China’s Gold Imports Jump as Country May Become Biggest User

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-08/china-s-gold-imports-advance-as-country-may-become-biggest-user.html

Gold is limited government, which is more 'civilized' than the alternative

http://www.gata.org/node/11330

The Munger Games

More blowback from Charlie Munger's "uncivilized" comment regarding owners of gold.  When proven wrong, sometimes the best tactic is to use ad hominem attacks: kill the messenger.

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-munger-games/87811/

Two Charts Exposing America's Record Shadow Welfare State

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/two-charts-exposing-americas-record-shadow-welfare-state

..."this is the new stealth stimulus program - so far in 2011, nearly one million Americans have applied for disability and year-to-date, 333k have actually enrolled (covering 539k family members). In total, more than five million people have been added to disability coverage since President Obama took over three years ago." The punchline will make all those who adore (insolvent) welfare states shake with giddy delight: "So look - either safety standards at work have eroded dramatically or the "99%" have found a creative way to milk the system and turn the economy into a quasi welfare state"...

...the BLS assumes that any amount up to the total 53 million people, is not in the labor force as they have other "wefare" based forms of government handouts and see no need at all to look for a job. Is there any wonder why US unemployment is realistically 20% if not much higher? 

Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman

Forget the recent Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman debate on Bloomberg TV.  It was more a he said / he said with neither side adding anything new to their talking points.  But let's look at what these two predicted a decade ago. First, Ron Paul:

http://www.newsmax.com/DougWead/ron-paul-churchill-tea/2011/08/10/id/406863

"Like all artificially created bubbles, the boom in housing prices cannot last forever. When housing prices fall, homeowners will experience difficulty as their equity is wiped out. Furthermore, the holders of the mortgage debt will also have a loss. These losses will be greater than they would have otherwise been had government policy not actively encouraged over-investment in housing."Perhaps the Federal Reserve can stave off the day of reckoning by purchasing GSE debt and pumping liquidity into the housing market, but this cannot hold off the inevitable drop in the housing market forever. In fact, postponing the necessary, but painful market corrections will only deepen the inevitable fall. The more people invested in the market, the greater the effects across the economy when the bubble bursts." - Ron Paul, September 10, 2003

This is what the esteemed Paul Krugman prescribed:


http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/02/opinion/dubya-s-double-dip.html

"To fight this recession the Fed needs more than a snapback; it needs soaring household spending to offset moribund business investment. And to do that, as Paul McCulley of Pimco put it, Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble to replace the Nasdaq bubble." - Paul Krugman, August 2, 2002

Now, ask yourself:  who got it right--the obstetrician/gynaecologist from Texas or the Nobel Laureate in Economics from Princeton?  In fact, who got it completely wrong?


To Professor Krugman and your Ivy League cronies who completely missed the boat:  go screw yourself.  You and your colleagues in the ivory tower have already screwed the global economy.  Do us a favor and shut your pie-hole.

Is an Economic Deluge Nigh?

http://www.caseyresearch.com/articles/economic-deluge-nigh?ppref=ZHB449ED0512B

A Whole Lot Of Uncivilized People Out There...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/whole-lot-uncivilized-people-out-there

Debt Disequilibrium

http://www.streettalklive.com/daily-x-change/885-strategic-investment-conference-dr-lacy-hunt.html

While the media remains focused on GDP it is the wrong measure by which to measure the economy. A truly growing economy leads to rises in prosperity. GDP does NOT measure prosperity — it measures spending. It is the measure of real personal incomes that measures prosperity. Prosperity MUST come from rising incomes.

GDP, on the other hand, can be distorted through government spending, which masks the effects of declining prosperity through weaker incomes. GDP does NOT lead to a increase in prosperity. 

Debt Serfdom in One Chart

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogmay12/debt-serfdom5-12.html

Santelli On Propaganda And Ostrich Economics

Shattering the American dream: The US government’s Ponzi scheme

http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/7947

The 86 million invisible unemployed

http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/03/news/economy/unemployment-rate/index.htm

Our central bankers are intellectually bankrupt

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ab2ac432-92ea-11e1-b6e2-00144feab49a.html#axzz1tpHdLOqX

Quantum computer with separate CPU and memory represents significant breakthrough

Speaking of quantum computers:

http://www.gizmag.com/quantum-computer-von-neumann/21340/

The Fed's Jelly Donut Policy

This is a brilliant analysis of the Fed's (misguided) monetary policies.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-einhorn/fed-interest-rates_b_1472509.html

Biderman's Daily Edge 5/2/2012: A Reason Not to Trust Friday's BLS Numbers

http://youtu.be/kDNyt9JmVQw

Osama's Grand Plan To Destroy America: President Biden

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/osamas-grand-plan-destroy-america-president-biden

Bin Laden planned to target more airplanes at Petraeus and President Obama with the cunning plan that a successful assassination would propel an "utterly unprepared" Vice President Biden into the Oval Office - and send the US spiraling into chaos." In the aftermath of Solyndra and the realization that Biden's key economic advisor was Jon Corzinethis actually sounds like a brilliant plan.

I'm going to guess whomever Mitt Romney selects as his running mate will be considered an upgrade from Biden.  This is not to suggest I am endorsing Romney or his running mate--in fact, quite the contrary.  But this does suggest I have no faith in Obama and Biden to lead our country out of this mess.

Gold Standard for All, From Nuts to Paul Krugman

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-02/gold-standard-for-all-from-nuts-to-paul-krugman.html

Artemis On Volatility At World's End: Deflation, Hyperinflation And The Alchemy Of Risk

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/artemis-volatility-worlds-end-deflation-hyperinflation-and-alchemy-risk

How US debt risks dollar doomsday

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/how_us_debt_risks_dollar_doomsday_j8dxHSYWUa22QpSN7ttOIL

Pento - Love Affair With Inflationary Policies To End in Disaster

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/4/28_Pento_-_Love_Affair_With_Inflationary_Policies_To_End_in_Disaster.html

Gold Shakes Off $1.24 Billion ‘Fat Finger’

http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2012/04/30/gold-shakes-off-1-24-billion-fat-finger/

Still, not everyone agreed Monday’s slip in gold was caused by a keystroke error. Chuck Retzky, director of futures sales for Mizuho Securities USA, said that silver prices suffered a similar leg down at the same time as gold, tumbling 35 cents to $30.805 a troy ounce, but other markets like Treasurys, currencies and stocks were unperturbed.

“To do it both in gold and silver tells me that it wasn’t a trade done in error,” Retzky said. 

BIS FX/Gold "Intervention" Profiles - Before And After

It looks like Monsieur Charoze has been busy covering his tracks--er, his job title on his LinkedIn profile.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/bis-fxgold-intervention-profiles-and-after

London to become major offshore trading center for Chinese Yuan.

The significance of this otherwise ordinary press release is far-reaching--especially as it relates to the USDollar as a global reserve currency.  This sets the stage for a dump of the USDollar and US Treasury bonds at any point in time.

http://www.chinasourceandsupply.com/News/china-source-supply-news-item.aspx?id=35042246-d98a-41ee-8cf2-026cef7e21a9

"The fact that China will open its third yuan offshore market in London is a strategic decision for the world's second-largest economy to increase the convertibility of the yuan and evolve the yuan into a reserve currency globally," said David Wang, executive director of the Royal Bank of Scotland (China) Co Ltd.

Dr. Zijlstra's Final Settlement: Gold as the Monetary Cosmos' Sun

This book by a former central banker gives further credence to the "conspiracy theory" that the gold market is manipulated.

http://www.marketupdate.nl/nieuws/valutacrisis/dr-zijlstras-final-settlement-gold-as-the-monetary-cosmos-sun/