Statement on the Fed's Continued Euro Bailout

http://paul.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1931:statement-on-the-feds-continued-euro-bailout&catid=16:speeches&Itemid=1

Central Banks Take Joint Action to Ease Debt Crisis

This is why anyone short gold has lost and will continue to lose. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/business/central-banks-move-together-to-ease-debt-crisis.html?_r=1&emc=na

Is It Finally Japan's Turn?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/it-finally-japans-turn

Ron Paul Explains His Plan For "Monetary Freedom" And Returning To The Gold Standard

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/ron-paul-explains-his-plan-monetary-freedom-and-returning-gold-standard

American Airlines Files For Bankruptcy

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/american-airlines-files-bankruptcy

Pimco's 4 "Iran Invasion" Oil Price Scenarios: From $140 To "Doomsday"

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/pimcos-4-iran-invasion-oil-price-scenarios-140-doomsday

It's Official: Obama Is Now The Worst American President As His Approval Rating Plunges Far Below Carter's

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/its-official-obama-now-worst-american-president-his-approval-rating-plunges-far-below-carters

Banking System Rotten to the Core

http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/william-black/2011/11/25/banking-system-rotten-to-the-core

How Paulson Gave Hedge Funds Advance Word

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-29/how-henry-paulson-gave-hedge-funds-advance-word-of-2008-fannie-mae-rescue.html

Prepare for riots in euro collapse, Foreign Office warns

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8917077/Prepare-for-riots-in-euro-collapse-Foreign-Office-warns.html

Crowds greet Venezuela's gold as it begins trickling home

http://www.gata.org/node/10706

The Roads To War And Economic Collapse

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/24/the-roads-to-war-and-economic-collapse/

Michael Pento - Failed German Auction Will Force ECB to Print

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/11/24_Michael_Pento_-_Failed_German_Auction_Will_Force_ECB_to_Print.html

Gold GBP 1,092/oz, JPY 130,890/oz – IMF: Japan Debt Could "Quickly Become Unsustainable"

I've been pounding the table for years:  the finances of the Euro zone may be terrible, but they are equally bad, if not worse in Japan, the UK, and the US.

History often repeats itself:  first, there are currency wars, then trade wars, and then, military conflicts. 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/gold-gbp-1092oz-jpy-130890oz-%E2%80%93-imf-japan-debt-could-quickly-become-unsustainable

Pictures From A Latvian Bank Run As MF Global Commingling Comes To Town

This is what a run on a bank looks like.  Please don't underestimate the impact MF Global's bankruptcy and theft of client funds on crowd psychology.  At 99 Celsius, water may be hot, but it's below its boiling point.  However, at 100 Celsius, things boil over rapidly. 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/pictures-latvian-bank-run-mf-global-commingling-comes-town

Aircraft Carrier CVN-77 Parks Next Door To Syria Just As US Urges Americans To Leave Country "Immediately"

Next target:  Syria. 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/aircraft-carrier-cvn-77-parks-next-door-syria-just-us-urges-americans-leave-country-immediately

Germany Sells 150,000 Troy Ounces Of Gold In October... But Not Why You Think

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/germany-sells-150000-troy-ounces-gold-october-not-why-you-think

Thanksgiving Tally: Lunatics And Hacks Win As Gold Up 19.3% YTD; S&P Down 7.5%

I guess I'd rather be a lunatic and a hack--than to be wrong and lose money.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/thanksgiving-tally-lunatics-and-hacks-win-gold-193-ytd-sp-down-75

Jim Rickards - Who Will Bail Out the Fed & How High for Gold?

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/11/23_Jim_Rickards_-_Who_Will_Bail_Out_the_Fed_%26_How_High_for_Gold.html

China media says US sitting on debt 'bomb'

The world's largest creditor just explicitly retaliated against accusations of currency manipulation by blasting the world's largest debtor for being reckless with their borrowing addiction.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j3hTnc-GI6BmAZ_Wv9Sjg9BDN5OQ?docId=CNG.c535a6f06c8d6e3f2980af24780006e3.3b1

News reporter shows middle finger live on tv

Can anybody translate this telecast? What does the middle finger mean in Russian?


http://youtu.be/rhESdfIlAO8

Russia says new U.S. sanctions on Iran unacceptable

Iran supplies oil to Russia and China.  Any sanctions against Iran by the US, UK, and Canada will not be viewed in a good light.  And if military aggression is invoked on Iran by the US and/or Israel, don't expect Russia and China to stand idly by.  They need their energy. 

http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/11/22/idINIndia-60659320111122

Debt Sustainability: Which Countries Are Beyond the Point of Return and Why

http://youtu.be/-quUyId2WZ0

MF Global Trustee Says Commingling Shortfall May Be Double Previous Estimate, Could Reach "$1.2 Billion Or More"

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/mf-global-trustee-says-commingling-shortfall-may-be-double-previous-estimate-could-reach-12-bil

Ron Paul: Flawed policies helped lead to 9/11

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57328328/ron-paul-flawed-policies-helped-lead-to-9-11/?tag=exclsv

The Run On Europe Begins As Global Investors Head For The Hills...

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-run-on-europe-begins-as-global-investors-head-for-the-hills-2011-11

Supercommittee Unlikely to Reach Deficit Deal

What's the over/under on the next US Treasury debt downgrade?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-19/debt-supercommittee-moves-further-apart-as-negotiations-enter-homestretch.html#

Jim Rickards audio interview

Must-hear interview with Jim Rickards.  Buy his book "Currency Wars." 

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2011/11/19_Jim_Rickards_files/Jim%20Rickards%2011%3A19%3A2011.mp3

Money Talks: James G. Rickards

http://theoccupiedtimes.co.uk/?p=827

VP Biden says he called Jon Corzine for advice

This crook, Jon Corzine, former CEO of bankrupt MF Global, former Governor and US Senator of New Jersey, former Goldman Sachs executive, and yes, due to be appointed by President Obama to be Treasury Secretary in 2013 (after all, he served in the Treasury under Clinton), is being investigated by the FBI for stealing $600 million of client funds right before MF Global's collapse.  Hey, if you're going to steal, do it big.

Do you think this is an isolated incident of the rich stealing from the rich?  Think again.  This is the first domino in a cascade of segregated client accounts being stolen from--with no recourse for the victims.  Visualize putting money down to purchase a home in an escrow account.  That money is safe, separated from the firm's own money.  Even if the broker somehow went broke, your money is still safe due to the separation.  It's the central tenet of our global banking system, the foundation of our trust in firms handling our money.

Apparently, that faith and trust is now broken, because if you believe your money in your bank account is safe from legalized theft, think again.  150,000 clients had their accounts zeroed out at MF Global:  clients including large pension funds, as well as individuals like you and me.   Gone.  Zilch.  Nada.

What was their crime?  They believed their funds inside MF Global were safe--safe from outsized illegal gambling by the custodian bank, safe from fraud, and safe from outright theft.  Because, after all, the regulatory agencies would monitor the bank, and even in the event of a cataclysmic collapse, would backstop and honor their deposits, right?  Wrong.

Jon Corzine just happened to be one of President Obama's biggest campaign fundraisers.  Which apparently makes it okay for him to steal $600 million dollars from clients right before his firm collapsed.

America, we allowed this happen to us.  We deserve everything we're about to get:  a $hit $andwich.


http://youtu.be/xm3VMrKqJSA

The Difference Between the U.S. Constitution and EU Constitution (Lisbon Treaty) - Dan Hannan

http://youtu.be/dS6hQQ2pyco

Blast From The Past: Kyle Bass Was Right About Everything... Again

Note when this letter from Kyle Bass was written:  May 11, 2010.  That's right:  it was in 2010 after the first Greek bailout, not 2011.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/blast-past-kyle-bass-was-right-about-everything-again

Jim Rickards - Gold Pullback Meaningless, It’s Headed Higher

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/11/18_Jim_Rickards_-_Gold_Pullback_Meaningless%2C_Its_Headed_Higher.html

More On Legal Stealing - The Infamous CFTC Rule 1.29

I don't think most people grasp the significance of how the bankruptcy of MF Global went down.  The sanctity of segregated client accounts is the foundation of our financial industry.  Trust and confidence in the safety of client funds in custodial accounts is a basic principle in our global banking system--even in the event said custodian goes bankrupt.  This author suggests the $600 million missing from client accounts was accosted by JPMorgan before they found out MF Global was about to collapse.

Why is this important?  Because if clients can no longer trust their banks for safekeeping of their funds, there will be a massive liquidation of accounts, causing a run on banks.  The mattress will be considered safer than the bank. 

http://truthingold.blogspot.com/2011/11/more-on-legal-stealing-infamous-cftc.html

Wells Fargo Says 80 May Be the New 65 for Retirees

This is how you solve the Social Security Ponzi scheme.  You don't pay out any benefits until after the person dies.  Which means of course, you don't have to pay them at all.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-16/wells-fargo-survey-says-80-may-be-the-new-65-for-retirement-age.html

Paul Brodsky - Gold Trading at 80% Discount to Intrinsic Value

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/11/17_Paul_Brodsky_-_Gold_Trading_at_80_Discount_to_Intrinsic_Value.html

Gerald Celente - MF Global...What about Gold ETF GLD & HSBC?

The emperor behind the curtain has no clothes.  The level of institutional theft is no longer shrouded  in secrecy.  You know the system is about to collapse when the perps don't even hide their nefarious actions anymore.

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/11/17_Gerald_Celente_-_MF_Global...What_about_Gold_ETF_GLD_%26_HSBC.html

"The Entire System Has Been Utterly Destroyed By The MF Global Collapse" - Presenting The First MF Global Casualty

Corzine allegedly stole hundreds of millions of client funds before his firm collapsed.  The FBI is investigating this "commingling" case, but we all know how this ends.  He was one of Obama's biggest fundraisers for his campaigns.  He was the former governor of New Jersey, a former US Senate, served in the US Treasury under Clinton, and co-authored the controversial Sarbane-Oxley in the aftermath of the Enron scandal.  And oh by the way, he was also a Goldman Sachs partner.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/entire-system-has-been-utterly-destroyed-mf-global-collapse-presenting-first-mf-global-casualty

Farage: What gives you the right to dictate to the Italian people?

http://youtu.be/bdob6QRLRJU

Central banks said to be buying the dips in gold

http://www.gata.org/node/10681

Percentage of Gold Holdings in a Typical Pension Fund is Minimal

Here's another bullish chart on gold which needs no further explanation.

Gold as a Percent of Global Financial Assets

This is why gold bugs are forecasting the price of gold will soar above $10,000/troy ounce.

Click on image to enlarge.

Michael Pento on Full-Blown Bond Market Crisis in 2012 & Gold

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/11/17_Michael_Pento_on_Full-Blown_Bond_Market_Crisis_in_2012_%26_Gold.html

Part 8 - The Gold Rush Currency Wars

http://youtu.be/PIUctQ8Wy4Q

Those damn short sellers....

The title suggests hedgers like Kyle Bass are the culprits who caused the financial crisis.  It's actually the "profligate idiots" he's betting against who are to blame.


http://youtu.be/K-F_QF1XTXI

"Buying gold is just buying a put against the idiocy of the political cycle. It's That Simple"

Fed Now Largest Owner of U.S. Gov’t Debt—Surpassing China

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/fed-now-largest-owner-us-gov-t-debt-surpassing-china

It’s All About Gold Now

http://usawatchdog.com/it%E2%80%99s-all-about-gold-now/#more-6278

Gerald Celente hammers MF Global's "MF'ers" on Capital Account (11/14/11)

http://youtu.be/W02n-wjPqNE

Trump’s Panama Ocean Club Misses Bond Amortization Payment

Another Trump property defaults on a bond interest payment.  You'd think suckers--er, investors would have learned by now. 

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-16/trump-s-panama-ocean-club-misses-bond-amortization-payment.html

The Future of Work

http://www.chrismartenson.com/blog/future-work/64944

Analyst: Calif. Budget Gap Could Shorten School Year By One Week

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/11/16/analyst-calif-budget-gap-could-shorten-school-year-by-one-week/

Keynote Speech At Sydney Gold Symposium 14-15 November 2011 By Alf Field

http://www.jsmineset.com/2011/11/14/keynote-speech-at-sydney-gold-symposium-14-15-november-2011-by-alf-field/

The Moses Principle recognizes the fact that over any 40 year period, a generational change takes place.

What has this got to do with gold? Recently we passed the 40th anniversary of 15 August 1971, the date when the last link between currencies and gold was ended by President Nixon. This launched an era of floating “I owe you nothing” currencies. Money was what any government deemed it to be, generally something that the government could create in unlimited quantities. That system, plus the fractional reserve banking system, launched an era of ever increasing debt and credit. It was an era where debt was desirable and money lost its purchasing power.

Everyone in this room has spent their adult lives living under this system. Most have had no exposure to monetary history or what money really is. The new “Moses” generation will have to re-learn the lessons of monetary history before the world can enter a new era of sound money and stable economic growth.

THE BRUTAL TRUTHS

1. The slate needs to be wiped clean and a new sound monetary system introduced.
2. That will require the elimination of all debt, deficits, unfunded social entitlements, the US Dollar as Reserve currency, and the big one, the $600 trillion of derivatives.
3. To eliminate these problems by default and deflation will cause a banking collapse and untold economic pain, leading to riots and political change.
4. Politicians are appointed for relatively short terms and opt for the easy solutions.
5. While politicians continue to have the ability to create new money at will, they will do so in order to prevent a melt down on their watch.
6. Consequently the odds point to governments wiping the slate clean by generating enough new money to eventually destroy their currencies.
7. The new international monetary system is likely to involve precious metals. It will have to be money that people trust and that governments cannot create at will.

Middle-class areas shrink as America divides into 'two-tiered society' of rich and poor

Thanks to Biff for finding this article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45319319/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/

Debt crisis: live

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8846201/Debt-crisis-live.html

14.00 An ECB member tells it like it is...

Governing Council member Yves Mersch has said that monetizing government debts "is tantamount to inflation" and "not feasible".

To use inflation to lower the fiscal burden "would reduce incentives for governments" to tackle their debt burdens and "would raise the risks of even higher future inflation and greater output volatility.

Uncontrollable wage-price spirals would be likely," Mersch said in a speech in Frankfurt.

He added that you cannot make the ECB as a "lender of last resort for governments" and that governments must live up to own responsibilities.

JP Morgan To Revive RTC-Style Commercial Mortgage Securities

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20111115-714696.html

For those who can't read the article (requires subscription), here is the first sentence: 

 J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) next year plans to issue the first U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities supported by defaulted loans since the 1990s as it revives a practice that regulators used to extricate the nation from the savings-and-loan crisis.

"Defaulted loan pool securitizations are probably going to be one of the bright spots in CMBS for 2012," Schwarz said.

I wish I was making this $hit up.

The key take-away: nuclear energy ain't going away.  Uranium share prices have been decimated, exacerbated by the Fukushima disaster.  Me thinks that presents a buying opportunity.

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/IEA-Report-Calls-for-Governments-to-Embrace-Nuclear-Power.html

See disclaimers in the side bar.

Disclosure:  long select uranium shares.

'Only massive debt restructuring can save EU'

Sure, the preface to this video mentions Kyle Bass profited by betting on the subprime mortgage and Greek sovereign debt crises materializing, but what it doesn't mention is that Bass has also been long gold in preparation for these crises.  Go ahead and do a search in this blog, and read about his previous insightful commentaries.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/9639507.stm

European Debt Crisis Threatens the Dollar

http://paul.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1927:european-debt-crisis-threatens-the-dollar&catid=62:texas-straight-talk&Itemid=1&Itemid=69

Jim Rickards podcast interview

Must-hear interview with Jim Rickards.   I also bought his new best-seller, "Currency Wars."

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2011/11/12_Jim_Rickards_files/Jim%20Rickards%2011%3A12%3A2011.mp3

Martin Armstrong - Gold Upside Take Off Only Months Away

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/11/14_Martin_Armstrong_-_Gold_Upside_Take_Off_Only_Months_Away.html

“The politicians are not really willing to address the issues.  The real issue is the debt crisis and the politicians are hoping that everybody’s going to forget and they can get back to business as usual.  What this is really about is it’s the entire Western civilization that’s starting to crumble.”

Everything is falling apart and the politicians will not address it because it means having to change the system and that’s what they do not want to do.  The real big money that I speak to, they are really starting to look beyond Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal.  They are starting to look at France and Germany.

“There is no plan B.  I can tell you, I was speaking to people in Congress who asked the Fed directly, ‘Do you have plan B if Europe falls apart?’  And the answer was, ‘We don’t think that’s going to happen, so, no, we don’t have plan B.’

On the US side, the talk is, ‘Let’s tax the rich and cut some social programs.  You can cut all of the social programs completely and you can take all of the money you want from the rich, but you still have to pay and service the debt.  And right now almost 70% of the entire national debt is interest.  

The way it’s going, eventually 100% of everything the government spends will go to interest and then how is it going to function?  This is a classic, historical moment.  I don’t want to get people scared because I don’t think we will get to that point, but this is like the fall of Rome.  That’s how serious things are.

They have borrowed year after year with no intention of paying it back.  The US had $1 trillion of debt when Ronald Reagan took office in 1980.  We are now pressing $15 trillion of debt.”

When asked about gold, Armstrong responded, “Basically what you are doing is you are building a sideways type of base.  Eventually gold is going to take off to the upside, but largely when people begin to see the Emperor has no clothes and we’re getting close to that.  I would only give it a few more months.”

Lawrence Summers: To fix the economy, fix the housing market

This is a re-post of why this country's economy and why the global banking system will collapse.  With leadership like this, who needs enemies? 

http://blogs.reuters.com/lawrencesummers/2011/10/24/to-fix-the-economy-fix-the-housing-market/

The central irony of financial crisis is that while it is caused by too much confidence, too much borrowing and lending and too much spending, it can only be resolved with more confidence, more borrowing and lending, and more spending.

Goldman: "Stay Long Gold"

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/goldman-stay-long-gold

Main China Daily Xinhua Pens Epic Anti-US Tirade, Bashes America As Source Of All Global Financial Ills

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/xinhua-pens-epic-anti-us-tirade-bashes-america-source-all-global-financial-ills

Will China Label USA A Currency Manipulator?

Despite cage-rattling rhetoric from US politicians accusing the Chinese of currency manipulation, I've always posited it is the US government that is the world biggest currency manipulator, with the Fed and US Treasury acting as complicit agents.  The Chinese merely peg the yuan to the dollar, which is being mercilessly debased by the US.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/will-china-label-usa-currency-manipulator

Death-ficits

http://usawatchdog.com/european-debt-crisis-deathficits/

Tax receipts are plunging while government spending is soaring, and that is causing the U.S. annual deficit to explode.  According to the government, the 2011 budget deficit came in at nearly $1.3 trillion, but the true deficit, according to economist John Williams of Shadowstats.com, was much higher.  In his latest report, Williams says, “. . . the 2011 GAAP-based U.S. deficit likely fell in the $5-trillion to $7-trillion range, a circumstance that is beyond control and appears to be uncontainable in the current political circumstance.  With the economy in ongoing crisis, with no prospect of a turnaround in the foreseeable future, the implications for the federal budget deficit, U.S. Treasury funding needs and prospective banking-system stability, in the year and years ahead, are horrendous.  The current, relatively happy forecasts for each of those areas are based on assumptions of solid economic growth going forward.  That growth simply will not be forthcoming.”

“The sovereign solvency crisis in the United States easily could move to the center of global financial-market attention in the weeks ahead, depending on how the federal deficit reduction negotiations evolve.   The systemic solvency crisis that continues to unfold in the U.S. is of a relative magnitude that eclipses the rolling financial crises in the euro area.”

China’s Dagong May Cut U.S. Credit Rating Again If It Adopts QE3 Program

Another step toward banana republic status is in the cards. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-12/china-s-dagong-may-cut-u-s-credit-rating-again-if-it-adopts-qe3-program.html

Gold traders most bullish since 2004 on debt crisis

This actually worries me a bit that the big money is bullish on gold.  Even the big money gets it wrong sometimes.  Here's the normal sequence of bubbles:

1) the smart money buys the most despised asset nobody wants--usually at bottoms,
2) the big money moves in, driving prices up, setting up the masses for the slaughterhouse,
3) the dumb money drives prices further into the stratosphere.  This is the manic phase of the bubble.
4) when the bubble collapses, the dumb money is left holding the bag.  The dumb money always gets in last--at price peaks.  Don't be a bag holder.

But if this is house money (i.e., you're up big already), enjoy the ride (i.e. this decade-long secular bull market).  And if it dips in a big way, back up the truck, and accumulate.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-11-12/news/30391300_1_gold-traders-gold-survey-history-gold

See disclaimers in the side bar.

Disclosure:  long precious metals.

Jim Rickards - The US Won’t Give Germany its Gold

I have corresponded with Jim Rickards often in the last few years, as long-time readers of this blog can attest.  I also pre-ordered his new book, "Currency Wars."  Read his resume and you'll see he has institutional credibility, but more importantly, keen insight into geopolitical matters, capital markets, and possesses plain ol' horse sense.

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/11/11_Jim_Rickards_-_The_US_Wont_Give_Germany_its_Gold.html

Turd Ferguson: The Inexorable March Higher For Precious Metals

http://www.chrismartenson.com/blog/turd-ferguson/64761

CNN Defends the Fed – Calls Ron Paul Economically Illiterate

http://lewrockwell.com/rep2/cnn-defends-the-fed.html

IMF Warns Developed World May Fall Back Into Recession

Uuummm, we've been in a recession--for four years--and never emerged from it.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/imf-warns-developed-world-may-fall-back-recession

$99 Oil For 11/11/11

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/99-oil-111111

Ron Paul on gold and the USDollar

When asked how high the gold price would go and why, he [Ron Paul] responded:


“well, the question is how much lower is the dollar going to go in purchasing power? and i said to infinity unless we change our ways. because if you look at the gold/dollar in 1913 when the fed started, we've lost about 98% of its value. so if we continue to do what we're doing, it could go to infinity. it's the best measurement of the value of the currency. there's no advantage to anybody to have a weak currency. the gold tells us that we have a weakening dollar and a weakening currency, but the whole world does, so it's hard to sort out. so it's going to go up a lot more, which is virtually saying the dollar has a long way to go down on purchasing power. that's why the middle class gets wiped out and that is why the standard of living is going. down for the people, they already know it, and that's why there's people very unhappy in this country and they'd like to blame a few people. for all of the problems rather than looking at the philosophy of government, the monetary system, and the spending. because that's where you can find the answers to our problems.”

Crony Capitalism, Christmas Trees, and the Stupidest Tax of All Time

http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=JimsBlog&ContentRecord_id=1b5c048c-3715-44a4-9267-1a547661b9a4

Sovereign Debt is Everybody’s Problem

http://usawatchdog.com/european-sovereign-debt-crisis/

Michael Pento - Fed Members Think QE3 Absolutely Necessary

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/11/9_Michael_Pento_-_Fed_Members_Think_QE3_Absolutely_Necessary.html

“Gold has for thousands of years been a wonderful store of wealth or you can own a Treasury or a sovereign note from an insolvent nation.  Let’s just take the case of the US ten year Treasury which is yielding 2%.  The government’s own figures show that inflation is running at 3.9%.  So you are losing 1.9%, at a bare minimum, of your purchasing power by holding a ten year note.  Real yields are negative.

So what’s happening now is that people are being forced to own gold as true and honest alternative currency, so they can keep pace with inflation.  You can’t even own the ‘safest‘ of all assets, sovereign debt, because you know if you own any of them you are going to lose money through inflation.”  

Nigel Farage - Where is Europe’s Gold?

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/11/8_Nigel_Farage_-_Where_is_Europes_Gold.html

China’s gold imports jump sixfold

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2dca01d8-093d-11e1-a20c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1dCmNUUDs

U.S. Approaches $15 Trillion Debt Limit

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/u-s-approaches-15-trillion-debt-limit/

Deutsche Bank on Europe: 'It's Not Inconceivable That We Could Be In Full Crisis Mode By The End Of This Week'

http://www.businessinsider.com/deutsche-bank-europe-could-be-in-full-crisis-mode-by-the-end-of-this-week-2011-11#ixzz1d8zFnE2I

Welcome to the Third World, Part 3: Disappearing Pensions

http://dollarcollapse.com/the-economy/welcome-to-the-third-world-part-3-disappearing-pensions/

Half of US Mortgages Are Effectively Underwater

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45209336

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?play=1&video=3000056102

The bankruptcy of the western world

By Giancarlo.

Helga is the proprietor of a bar. She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later. Helga keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers’ loans).

Word gets around about Helga’s "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Helga’s bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in town.

By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Helga gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages.

Consequently, Helga’s gross sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Helga’s borrowing limit.

He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral!!!

At the bank’s corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS.

These "securities" then are bundled and traded on international securities markets.

Naive investors don’t really understand that the securities being sold to them as "AA"

"Secured Bonds" really are debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb!!!, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation’s leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices still are climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Helga’s bar. He so informs Helga. Helga then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts.

Since Helga cannot fulfil her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and Helga’s 11 employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBOND prices drop by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank’s liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.

The suppliers of Helga’s bar had granted her generous payment extensions 
and had invested their firms’ pension funds in the BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds.

Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers. Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multibillion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from the government.

The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Helga’s bar.

Now do you understand?

Michael Pento - Central Banks Sending Clear Buy Signal on Gold

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/11/7_Michael_Pento_-_Central_Banks_Sending_Clear_Buy_Signal_on_Gold.html

Whistleblower Maguire - Silver Manipulation Still Ongoing

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/11/5_Whistleblower_Maguire_-_Silver_Manipulation_Still_Ongoing.html

Bart Chilton - There is Manipulation in the Silver Market

To the naysaying shills emanating from government agencies, here's one of your own saying there is illegal price manipulation in the silver markets.  And by the way, screw those who dismissed this as a conspiracy theory.  They deserve everything they're getting.

Bart Chilton is calling out his own agency for their inaction.  I would expand it further and state some of members of the regulatory agency are getting paid to look the other way on a crime in progress.  Chilton is a CFTC Commissioner, an agency whose charter is to regulate the commodities markets.  He is no conspiracy theorist, nut-job, bat-$hit crazy blogger.  And he's doing his job, unlike some of his counterparts who protect their constituents--the crooked bullion banks. 

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/11/4_Bart_Chilton_-_There_is_Manipulation_in_the_Silver_Market.html

Denial, Delusion and MSM Disinformation

http://usawatchdog.com/denial-delusion-and-msm-disinformation/

After the last financial meltdown, people in the MSM sat around and said, “Nobody saw this coming.”  I wonder what their excuse will be the next time.

That's what all the experts said.  The problem is the blogosphere saw it coming--but nobody listened.  And yes, the next financial crisis will be worse--much worse than in 2008, as the debt problems are now sovereign in nature, not just too-big-to-fail banks (which by the way, have gotten bigger since the crisis).

And I would also digress from the conclusion that "nobody saw the financial meltdown coming,"  A soaring gold price indicates that SOMEBODY or SOMEBODIES not only see it coming, they are betting on it.

German Gold Reserves ‘Untouchable’ for EFSF, Roesler Says

Here's to all my detractors who believe gold is worthless and a barbaric relic.  If it is worthless, why does every sovereign government spare no expense to protect their reserves?  It is the anti-gold crowd who has injured people who were unfortunate to have listened to them.  You're the a$$hole, not me.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-07/german-gold-reserves-untouchable-for-efsf-roesler-says.html

And You Thought the Real Estate Bust Was Over

http://dollarcollapse.com/the-economy/and-you-thought-the-real-estate-bust-was-over/

Central Banks Quietly Accumulating Gold - Declared Purchases of 206 Tons Through September 2011

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/central-banks-quietly-accumulating-gold-declared-purchases-206-tons-through-september-2011

Here's the thing:  official gold holdings are probably overstated.  The recent gold purchase by the Mexican government may be nothing more than a bookkeeping entry.  Are the gold bullion bars actually stored in HSBC vaults in London or New York--or is it merely a paper claim?  Even if the physical bullion exists, is it unencumbered?  Or are there other claims against said gold inventory?  Where are the official audits, complete with serial numbers?

None of these questions have been answered by central banks and the custodian banks.

Gold trading has historically been opaque.  We do know that for troy ounce of physical gold, there are 100 claims against it.  In other words, 99 out of 100 people who believe they own the physical gold, actually do not.  When the market comes to this realization, there will be a mad dash into the physical, while the paper and futures markets will collapse from the default.  Bullion banks selling inventory that doesn't exist will not end well.

US Needs To Generate 262,500 Jobs Monthly To Return To Pre-Depression Employment By End Of Obama Second Term

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/us-needs-generate-262500-jobs-monthly-return-pre-depression-employment-end-obama-second-term

Gold: The hedge against political stupidity

http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/03/markets/thebuzz/index.htm?iid=HP_LN 

One correction in the article:  GLD is the ETF that attempts to track the price of spot gold (and allegedly is partially backed by physical gold bullion).  GDX is the ETF that is an index of gold mining company shares.  The article mistakenly says this about influential hedge fund manager David Einhorn:

He said his firm has shifted some money into the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GLD), adding that he expected gold prices to continue to rise.

That can't be true.  He either bought GLD or GDX, which is the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF.  See http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=gdx&ql=1

So take it from me--your trusted source about everything related to precious metals.  Even the "experts" can get it wrong.

Because Central Banks Just Aren't Enough: G-20 Will Ask IMF To Print Reserve Currency

As predicted years ago, the IMF is now being asked to print Special Drawing Rights in order to save the Euro zone from implosion.  The global financial system has reached the brink, and this is the last Hail Mary.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/because-central-banks-just-arent-enough-g-20-will-ask-imf-print-reserve-currency

MF Global chief was major fundraiser for Obama

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/02/mfglobal-fundraising-idUSN1E7A11K020111102

Will Meredith Whitney Be Proven Right In The End?

Beware the muni...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/will-meredith-whitney-be-proved-right-end

Our Fragile "Hothouse" Economy

Gee, you think this guy is bearish?

http://www.oftwominds.com/blognov11/hothouse-economy11-11.html

Did accounting help sink Corzine’s MF Global?

http://blogs.reuters.com/bethany-mclean/2011/11/01/did-accounting-help-sink-corzines-mf-global/

“Off balance sheet arrangements and risk”:  “At March 31, 2011, securities purchased under agreements to resell and securities sold under agreements to repurchase of $1,495.7 million and $14,520.3 million, respectively, at contract value, were de-recognized.” (“De-recognized” means moved off the balance sheet.) Of that $14.5 billion, 52.6% was collateralized with sovereign debt. One way to get a sense of the ramp-up of “repo to maturity” transactions is to compare the figures to those as of March 31, 2010:  The securities sold under agreements to repurchase increased by some $9 billion.

Sounds to me like the bankrupt MF Global cooked their books.  But then again, I'm just a hillbilly who fell off the turnip truck.

Gold Has Had Enough With Europe's Stupidity; Surges

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/gold-has-had-enough-europes-stupidity-surges

Fallout from QE - Rising Meat Prices

http://traderdannorcini.blogspot.com/2011/11/fallout-from-qe-rising-meat-prices.html

The Supercommittee That Really Runs America - Presenting The November 1 TBAC Minutes

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/supercommittee-really-runs-america-presenting-november-1-tbac-minutes

BAD MOON RISING

This is a must-read for all generations of Americans.  Warning:  it is long and somber, but is a sobering forecast for what lies ahead for us.

http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=22946

Selling More CDS on Europe Debt Raises Risk for U.S. Banks

This is why Wall Street banks will need another bailout:  unmitigated and unaccounted for counterparty risk.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-01/selling-more-insurance-on-shaky-european-debt-raises-risk-for-u-s-banks.html

Two words:  Lehman and AIG.

Jon Corzine - Meet Bubba

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/jon-corzine-meet-bubba

MF Global execs should look up this word in the dictionary:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commingling

US Food Stamp Usage Hits New Record

This headline is getting old.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/us-food-stamp-usage-hits-new-record

Fed Trapped By Inflation

And for some light post-midnight reading...

http://www.streettalklive.com/daily-x-change/472-fed-trapped-by-inflation.html

US Plans To Issue $846 Billion In Treasurys In The Next 6 Months, 35% More Than Previous Year

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/us-plans-issue-846-billion-treasurys-next-6-months-35-more-previous-year

Question:  if QE ended last June, how in the world will the US Treasury sell 35% more debt this year than the previous year with the Fed no longer the (only) buyer of last resort?  Who else will buy all these US Treasury bonds if foreign buyers have already scaled back and are sitting on their hands?  The Russians and Chinese have not only implied diversifying their reserves away from US Treasuries, they have explicitly declared it as policy.

Will Martians step up to the plate?  As Jim Sinclair has stated many times:  QE to infinity.

Anybody who doesn't view this as bullish for tangible assets is either blind or in full denial.

Einhorn Bets Gold Mining Companies Will Beat Bullion

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-01/greenlight-s-einhorn-bets-miners-beat-gold-after-substantial-disconnect-.html

The Incurable European Mess

http://www.jsmineset.com/2011/11/01/the-incurable-european-mess/

Poor MF Global.  They hedged correctly by purchasing insurance against their long Euro bond positions in the form of credit default swaps.  Problem is, the other banks who wrote the swaps determined the Greek haircut wasn't really a default--hence, there was no trigger event and no pay out for holders of said cds.

It's analogous to buying auto insurance in the event of an accident.  The problem occurs when the insurer doesn't acknowledge there's been a major accident.  Hence, the insurer doesn't pay off the insured, which eventually causes the insured's bankruptcy.  Credit default swaps are not traded on an exchange, but in unregulated, opaque over-the-counter markets.

The system is so rigged, even the riggers are getting smoked.

Inflation and German sensibilities

http://www.goldmoney.com/gold-research/alasdair-macleod/inflation-and-german-sensibilities.html?gmrefcode=gata

Angela Merkel told the German Bundestag last Wednesday that in the absence of a deal on the eurozone debt crisis, “Nobody should take for granted another fifty years of peace and prosperity in Europe: if the euro fails, Europe fails”.

The social consequences of printing money are entirely supported by economic theory of the Austrian School of economists and the lessons of history. It boils down to a simple fact: any electorate can be patriotically roused for war, so long as it doesn’t have to pay for it. And that is the lie behind monetary inflation. If you print money to finance a war instead of raising taxes, for a time, no one notices the cost.

Germany has been through this lesson twice in the last century, so her people instinctively understand the chaos that results. It is the rest of Europe, with the exception perhaps of Austria, which has forgotten it. So let us state it loud and clear: sound money is the best guarantee of peace, while fiat money is a precondition for chaos.