I liked particularly, his points at the end on funny money (fiat currency) and gasoline prices. Worth a listen.
The past holiday really sickened me. Not because the cranberry salad was bad or the turkey under cooked. No, it was the way so many in our society, from Main Street to Wall Street, willingly bowed down and sacrificed to the altar of consumerism. A religion, arguably not that new, which is consuming the very fabric of society today.
I did not partake Thursday or Friday in the shopping orgies but when I turned on the TV Friday morning to CNBC and saw Amanda Drury say, “Merry Black Friday,” in a bit of exuberance, I knew we had crossed the threshold of a barbarous god who desires that her converts consume themselves alive.
By now most have seen the videos of riots or heard of the gun fights that broke out in parking lots. I think what frightens me the most is that people have raised the idea that there is a desperate need for these plastic and electronic items that are shiny today but tomorrow will fill a landfill above that of kindness and love. Immediate gratification has supplanted self-control with a public, unashamed orgy of zombie mindlessness.
This video I think does a good job of summing up my thoughts. All I would ad is that you should make moves to protect you and your family. Stock some food and water, think about having something other than fiat currency available to trade with, and perhaps repent of the full tilt consumeristic mindset that places handmade objects above others. I hope things won’t fall to such a horrible outcome as some think, but having just talked this past week with a friend who reported to me that homes in her Florida community were being broken into for food stuff, it’s hard to believe that we won’t experience some difficulties.
As always, keep track of the spot prices of gold, silver, and platinum with the free widget, Exact Price.
Yesterday I highlighted a host of news items on my Scoop.it page: Gold and What Moves it.
But I wanted to make sure everyone sees, these three links because I believe they bear chewing upon and digesting.
The first two items are covering the same thing, billionaires going into gold in a big way.
David Engstrom writes in a post on IBTimes, Lear Capital: When BIG Money Moves Into Gold – What’s Your Next Move??:
…According to a recent Bloomberg report, Soros FundManagement added 884,000 shares of SPDR Gold Trust to its portfolio. Not to be outdone, fellow billionaire John Paulson of Paulson and Company, assumed the role of alpha male and increased his fund holdings to 21.8 million shares.
All the while, the pack, the average investor, is being hit here and there with snide little comments suggesting gold has seen better days. The economy is recovering, jobs are plentiful, even housing is bouncing higher and higher off its bottom. And Europe? Fagget it! It’s all better now. If we don’t talk about it, the problem goes away. In fear of losing hard-earned savings, the pack has fled gold and moved back in the direction of stocks, bonds and housing.
Then there’s those darn billionaires who now run in the opposite direction of the pack. They tell you gold is a bubble so you sell and just when you think you moved ahead of the pack, you learn the really smart money, the big dogs, are buying all the gold you sold. Is the you-know-what about to hit the fan again? …
Michael Snyder in a post on www.ZeroHedge.com writes:
Are you willing to bet against three of the wealthiest men in the entire world? Jacob Rothschild recently bet approximately 200 million dollars that the euro will go down.
Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson made somewhere around 20 billion dollars betting against the U.S. housing market during the last financial crisis, and now he has made huge bets that the euro will go down and that the price of gold will go up.
And as I wrote about in my last article, George Soros put approximately 130 million more dollars into gold last quarter. So will the euro plummet like a rock? Will the price of gold absolutely soar? Well, if a massive financial disaster does occur both of those two things are likely to happen. The European economy is becoming more unstable with each passing day, and investors all over the globe are looking for safe places to put their money. The mainstream media keeps telling us that everything is going to be okay, but the global elite are sending us a much, much different message by their actions. Certainly Rothschild, Paulson and Soros know about things happening in the financial world that the rest of us don’t. The fact that they are all behaving in a consistent manner right now should be alarming for all of us. …
So what do the big boys know that you and I don’t? Do you think they have some insider info or have an advanced warning system?
The last piece is this reported by Moran Zhang, Caterpillar CEO Turns Less Bullish, Warns Of Economic Uncertainty:
Chief Exectutive Officer Doug Oberhelman has long been an optimist, but these days the head of the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment has been scaling back on his optimism.
The global economic outlook is more uncertain now than during late 2008, although the situation isn’t as severe, Oberhelman told the Financial Times.
“There’s never been a more unpredictable set of tea leaves than right now. Even in 2008 and 2009, U.S. housing was already dying and had been for two years. We saw that,” Oberhelman is quoted as saying in the Financial Times.
“I don’t think the situation is as grave as it was in 2008, but the uncertainty, the storm clouds are around things that none of us know about, like what will happen with the political situation in Europe,” he said.
Four years after the most serious economic crisis in Europe since World War II, the continent is once again sliding deeply into recession. The latest figures from the European UnionEurostat agency reveal that between April and June of this year, the combined economies of the 17 states constituting the euro zone declined by 0.2 percent compared to the first three months of 2012.
Definitely something to think about.
Right now, gold is climbing out of the summer doldrums and many expect it to make a new high. Track it for free on your computer desktop with the Adobe Air widget Exact Price.
This post from Francisco Dao is, I believe, an absolute must read. He highlights what many believe is one of the key problems in this troubled economy. It’s a moral problem in my mind. Here’s a snippet:
“For those of us who came of age during the Reagan era, the fall of the Soviet Union marked the ultimate victory of capitalism over communism. But 20 years later, capitalism is facing a much greater threat, not from communism or socialism, but from a cancerous distortion of its own values.
“I doubt anyone can pinpoint the exact reason for the transformation. Perhaps it was the onset of the “Me” generation of the 1980s or the arrogance that comes with being the last remaining super power. But the ethos of American capitalism has made a dangerous shift toward the deification of pure greed. …”
Hat tip to @mikecane
Free Adobe Air Widget for Tracking Gold, Silver, and Platinum.
Overall all, I would say this was a pretty good week. Gold is stair stepping back up and looks to have a lot of buying in the 1650 range.
I keep asking myself, as the MSM types declare that we are into a recovery, what has changed from when the crisis began in 2008?
I can’t really point to anything. Debt has soared higher. Countries are still broke. And no one has given any solutions to change the course we are on.
And gold really continues to declare that nothing has changed by its current price level.
There did seem to be an attack just before COMEX closed at 1:30 and as Caesar Bryan notes today on King World News there was a Suspicious $1.5 Billion Gold Dump.
Next week will be here in no time and with all of Europe on the ropes, I don’t think that anything has changed around the world except that more and more people are realizing that their governments are out of control with spending.
Here’s a great example from two years ago that nothing has changed:
There is one thing this week you should do and probably do several times, frankly, that details a credit event that is about to happen which will affect things from here on out by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association concerning Greece. Which he says is more powerful than any government.
This morning, as I’m watching the spot price of gold on my desktop with Exact Price, it has been trading up better than silver and platinum and popped a couple of times before an attack this morning from which it popped back. I certainly can’t say for certainty, but my guess is that this is all happening because of the info that Jim Sinclair is exposing even though mainstream media is as Sinclair says, in black out mode.
Jim had this to say on his weblog following the interview and it bears close reading:
I was interviewed today concerning the most powerful body in the financial world that now holds in its hands the near future of all markets, from currencies to commodities, based on a single edict to be given.
The interview is being processed and should be posted here later this evening.
This organization supersedes all governments and central banks today in terms of the financial power they edict. This organization can have a greater impact on your pocketbook than the FASB did when they killed “true value” accounting.
This body is made up of the key players of the five largest banks in the USA and other countries. This body by their actions this week will guarantee QE to infinity.
This is relevant to all your assets, yes all. If you have the time listen to it please. If you don’t have the time listen to it please. If you don’t listen to it do not blame me when all hell breaks loose six months from now.
Not one word about this body was on the airwaves today, yet this group by a simple decision rules the financial plant. They will be making this edict in just a few days. They have to do it again this year. It is then that you know what will hit the fan.
I feel this is it for jsmineset.com tonight. I do not want to write another word and detract from the revelations you will hear.
Your financial future, even if you have never heard of them, is in this organization’s hands. Check in later for the interview. If you don’t check in your finances might just check out.
Please remember you have been informed of this impending edict as a service to the community.
Respectfully,
Jim
Here is the interview:
The Impending Undeclared Default Of 5 Major US Banks
The following interview with Ellis Martin of http://www.EllisMartinReport.com covers in detail the impending undeclared default of 5 major US banks this week by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.
This even has the potential to cause a second financial crisis that would require significant financial intervention. If you have time to spare, listen to this interview. If you don’t have time to spare, listen to it anyway.
I’ve posted a number of articles I’ve come across this day and this week over at my Scoop.it feed: Gold and What moves it.
This week has seen a resurgence in gold which has put a number of bears back into their caves. But the question is why? Why did the precious metals move higher retracing a fair amount of lost ground?
The answer of course is the FOMC and Ben Bernanke who declared what the market is referring to as QE 2.5. The truth of the matter, at least as I can tell, is that QE never really ceased from the last round. What seems to have been taking place is a lot of stealth moves.
Now the Fed is putting inflation as a target. And frankly I in no way think he’ll hit his target of 2%. I think inflation will likely go well above that before attempts bring it under control. It reminds me a lot of the old Superman cartoon where the Man of Steel is trying to stop the runaway train from going over the broken bridge with stacks of gold.
Sure he did it. But what was the cost to those on the train? And frankly, Ben’s no Superman, and I’m sure, to be fair, he wouldn’t claim to be. (the bridge event is at the six minute mark)
Now the markets find themselves yet again trying to figure out what the news will mean and thus a number of people are rushing back into the real currency, Gold.
The one article that I think you need to go read is:
Living In A QE World
All Central Bank Balance Sheets Are Exploding Higher, Or Engaged In QE
The degree to which central banks around the world are printing money is unprecedented.
The first eight charts below show the balance sheets of the largest central banks in the world. They are the European Central Bank (ECB), the Federal Reserve (Fed), the Bank of Japan (BoJ), the Bank of England (BoE), the Bundesbank (Germany), the Banque de France, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) and the Swiss National Bank (SNB). Noted on the charts are significant events or growth rates.
Shown is the size of each respective balance sheet in its local currency. Note that all are exploding higher as every chart goes from the lower left to the upper right. Most are still making new all-time highs. If the basic definition of quantitative easing (QE) is a significant increase in a central bank’s balance sheet via increasing banking reserves, then all eight of these central banks are engaged in QE.
Until next time.
You should go watch this video on FoxBusiness: Gasparino: Break-Up of CME on the Table
I frankly will be very, very surprised if that happens. In part because the corruption in the government in my personal opinion is far above what it used to be and they don’t feel the need to hide it. Thought I guess some will make an argument that breaking it up will help hide things. Maybe. But at this point I think the corruption has gotten to a point where they are quite happy to parade it in the open without any sort of adornment.
10 day chart of Gold and DXY
Right now gold is looking rather good and seems to have found strength. The Adobe Air widget Exact Price is showing it to be $1,642.30. The Dollar has been strong and is around 81 so there appears to be a desire of gold to break from its inverse relationship with the dollar. We shall see if this holds over the next week.
Another piece that I think is worth some consideration today is
It’s All Been Done Before on the Dollar Vigilante who begins:
One of the downsides of having government education camps (the school system) “educate” most of us slaves is that most of us have no clue what occured prior to our own lifetimes. And what we think we know is incorrect or never happened.
Everything that is currently going on in the US… government “stimulus”, massive deficits, pending bankruptcy and the use of the crisis to institute more government controls and blame the “free market” has already happened twice in the last century in the US. The following cartoon with the outline of the grand plan was printed in the Chicago Tribune in 1934, just after the first bankruptcy of the US Government in 1933.
As always, be sure to follow me on twitter and to check out my scoop.it topic, Gold and What Moves it, to see what I curated throughout the day.
Until next time.
I’ve been watching for MF Global news for a bit now, and it continues to become clear to me it is one of those turning points in the precious metals arena.
It’s a giant set up to me. And just shows the level of corruption that goes to the top of political and economic echelons. It shows to me how arrogantly the elite views the regular guy on the street.
I’ve posted a bunch of the news and items that relate to gold and silver over at my Scoop.it page: Gold and What Moves it.
But there’s two posts that I think are must reads in relation to MF Global and what the outlook for 2012 could very well be. Both come from Expected Returns:
Both are fairly short and both are worth your time, in my mind.
Right now gold and silver are at $1,622.50 and $29.30 as I look at the Exact Price widget sitting on my desktop.
Good question. If you’ve been watching gold like me with the Exact Price widget you’ve been going, “Wow”.
Finally, the down winds seem to have turned. Gold is at $1,599.60 as we go into the weekend. I would have felt a lot more better if it had cleared $1,600.00 but I’ll take it. It does look like a bottom is in. But next week will tell. It’s definitely been a great buying opportunity for a lot of people. I think what it’s come down to is a liquidity problem for banks and governments, but time will reveal the truth.
That said if you’re not following my curated feed on Scoop.it you’re missing most of the stuff I collect on the subject. Here’s the link:
Here are the top items I found today that are worth your time I believe:
Jim Rickards – The US Treasury Shorts the Dollar
Global economy fading fast … and no one’s coming to the rescue this time!
Gold and Money in Extremis… One Man’s Story
More Proof That The Gold Sell-Off Was Manipulated
House passes $1T budget bill, avoids shutdown
Have a great weekend folks.
Tracking Precious Metals 