained that the short position in the silver exchange-traded fund SLV serves to create a huge imaginary supply of the metal, discloses today that, perhaps as a result of silver investor agitation, that short position has been substantially reduced. Butler's commentary is headlined "Fair Is Fair" and it's posted at GoldSeek's companion site, SilverSeek, here
Commodities fell from a six-month high, paced by declines in copper and crude, after European leaders delayed a decision on Greece’s bailout, boosting the dollar and eroding demand for raw materials.
The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index lost as much as 0.3 percent to 680.79 after reaching 687.80 yesterday, the highest level since Aug. 2. The gauge was at 680.84 at 1:37 p.m. in Singapore. Three-month copper fell as much as 1.6 percent to $8,233 per metric ton in London, set for the longest losing run since Nov. 10. Crude dropped as much as 0.4 percent in New York.
Concern that Greece will miss a debt payment next month grew as a decision slated for yesterday on 130 billion euros ($169 billion) of aid was postponed to Feb. 20. Ratings for global banks may be cut as lenders face risks of rising funding costs amid Europe’s debt woes, Moody’s Investors Service said.
“Europe is far off from reaching a solution,” said Dominic Schnider, global head of commodity research at UBS AG’s wealth management unit, said by phone from Singapore. “That’s the drag that we have, which will hurt demand for commodities.”
John Embry - Is Greece’s Situation Bad for Gold?
With gold and silver continuing to consolidate, today King World News interviewed John Embry, Chief Investment Strategist of the $10 billion strong Sprott Asset Management. Embry told KWN that we have seen “peak gold.” He also filled us in on what the Greek situation really means for gold: “Gold is in a bit of a stranglehold here and has been since almost the beginning of February. It sort of coincides with this whole Greek saga where they seem to have a solution every morning and by the end of the day somebody points out another flaw. I think this is extremely bullish for gold.”
Nigel Farage - Greece Descending into Total Chaos & Violence
With the situation in Greece becoming extraordinarily dangerous, today Nigel Farage told King World News that Greece is nearing a full blown revolution. He also said a former distinguished Greek Ambassador is telling him that people with assets are now buying rifles and preparing to defend their properties. Here is what Farage had to say about Greece descending into utter chaos: “I have spoken on this Greek subject repeatedly, and on the Sunday just gone it was a very dramatic day because the Parliament held a session to vote on whether they would accept the new bailout package. There were a couple of very interesting things that happened there. Before the vote took place there were 80,000 people on the streets, outside the Greek Parliament, basically attempting to storm the Parliament.”
Greece to investigate gold buying spree
China to Surpass India as Biggest Gold Market This Year, Council Predicts
China, the world’s largest consumer of energy and base metals, is set to displace India this year as the biggest gold user on an annual basis as surging incomes drive increased demand for jewelry and investments.
China to add ‘several thousand tons' of gold to reserves over next 5 years: Opel
Nick Barisheff: $10,000 Gold, A Conservative Estimate
Lost in Translation: An Important Note for Daily Reckoners
By Joel BowmanIf you're planning a vacation to the United States of America in the foreseeable future, you would do well to refrain from employing any confusing colloquialisms in your social media updates prior to departure.For Australians, that means no "cracking onto" members of the opposite sex...no getting "off one's face"...no "tearing it up"...no "little rippers" and, we would think, no "barracking" for anyone.Our Irish friends will likewise wish to steer clear of referring to anything as "the gas," from declaring intentions to "eat one's head off" and from "throwing shapes," "sucking diesel" or otherwise "effin' and blindin'."We can only imagine to what extent our English Reckoners shall have to curb their delightfully colorful lingo to ensure a stateside journey (even relatively) free of let or hindrance at the gate, though we imagine no measure of self-censorship will be sufficient to guarantee a transit experience free of at least a touch of "Ye ol' Liberty Grope."
What's all this caper then, eh? What's the apple, the score, the bleedin' apple core?
Democracy Is Destroying Your Wealth and Freedom
Although almost every democratic country suffers from bloated government, over-regulation, heavy taxation and enormous public debts, few people see a causal connection between these problems and the democratic system itself. For many, the solution to these problems is more democracy, not less.
Democracy tends to be equated by many people with prosperity, equality, fairness, togetherness and liberty. There is no evidence for any of this. Democracy rests on three main principles: you have the right to vote, you have the right to run for office, and the majority rules. That’s it. Nowhere is it written for instance that democracy guarantees the right to free speech, a right that many people link with democracy. Nor is there any reason why democracy should lead to prosperity.
In fact, the very principles of democracy give rise to processes that lead society to the opposite of freedom and prosperity.
This is what comes after the Welfare State
Hugo Salinas Price
Two years ago, I wrote an article with the title “After the Welfare State, What?”
The world is now in a deep monetary, financial and economic crisis; this is not a surprising statement as informed people are well aware of this fact. But the crisis is even more profound: it is actually a political crisis and should be even considered as a crisis of our civilization.
The fundamental problem of our time is that those who have shaped political thought as we know it today have been the heirs of the thinkers who gave rise to the French Revolution of 1789. Stated in a few words, those thinkers of two centuries ago, creatures of “The Enlightenment” – the time also called “The Age of Reason” (the title of a book by a revolutionary American who considered himself as greatly “enlightened”, Tom Paine) – those thinkers developed political theory on the basis of a very seductive premise: that society was heavily burdened with institutions for whose existence no plausible reason could be found. Therefore, they ought to be discarded out of hand. Revolution was in order.
This spelled the end of Aristocracy and Monarchy, which very shortly came to be regarded as simply parasitic institutions. Thousands of aristocrats met their end at the guillotine and the King and Queen of France followed them there.
2/15/2012
Barron - This is Financial Armaggedon, Lehman x 1,000
Today one of the legends in the gold world told King World News what we are looking at right now is “financial Armaggedon.” Keith Barron is responsible for one of the largest gold discoveries in history and consults with major gold companies around the world as well as international brokerage houses. Barron described the current situation as “Lehman times 1,000.” Here is how Barron described the financial nightmare: “Once their is a resolution to this situation in Greece, we will see a resurgence in the gold price. We will see some major moves. The only way to get out of this Greek mess right now is to bail it out with money. We don’t know who’s going to do it. They were talking with the Chinese today about getting them involved in a rescue fund.”
Gold, silver, industrial metals juniors to see major 2-year gains: Ballanger
A renewed period of growth predicted for the junior miners in the TSXV Composite Index. Is it too soon to see such a heady rebound? The Gold Report interviews Michael Ballanger.
The Gold Report: The TSX Venture Composite Index reached a bottom of around 1,300 in October after it more than tripled from 2009 to early 2011. You believe the index is poised for another two-year gain. It's an interesting theory. Why should we believe that history will more or less repeat itself so quickly?
Michael Ballanger: It's all about mathematics. However, underneath that forecast lurks a much deeper premise. I'm a member of a very small minority that believes we're now in the continuation of a massive bull market in resources. The TSX Venture Exchange has had one sharp correction since 2008. It's now resuming its uptrend. I'm also looking for a resurgence of the "manic phase" of markets. During the last manic phase in 1978-1981, the Vancouver Stock Exchange quadrupled in an 18-month period as gold went into its final ascendancy.
Fitzwilson - The Entire Planet’s Financial System is at Stake
With gold, silver and stocks on the move, today King World News interviewed 40 year veteran, Robert Fitzwilson. Fitzwilson is founder of The Portola Group, one of the premier boutique firms in the Unites States. Fitzwilson told King World News this time around, versus the 1970s, the situation is orders of magnitude worse because it’s the entire planet’s financial system that is at stake. He also believes we will eventually see panic. Here is what he had to say about what is happening: “The system is structured for chaos. The average holding period on stocks, in mutual funds, has dropped from ten years to two months. People have become speculators, but they just need to get back to investing.”
“We have two American flags always: one for the rich and one for the poor. When the rich fly it means that things are under control; when the poor fly it means danger, revolution, anarchy.”- Henry Miller
With each passing week it seems this country spirals further into the depths of a frightening dystopian fantasy reminiscent of Huxley and Orwell’s dark world of isolation, fear and government brutality portrayed in their masterpieces Brave New World and 1984. I keep speculating whether it’s me that’s crazy and not the things I’m witnessing on a daily basis. The President signs the National Defense Authorization Act, passed by an overwhelming majority of Congress, which allows the government to imprison American citizens indefinitely without charge. And there is barely a squeak from the docile masses as they are soothed by Obama promising to never use that part of the law. I bet you $10,000 a President will invoke that portion of the NDAA in the very near future.
Who Will The Israelis (Or Their Proxies) Attack During Purim?
by Keith Johnson
Based on a fable from the Old Testament Book of Esther, the Jewish holiday of Purim celebrates the slaughter of 750,000 Persians and the hanging of Persian Prime Minister Hamam and his ten sons.
Purim is perhaps the only religious holiday that celebrates death, destruction, and pagan decadence. It is more akin to Halloween than Christmas–where rowdy party animals dress like Gene Simmons from Kiss, drink like Charles Bukowski, and wander through town looking for trouble like soccer hooligans whose team just won (or lost) an important match.
For more on this violent holiday, and its significance to Zionism,
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Jim Sinclair - CB’s Trying to Keep Gold from Rising Violently
Today legendary trader and investor Jim Sinclair told King World News that central banks are trying to keep the price of gold from rising violently. Sinclair also believes we are entering a period where currencies will lose their ability to function as money and instead will act more like casino chips, while gold ascends. Here is what Sinclair had to say about the ongoing financial crisis: “What needs to be understood by our listeners, Eric, is when a haircut takes place, what you give with one hand, you take with another. Now the problem becomes the problem of a bank’s asset having been reduced and the bank’s ability to function reduced and the bank’s abilities to positively pass tests of liquidity have been reduced. And the psychology of the stability of a system has been reduced.”
Richard Russell - A Bitter Pill to Swallow, Austerity or Inflation
With investors globally wondering what central planners are up to next and how it will impact gold, today the Godfather of newsletter writers, Richard Russell, was discussing this very subject: “A few months ago I wrote a piece about avoiding pain in the economy. How do we do it? We do it by turning away from austerity and embracing inflation. And the question -- will the inflationary method of avoiding economic pain kill our economy, just as the drug (taking drugs) way of avoiding pain has killed so many talented musicians? I think the results will be the same.”
The politics of central bank gold holdings
Most nations hold their gold in the central bank vaults of the world's major financial centres, but there are dangers in such a policy as some countries are beginning to recognise.
Author: Julian Phillips
Most central banks hold their nation's gold in the world's leading financial centres' central bank vaults. These include New York, London, and Canada among others. In a peaceful, cooperative world, this is sensible as one of the prime purposes of central banks holding gold is to cover the nation's international trade payments when their own currency becomes unacceptable and their reserves of foreign exchange are depleted. By positioning the gold outside the country, it's instantly accessible for payments or guarantees of payments.
DANGERS OF A NATION HOLDING GOLD IN ANOTHER NATION'S CENTRAL BANK
In the last week we have heard the announcement that Iran has (according to them) 907 tonnes of gold. The developed world has just outlawed Iran dealing in gold and silver (there are other places, where if they wished to do so they will be able to trade). With their gold inside Iran, it is outside the reach of the developed world though. If they had held their gold in the world's main, developed world vaults that would have been frozen along with Iran's other overseas assets. We may not agree with Iran's politics and attitudes, but there is a lesson to be learned here.
By Pete Papaherakles
Could gaining control of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran (CBI) be one of the main reasons that Iran is being targeted by Western and Israeli powers? As tensions are building up for an unthinkable war with Iran, it is worth exploring Iran’s banking system compared to its U.S., British and Israeli counterparts.
Some researchers are pointing out that Iran is one of only three countries left in the world whose central bank is not under Rothschild control. Before 9-11 there were reportedly seven: Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Cuba, North Korea and Iran. By 2003, however, Afghanistan and Iraq were swallowed up by the Rothschild octopus, and by 2011 Sudan and Libya were also gone. In Libya, a Rothschild bank was established in Benghazi while the country was still at war.
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There is a long history of gold ownership in China. Gold's centuries-old popularity in the country for jewelry, payments and dowry gifts ended in 1949 when the Communist Party took power. The metal was declared to be a bourgeois symbol and gold mines became state owned.
Gold prices were set by the state until 2002 when the Shanghai Gold Exchange opened and domestic prices began tracking international prices more closely. So for more than 50 years, the government controlled China's gold market and set prices. But now, the precious metal has reemerged as a popular hedge among ordinary citizens against inflation and currency movements.
China is already the world's largest gold mining country. Now it is on the cusp of surpassing India as the world's biggest gold importing nation too. Just look at the figures from 2011.
Is Warren Buffett right? Gold has a history of humbling very smart people
Maybe Warren Buffett is wrong in his distrust of gold as an investment even though he is one of the most successful investors ever, but lack of trust in governments may continue to keep the gold price rolling.
It takes a brave man to suggest that Warren Buffett has missed a point. After all, unless you are Carlos Slim or Bill Gates, a comparison of his bank balance and yours will show that he caught quite a few that you and I only saw when it was far too late.
However, as Mr. B rails against gold (see Why Warren Buffett still doesn't like investing in gold) it's tempting to think that he just might have it wrong when it comes to the oldest haven of all. He mounts all the attacks that exasperated non-gold-bugs often go for: the stuff has no inherent value, it underperforms stocks horribly over time and has merely become a self-inflating bubble in its long climb to record highs.
Perhaps he's right, but, in its enduring relationship with mankind, the yellow metal has a history of humbling very smart people....
Jim Grant On Gold-Backed Bonds And 'The Hope Leeches'
James Grant, of Grant's Interest Rate Observer makes some thought-provoking statements in his must-listen Bloomberg Radio interview with Tom Keene today. While noting America's exceptionalism (h/t Clint Eastwood?), he perhaps doesn't mean all Americans as he takes the Fed and Treasury to task over their actions in recent years (and in fact for decades). His long-held view that rates should be higher and follow generational cycles raises concerns for him that government intervention is in fact 'prolonging the symptoms' of the recession. In considering Tom Keene's well-thought-out question of why the US does not take advantage of low rates and issue exceptionally long-dated bonds, Grant agrees with the odd premise that they do not but then goes on to what would be sounder policy. "Why not issue bonds backed by gold bullion? Gold is a better money and is grounded in something besides the power of the people that print the dollar bills."
