sa44ron

No One Saw This Economic Crisis Coming?

Anyone who disagrees with the political think tank of the administration in power is ostracised. Any company that bucks the political agenda of the administration in power os put out of business. This political structure creates a lot of 'yes' men. 'Easy' Al Greenspan saw this coming; that is why he was replaced by 'Helicopter' Ben Bernanke. Without Greenspan's cleverness, the debt shake-out would have started ten to twenty years ago and would be over now. Debt levels are now an order of magnitude larger, and therefore the shake-out will be bigger. Government intervention can no longer stop the deleveraging of debt. We are in a depression; the question now is how long and how deep will it be? The stimulus packages cannot replace the massive decline in world net worth. They can only prop up unviable businesses and bankrupt the government coffers at the same time. All government interventions in the economy are bad; some are just worse than others. The only thing the government hasn't done is raise taxes; and 'cap and trade' will cover that. How do you turn a recession into a depression? Raise taxes. Can you say inflationary depression?

Why Not Start Defaulting on Your Credit Cards?

In AbomiNation, the looters win again.

Obama Says We're Out of Money

On May 28 10:53 AM DONE_SONZ wrote:

> Plan [A] inflate and debase.Plan [B] raise the roof on gold and pay down debt.

Saffron wrote: Plan [B] should read: confiscate gold and revalue the dollar at 1/3500 per oz. of gold.

The gold then offsets the debt, which won't actually be paid down. But the ledger is balanced. Obama is Roosevelt II.

Has Gold Been Manipulated?

Nobody has pockets deep enough to manipulate anything for very long. Just ask the Hunt Brothers and their little foray in to silver market in 1980. Eventually prices get to where they are supposed to, whether it's the price of gold or the price on long Treasuries. Let's just make sure that ownership of gold remains legal. Happy trading.

Dollar's Purchasing Power Annihilated - The Chart They Don't Want You to See

Last week I thought Banana Republic was a clothing store. Now I hear we are one!


On May 09 08:13 AM abetterplace wrote:

> Just another doomsday chart with no common sense value.
> Dollar values and supply must change constantly in any capitalistic
> society to allow for inflation that is an absolute.
> The big catch is when inflation outruns money supply as has been
> seen in many, mostly under developed countries. It's not going to
> happen here, at least not in the near future.
> If you happen to be old enough to remember 1971, How many people
> do you know that do not have it much better now than then.

Prosecuting Those Who 'Caused' the Recession Could Have Unintended Consequences

Prosecuting Those Who 'Caused' the Recession? Well, let's start at the top: the FED(eral Reserve). Who will mete out the punishment? The System doesn't punish it's own, unless they want to get rid of someone. There are the voters, and the American public are captive to the System. That leaves the foreign governments. After Bretton Woods was repealed, OPEC was formed so the oil producing countries could combat US dollar inflation.

The next step along this line is a new international exchange system based on a basket of currencies and commodities. For instance, the basket would have six equal parts: three currencies (US dollar, Japanese yen, Swiss franc) and three commodites (gold, oil, rice). Exchange would be done in any of these six parts. The value of the transaction would be based on the basket. The basket needs no name as the basket itself is not traded. No government could print more baskets.

Lets face it, when it comes to money these days, no government trusts another government. The basket establishes accountability. On accountability, trust can be built.

In God We Trust. All others pay cash. Just not US dollars.

Weekly Outlook: Is This Reflation?

There is a solution. And now that the pork barrelling is (hopefully) done, it can be implemented. The only thing to get the consumer/public involved is to have a one or two year moratorium on taxes, namely, personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, and especially capital gains taxes. The savings would be put to the best use of each consumer. When they have their own house in order, then they will step out and take some risk. Without this sense of security, the private sector will not venture out! If it means paying down loans, then that will shore up the bank balance sheet. And isn't that what the Fed is trying to do. I don't mean to be critical of government, but every time government touches money, 50 percent or more disappears. For every dollar of taxes, there is only 50 cent of service. The efficiency of tax dollars goes down again when government builds a project. And public capital pushes private capital out of the market. So the best bang for the buck is lower taxes. It can be done now before another $10 Trillion dollars are spent over the next five years. And taxes will be cut in five years anyway, because that will be the only thing left to do.

Currency ETF Charts

Hey, can you plot the Swiss franc, too?

Currency ETF Charts

Good call. I bought CDE and HL on Friday the 13th (of February)


On Feb 14 01:47 PM JE wrote:

> I forgot gold
>
> Retrace back to the low $800's one more time. The biggest spending
> program in our history and it could not top the old high I think
> bodes ill for gold before its breakout.
>
> Yes I am a gold bug but I think gold is being suppressed so that
> money is sure to go in bonds.
>
> I also own CDE and HL. If you want to see the largest short positions
> I have ever saw in your life go to Yahoo finance and look at the
> % of the float that is short
>
> finance.yahoo.com/q/ks... and HL is
>
> finance.yahoo.com/q/ks...
>
> These short positions have been increasing since last fall and continue
> to go up. Other gold stocks are not shorted like this. This is artificial
> suppression and illegal I'm sure with naked shorts.
>
> The only thing I can see is something is going to happen to silver.
> These guys are big producers- are the maines going to be nationalized
> on a big move up in silver.
>
> CDE was below 50 cents and short positions continued to be added.
>
>
> Does anyone know anything that I do not?

The U.S. Dollar: Waiting to Tank Gold's Run?

The US dollar is up to 86, but 86 what? Some basket of currency? It might as well be a basket of eggs. Or the level of the tide in New York harbor. The bottom line gold has continued to rise against any other tangible or in-tangible asset in relative terms. That is when you take paper out as the reference point.

The Scariest Chart Ever

Yes, that is what the FED is doing.


On Jan 21 12:10 AM TTT wrote:

> Just print more money to borrow more money. Simple as that.

The Scariest Chart Ever

I will fill in the blank: ___ anyone holding US treasuries ten years from now___


On Jan 20 05:34 PM a believer wrote:

> Yep and at $4.6 billion we are closing in on 40% of GDP.
>
> Even though the charts look hyperinflationary, its just that the
> old non-existent funny money *non-performing debt* is being replaced
> by new non-existent funny money *US-issued treasury debt.*
>
> Those left with the obligation to pay will be ___ (fill in the blank,
> if you know).

The Fallacy of Floating Exchange Rates

The only leverage anyone has over government, that is that they be responsible, is a floating currency. Everyone is bashing the so called speculators, as the reason that the markets are down. Be careful what you ask for? At least now we have the choice to follow the leader or not? Time will ratify the decision. With one currency, one country runs the show; like or not. And I hope you are not suggesting 'currency by committee'. Next thing you will be doing is forbiding citizens to own gold.

Four Banks to Bank on - Barron's

Hey Art, You said it in your first statement. 'Find gold' I have picked something that I feel comfortable in holding a position. Then I am trading a percentage of my position on the volatility. So I get paid while I wait. And I choose a couple of stocks that trade good volumes on the NYSE.

Disclosure: long positions in AEM(gold) and NXY(oil)


On Jan 12 02:44 AM ArtfulDodger wrote:

> Someone will certainly be able to pick thru the financial trash dump
> and find gold. Not me.
>
> I used to trade the banking cycles, but not this one. Every few years
> the banks used to crash and the media would claim the system was
> broken, but they always came back. You could find plenty of banks
> with solid yields and cash flow selling at low ratios with good balance
> sheets.
>
> The difference between then and now is one word: debt. The balance
> sheets of most every bank is laden with debt, and now many of them
> owe the government money -- to boot.
>
> Another problem is, the government needs to let banks fail. There
> are too many of them, and many are terribly managed. I say this because
> during the last few years when they had their largest lending speads
>
> ever, they borrowed and borrowed, instead of building their balance
> sheets for the hard times that always come.
>
> I wish everyone well who dives into the financial dump, and I appreciate
> the stock touts. But it's a sick area, and I think it'll stay that
> way for quite a while.

Four Banks to Bank on - Barron's

Very patient investors should wait until the banks report increasing positive year over year earnings. Then, pick one of the survivors. And there are plenty of other things to look at in the mean time.