Tim Iacono
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Hmmm... maybe I should've hung onto those gold coins...
Rex Nutting at MarketWatch had it right for about half the day today after noting the lack of central bank and government action early this morning and wondering if we'd make it until 4 PM, setting the bar ridiculously low per Dylan Ratigan of CNBC who figured, "Not down 500 is the new up."
It was a down day.
Stocks plunged late in the day, sending the Dow Jones industrials down 679 points, the lowest level in five years, based largely on fears of a ratings cut for General Motors Corp. Retirement plan investors are said to be furiously exchanging their stock mutual funds for cash - that didn't help.
It's not clear where we go from here.
The G7 meets tomorrow and the world's economic powers will attempt to stop the bleeding, if that's possible at this point. Credit markets are getting worse, not better, and U.S. stocks have lost more than 20 percent over the last seven days of trading. Foreign stocks are down 30 percent over the same period.
There doesn't seem to be any good news today.
The inventory at the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) rose by a couple of tonnes this afternoon, enabling the world's most popular gold ETF to finally pass Japan which had previously occupied the number 7 spot in the official world gold holdings - 765.74 tonnes for the ETF versus 765.2 tonnes for the Bank of Japan.
That hardly seems like it's worth crowing about, but it makes for a nice upward sloping chart, something that is in short supply these days.
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This article has 41 comments:
Best,
Frank Miller
I'm a bear
who'd like to be a bull.
But how can I
when pigs run the show?
Seriously, when I was in my undergraduate program at UCLA decades ago, we learned a lot about the consequences, historically, for economic system failures. There is an absolute failure on the part of our government to prepare the population for what may be coming. Of course, it is possible that the politicians don't understand, or choose not to understand, what may go down.
An economic collapse, especially at this time of year with winter coming, could be catastrophic. There may be mass migrations of the population... I'm not kidding you and I'm not being an "alarmist" when I say that it could be horrific -- much worse than the Great Depression. During the 1920's and 1930's the United States still had a significant portion of the population on family farms. Even those in the cities had realities, if not family, to fall back on for basics. No more.
As an economist said in a Bloomberg report today... You may need a very "strong stomach" for what will happen in the future.
Off the cuff I'd say the trend is down for stocks and up for gold.
Plan accordingly.
I wouldn't say the government isn't planning ahead. The President ordered an entire brigade back to the homeland to serve on 'stand-by' for the North America region.
Now I'm not being an alarmist either, but he didn't see the economic crisis coming... but he may know what is next!
This is rather unsettling in my view.... google it. or I will post the link if you like. I've already read it
Oh yeah, if the 'mass migration' takes place and you need a place to farm... I live next door to the country singer Alan Jackson. He has 200+ ac. of farmable land here and a 18,000 sq. ft. house to spare... we could hide in his mansion for a few weeks before he notices we are there!
I posted last night: Ted Nugent/Ron Paul in 2012!
Perhaps that won't be necessary. Maybe the government will put antidepressants in the water supply to encourage stock buying. It is logical move, given its knowledge of economics.
Actually, I expect the government to buy stocks "for us".
Cash and fetal are the only two positions in this market. Don’t fall for the value trap, it is deleveraging and risk aversion – current value is of no consequence – we don’t know what the real value would be. If buyers/consumers don’t have money or credit it is game over. Apple may have cool products or fertilizers help crop yields – without money nothing will move. The reflation that the central banks are attempting will take a long time to take traction. D-word is in, long haul ahead.
Stocks can go down to any level at this point 800, 700 who knows where we can end up in the next couple of weeks, or even tomorrow. Nikkei is down 11% already today.
September 2008: +24.3%
3rd Quarter 2008: +45.2%
YTD 2008: +80.6%
This was accomplished at a time when the Dow30 has dropped more than 30% for the year. Follow aSignals to protect and build your financial future!
Login to aSignals (www.aSignals.com) to view the performance of all Aminda portfolios, along with your own custom portfolio.
Sincerely,
James M. Mazzu
CEO, Aminda LLC
Oh ya! Well I live next door to Michael Jackson and he said he has plenty of room there too. (If you are an underage male that is...)
anarchist... HEY, your money IS safe with SS... becasue the treasury HASN'T PRINTED IT YET!
Hell, at least in the private sector you have a chance!
How about this, abolish it all together... no privatization at all! then YOU actually get it and you can either save it, invest it, or smoke it!
www.armytimes.com/news.../
OK. Let's examine this...
First of all, I would like to express my personal fears in order:
1. Living under declared Martial Law that has no way of working (anarchy).
2. Living under Martial Law that works.
First of all, a brigade is about 2,000-5,000 troops in general terms...
Now I've said this before, Bush bringing about an "enforceable" Martial Law is as likely as FDIC having the funds to cover a run on the banks. A one percent solution simply won't work.
Look at this another way... During basic natural disasters our government was a zip. During the Rodney King riots more troops were deployed to Los Angeles than participated in the invasion of Panama. Does anybody here really think that there are enough assets to enforce Martial Law ---- Really... It would look more like:
1. Perhaps 70-90 percent of police officers abandoned their posts to protect their families.
2. I'd guess 50 percent of federal law enforcement would do the same...
3. Military -- look at Katrina and the Rodney King riots... They could cover say a couple of cities, but a complete breakdown of our country...
We are not even addressing the fact that the military would need to shoot to kill soccer moms stealing baby food a Quickie Marts.
None of this is plausible.
The Nazis, etc. etc., had a high force ratio to population. I guess Bush could nuke an American city if things got too far out of hand....
I think you can see such talk is ridiculous...
hilarious! your fears: 1 ineffective martial law (anarchy)
2 -or 'effective' martial law
you gotta stop though... you're probably scaring people
yes, that is why they are coming... but it's 'worst case scenario'
kinda like an 'obama' administration.... wait... that's gonna happen...
faith or fear folks, you can't have both. I'll take faith
NOT faith in Gov.... but the people here
I have it in both... I understand if you don't
Now if you were to say that the brigade's mission was to protect Congress for voting in favor of the bailout plan in spite of the overwhelming opinion against by their constituents. That makes more sense.
Would the military really pull the trigger to protect them...
The 700 billion dollars liquidity injecton is yet to transpire but it will be very effective as it will add 5 trillion dollars of stimulus(7 multiplier).
The rate cuts enhance the effectivness of the 700 billion dollars"stability plan".
The nonsense about the inability to borrowor or unwillingness to lend by the banking institutions must stop-standards were tightened period.
Investors must simply comprehend the time frame of the antitodes in place and let go of psychosis.
your reply about NORTHCOM being scrambled for protecting Congress as it voted for the 'bailout'
honestly, the funniest thing I've read in a LONG time...
good work my man
Hahahahahahaha! They'll never win!!! If Curbs, dozer, or moonbat stop by with some mustard I'll probably let you in if you ask nicely.
Did they plunge too hard & go down the pipe?
"An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen"
Earl Wilson