by Ernest Emerson
[Excerpt from unrelated article]
I believe that it is absolutely vital to our vitality both as a nation and as a military power that we teach our children to be self sufficient, to be independent thinkers, to learn to do their best with what they have at hand - even if it is nothing. Our children should know how to build a fire, to read a map, to know how to find water, and build a shelter. Hell, build a house for that matter. They should know simple electronics, how to fix a motor or engine, how to fish, how to hunt, how to treat an injury and to never feel helpless or hopeless. They should play team sports and learn how to work within the framework of a team. they should learn how it feels to lose and come back to try and win next time. They should learn to take failure in stride and not be devastated by it. On that note, I believe there is real self-esteem and false self-esteem. Real self-esteem is learned and earned by competing, failing and then improving so that you actually know who you are, what you're made of and how good you realistically are in any endeavor.
Unfortunately, the idea of false self esteem is what's being propagated by our schools and most of our younger aged athletic programs. No grades, no competition and only praise for half hearted efforts. What character does that build?
I strongly encourage you to pass these life skills on to your sons and daughters. Have them join the scouts or guide organizations in your area. Get them out camping, get them to play sports and spend time practicing all of the skills these children need and deserve to become self sufficient, independent thinking, confident adults. Sorry for the rant. I have daughters, a son, and I'm a baseball coach and I spend a lot of time dealing with these matters.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Task Number One For The Next US President: Tell The Nation The "Age Of America Is Over"
by Tyler Durden
After a weekend full of empty (or not) Chinese posturing, Marketwatch's Brent Arends has an interesting tidbit to add to the China vs US debate. "The International Monetary Fund has just dropped a bombshell, and nobody noticed. For the first time, the international organization has set a date for the moment when the “Age of America” will end and the U.S. economy will be overtaken by that of China." The year? 2016.
So perhaps having a 5 year head start in selling the bonds of what will soon be even an official former superpower is not such a bad idea. "It provides a painful context for the budget wrangling taking place in Washington, D.C., right now. It raises enormous questions about what the international security system is going to look like in just a handful of years. And it casts a deepening cloud over both the U.S. dollar and the giant Treasury market, which have been propped up for decades by their privileged status as the liabilities of the world’s hegemonic power." And here's why pretty soon America may be left without presidential candidates: "According to the IMF forecast, whoever is elected U.S. president next year — Obama? Mitt Romney? Donald Trump? — will be the last to preside over the world’s largest economy." Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
After a weekend full of empty (or not) Chinese posturing, Marketwatch's Brent Arends has an interesting tidbit to add to the China vs US debate. "The International Monetary Fund has just dropped a bombshell, and nobody noticed. For the first time, the international organization has set a date for the moment when the “Age of America” will end and the U.S. economy will be overtaken by that of China." The year? 2016.
So perhaps having a 5 year head start in selling the bonds of what will soon be even an official former superpower is not such a bad idea. "It provides a painful context for the budget wrangling taking place in Washington, D.C., right now. It raises enormous questions about what the international security system is going to look like in just a handful of years. And it casts a deepening cloud over both the U.S. dollar and the giant Treasury market, which have been propped up for decades by their privileged status as the liabilities of the world’s hegemonic power." And here's why pretty soon America may be left without presidential candidates: "According to the IMF forecast, whoever is elected U.S. president next year — Obama? Mitt Romney? Donald Trump? — will be the last to preside over the world’s largest economy." Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
This is more than a statistical story. It is the end of the Age of America. As a bond strategist in Europe told me two weeks ago, “We are witnessing the end of America’s economic hegemony.”http://www.zerohedge.com/article/task-number-one-next-us-president-tell-nation-age-america-over
We have lived in a world dominated by the U.S. for so long that there is no longer anyone alive who remembers anything else. America overtook Great Britain as the world’s leading economic power in the 1890s and never looked back
Four Scary Words: "Silver Delivery Not Possible"
by Tyler Durden
The SHTFPlan's Mac Slavo brings us the story of one Bill Cramer who decided to cash in on his silver profits after a nearly decade holding period (under the assumption he was receiving warehousing services considering he was paying storage fees), confident that he could simply receive the metal he held with a broker, until he heard the following 5 very disturbing words: "Sorry, delivery is not possible."
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/four-scary-words-silver-delivery-not-possible
The SHTFPlan's Mac Slavo brings us the story of one Bill Cramer who decided to cash in on his silver profits after a nearly decade holding period (under the assumption he was receiving warehousing services considering he was paying storage fees), confident that he could simply receive the metal he held with a broker, until he heard the following 5 very disturbing words: "Sorry, delivery is not possible."
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/four-scary-words-silver-delivery-not-possible
China sends warning on US debt, dollar
by Ed Morrissey
The debate over whether to keep borrowing trillions of dollars may have been mooted on Friday. China sent out strong signals at the end of last week that it would retreat from the dollar and perhaps start to unload its reserves sooner rather than later
China won’t dump the dollar any time soon. They need the value of the dollar to remain strong to protest the reserves they already own. The collapse of their high-speed rail bubble means they can’t afford to go to economic war with the US at the moment, assuming that they were inclined to do so at any time. It does mean, however, that Treasury will have to work much harder to sell its bonds, which will force yields up and increase the debt service, and may mean that we won’t find many buyers at all. If China stops buying, the next best customer is Japan, which won’t be able to afford more bonds for years; in fact, they may have to sell theirs to fund their recovery efforts from the quakes and tsunamis of 2011.
Who else will come to our rescue? The Saudis? Don’t bet on it.
We are rapidly approaching a moment of truth. While we debate the finer points of raising debt limits and calculating just how many hundreds of billions of dollars in annual deficits we’ll tolerate, the truth is that the money to fund any deficit spending may soon run out. Fiscal sanity may wind up being imposed on us if we don’t choose that path willingly.
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/04/25/china-sends-warning-on-us-debt-dollar/
The debate over whether to keep borrowing trillions of dollars may have been mooted on Friday. China sent out strong signals at the end of last week that it would retreat from the dollar and perhaps start to unload its reserves sooner rather than later
China won’t dump the dollar any time soon. They need the value of the dollar to remain strong to protest the reserves they already own. The collapse of their high-speed rail bubble means they can’t afford to go to economic war with the US at the moment, assuming that they were inclined to do so at any time. It does mean, however, that Treasury will have to work much harder to sell its bonds, which will force yields up and increase the debt service, and may mean that we won’t find many buyers at all. If China stops buying, the next best customer is Japan, which won’t be able to afford more bonds for years; in fact, they may have to sell theirs to fund their recovery efforts from the quakes and tsunamis of 2011.
Who else will come to our rescue? The Saudis? Don’t bet on it.
We are rapidly approaching a moment of truth. While we debate the finer points of raising debt limits and calculating just how many hundreds of billions of dollars in annual deficits we’ll tolerate, the truth is that the money to fund any deficit spending may soon run out. Fiscal sanity may wind up being imposed on us if we don’t choose that path willingly.
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/04/25/china-sends-warning-on-us-debt-dollar/
Don't Like a Weak Dollar? Might as Well Get Used to It
By: Jeff Cox
Weakness in the US dollar, which is causing everything to go up—including gas prices, food and stocks—is unlikely to go away soon as a selling frenzy hits the currency market.
Some economists believe that a weak dollar is contributing heavily to the surge in prices at the pump, with one speculating that gas could reach $6 a gallon or beyond by summertime, given certain conditions.
Food prices also are on a steady climb higher. In both cases, a weak dollar is at least somewhat to blame as it drives commodities, which are priced in dollars and therefore cheaper and more attractive to speculators in the global marketplace.
A combination of factors accounts for the weakness, with the Federal Reserve's easy-money policies, huge national debts and deficits and the consequential possibility of a debt downgrade because of the financial mess in Washington leading the way.
In short, as trader Dennis Gartman noted Thursday, "the rout of the US dollar" is in full effect.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42703813
Weakness in the US dollar, which is causing everything to go up—including gas prices, food and stocks—is unlikely to go away soon as a selling frenzy hits the currency market.
Some economists believe that a weak dollar is contributing heavily to the surge in prices at the pump, with one speculating that gas could reach $6 a gallon or beyond by summertime, given certain conditions.
Food prices also are on a steady climb higher. In both cases, a weak dollar is at least somewhat to blame as it drives commodities, which are priced in dollars and therefore cheaper and more attractive to speculators in the global marketplace.
A combination of factors accounts for the weakness, with the Federal Reserve's easy-money policies, huge national debts and deficits and the consequential possibility of a debt downgrade because of the financial mess in Washington leading the way.
In short, as trader Dennis Gartman noted Thursday, "the rout of the US dollar" is in full effect.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42703813
Thursday, April 21, 2011
America's Fiscal Dead End: A 2013 "Minsky Moment"
by Tyler Durden
Often times we are amazed that Deutsche Bank's Peter Hooper works in the same place as that other "economist." The reason is that yesterday, Hooper, who tends to have some of the most original sellside thoughts, came out with one of the best summaries of America's fiscal dead end:an 8 page summary far more accurate and detailed than anything to ever come out of the rating agencies, yet one which reaches the correct conclusion. What is startling is that a Wall Street institution (well technically desk.... there is of course that other "economist") is willing to come to grips with the truth. Which according to Hooper is rather ugly: America may have 2 years at the most before it all comes crashing down when the world's former superpower hits its own Minsky Moment.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/americas-fiscal-dead-end-2013-minsky-moment
Often times we are amazed that Deutsche Bank's Peter Hooper works in the same place as that other "economist." The reason is that yesterday, Hooper, who tends to have some of the most original sellside thoughts, came out with one of the best summaries of America's fiscal dead end:an 8 page summary far more accurate and detailed than anything to ever come out of the rating agencies, yet one which reaches the correct conclusion. What is startling is that a Wall Street institution (well technically desk.... there is of course that other "economist") is willing to come to grips with the truth. Which according to Hooper is rather ugly: America may have 2 years at the most before it all comes crashing down when the world's former superpower hits its own Minsky Moment.
"It's more like a Wile E. Coyote moment. We left the edge of the cliff a while back... now we're blinking and looking down..." - Popo
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/americas-fiscal-dead-end-2013-minsky-moment
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
What makes up the price of U.S. gasoline?
by Ken Cohen
just how much does the price of crude impact U.S. gasoline prices? In November 2010, when the average retail gasoline price was $2.86 a gallon, crude oil accounted for 71 percent of that price.
So what makes up the other 29 percent of gasoline prices? According to the Department of Energy, combined federal and state taxes on gasoline accounted for 14 percent of the average price. The remaining 15 percent of the price on average covers the costs of refining, transportation and marketing. The DOE chart at left shows this average price breakdown.
http://www.exxonmobilperspectives.com/2011/01/13/what-makes-up-the-price-of-u-s-gasoline/
just how much does the price of crude impact U.S. gasoline prices? In November 2010, when the average retail gasoline price was $2.86 a gallon, crude oil accounted for 71 percent of that price.
So what makes up the other 29 percent of gasoline prices? According to the Department of Energy, combined federal and state taxes on gasoline accounted for 14 percent of the average price. The remaining 15 percent of the price on average covers the costs of refining, transportation and marketing. The DOE chart at left shows this average price breakdown.
http://www.exxonmobilperspectives.com/2011/01/13/what-makes-up-the-price-of-u-s-gasoline/
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Why you should love $5 gas
I wish this were sarcasm, but he's serious.
Read more at:
http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=e04807fc-e307-45c7-a3b0-9fdabfac3518&from=en-us_msnhp>1=33009
"Stop grousing about the numbers on the pump. All of this could be good for you and good for America."
By doubleace
As you pump 13 gallons into your Honda CR-V -- American's best-selling SUV and a thrifty 28 on the highway and 21 in town -- it's near impossible to view the $50 you're spending with a positive attitude.
With the national average at $3.84, it's easy to label oil executives as pond scum, but try to remain open-minded. Think of the big picture: While that promised road trip to Disney World just went up in carbon monoxide, $5 gasoline may actually have an upside if it arrives this summer as some experts predict. Not for you and your family personally, maybe, but perhaps for the United States as a whole.
Some possible benefits (and we're serious about most of them):
Fewer people will die on the road.
Demand for high-mileage cars may grow.
Shorter security lines.
Less pollution.
Less congestion.
Read more at:
http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=e04807fc-e307-45c7-a3b0-9fdabfac3518&from=en-us_msnhp>1=33009
The real reason gas prices are soaring
By Charles Wallace
Dan Dicker, who has spent nearly three decades in the oil market, has a profoundly disturbing explanation of why the price of oil, and the gasoline that comes from the crude product, has risen so dramatically in recent months. It turns out, Dicker says, that the price has nothing to do with supply and demand for oil. It's the financial market for oil, filled with both professional speculators and amateur investors betting on poorly understood oil exchange-traded funds, who have ratcheted up the price of gas to such sky high levels.
http://money.msn.com/exchange-traded-fund/latest.aspx?post=1dc008c1-6cac-46aa-8329-16d60718784c&_nwpt=1
Dan Dicker, who has spent nearly three decades in the oil market, has a profoundly disturbing explanation of why the price of oil, and the gasoline that comes from the crude product, has risen so dramatically in recent months. It turns out, Dicker says, that the price has nothing to do with supply and demand for oil. It's the financial market for oil, filled with both professional speculators and amateur investors betting on poorly understood oil exchange-traded funds, who have ratcheted up the price of gas to such sky high levels.
http://money.msn.com/exchange-traded-fund/latest.aspx?post=1dc008c1-6cac-46aa-8329-16d60718784c&_nwpt=1
Food or Fuel?
By Glen Beck
US corn usage is increasingly being drawn away from the food supply for making ethanol. In fact, 37% of the US corn production now goes to ethanol production while only 8.3% goes to food. (The rest going to exports or other uses - textiles, plastics, etc)
One global shock and both our food and fuel distribution could be dramatically affected.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4651039/beck-food-or-fuel
"US farmers plans 92.2 million acres of food this year, 4 million more than last year. Yet our corn supply is nearing a 15 year low. Why is that? Why are we having problems with food?. We have 15 to 18 days supply in our silos. If there is any kind of disruption in our chain, we've got problems."
US corn usage is increasingly being drawn away from the food supply for making ethanol. In fact, 37% of the US corn production now goes to ethanol production while only 8.3% goes to food. (The rest going to exports or other uses - textiles, plastics, etc)
One global shock and both our food and fuel distribution could be dramatically affected.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4651039/beck-food-or-fuel
Monday, April 18, 2011
Standard & Poor's on Monday downgraded the outlook for the United States to negative.
"Because the U.S. has, relative to its 'AAA' peers, what we consider to be very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness and the path to addressing these is not clear to us, we have revised our outlook on the long-term rating to negative from stable,"
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42643384
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42643384
Foreign strategist Predicting Violent Revolution in US as Dollar crashes? Gold the new world reserve currency?
Say “Goodbye” to the Dollar
By TMH
Well, this explains why the central banks have been buying up gold like crazy, inflating the price even further. As that eases, and the banks all have achieved their gold reserve goals, the gold bubble will deflate somewhat.
By TMH
Well, this explains why the central banks have been buying up gold like crazy, inflating the price even further. As that eases, and the banks all have achieved their gold reserve goals, the gold bubble will deflate somewhat.
The BRIC Summit, held on 14 April in Sanya (People’s Republic of China), brought together the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The key to understanding the summit may be found in the joint statement, which refers to “the inadequacies and deficiencies of the existing international monetary and financial system….” Without question, this statement is about eliminating the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency. Therefore, the BRIC countries are asking for “the reform and improvement of the international monetary system, with a broad-based international reserve currency system providing stability and certainty.”
It appears, with the addition of South Africa to the BRIC alliance, that gold is being contemplated as a means for backing a new reserve currency.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Another along the same vein
Here's another article along the same vein - Apparently someone thinks there is something to this.
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The Real Obama Economic Plan: Overwhelming the System to Destroy Capitalism and Freedom.
by Angry Patriot
It’s time to stop mincing words. Obama is not a fool. He is not incompetent. He is not a madman. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis, and social chaos- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within. But the bonus is brilliant…as he destroys and taxes to death business owners, he also cripples his political opposition
As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one, Obama is following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Obama’s Columbia University. In 1966, they outlined a plan to socialize America by OVERWHELMING the system with government spending and entitlement demands. Add up the clues below. Taken individually they’re alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to overwhelm the system, wreck the U.S. economy, damage or destroy the free market, in order to turn the U.S. into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for survival.
Read more at this link
http://www.saveourcountry.org/?p=2411
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The Real Obama Economic Plan: Overwhelming the System to Destroy Capitalism and Freedom.
by Angry Patriot
It’s time to stop mincing words. Obama is not a fool. He is not incompetent. He is not a madman. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis, and social chaos- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within. But the bonus is brilliant…as he destroys and taxes to death business owners, he also cripples his political opposition
As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one, Obama is following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Obama’s Columbia University. In 1966, they outlined a plan to socialize America by OVERWHELMING the system with government spending and entitlement demands. Add up the clues below. Taken individually they’re alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to overwhelm the system, wreck the U.S. economy, damage or destroy the free market, in order to turn the U.S. into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for survival.
Read more at this link
http://www.saveourcountry.org/?p=2411
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Obama, the Cloward-Piven Strategy, and the New World Order?
Well, here's one theory about the over-riding cause of the recession... I prefer to explain it with Hanlon's razor:
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On March 9, Brannon Howse of Worldview Radio interviewed author James Simpson. Entitled “Barack Obama is Destroying Our Economy on Purpose,”
Howse’s interview of Simpson concentrated on Columbia University professors Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven who wrote an article in 1966 for The Nation magazine. The article laid out what is now known as the ‘Cloward-Piven Strategy’. The plan calls for the destruction of capitalism in America by swelling the welfare rolls to the point of collapsing our economy and then implementing socialism by nationalizing many private institutions, explains a synopsis on the Worldview Radio website.
“Cloward and Piven studied Saul Alinsky just like Hillary Clinton and President Obama.” Alinsky is considered to be the founder of modern community organizing in America. Alinsky’s teachings influenced Obama early in his career as a community organizer on the far South Side of Chicago. Obama worked for Gerald Kellman’s Developing Communities Project where he learned and taught Alinsky’s methods for community organizing. Obama would later work for ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
“the destruction of capitalism in America by swelling the welfare rolls to the point of collapsing our economy and then implementing socialism by nationalizing many private institutions” is a meticulous plan on the part of the global elite to consolidate power and destroy all opposition.
It has nothing to do with liberating the proletariat but rather subjecting them to banker engineered “world-socialism, scientifically planned and directed” and devised to transform the planet into a banker dominated high-tech prison gulag.
http://www.infowars.com/obama-the-cloward-piven-strategy-and-the-new-world-order/
Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence. - Robert J. Hanlon
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On March 9, Brannon Howse of Worldview Radio interviewed author James Simpson. Entitled “Barack Obama is Destroying Our Economy on Purpose,”
Howse’s interview of Simpson concentrated on Columbia University professors Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven who wrote an article in 1966 for The Nation magazine. The article laid out what is now known as the ‘Cloward-Piven Strategy’. The plan calls for the destruction of capitalism in America by swelling the welfare rolls to the point of collapsing our economy and then implementing socialism by nationalizing many private institutions, explains a synopsis on the Worldview Radio website.
“Cloward and Piven studied Saul Alinsky just like Hillary Clinton and President Obama.” Alinsky is considered to be the founder of modern community organizing in America. Alinsky’s teachings influenced Obama early in his career as a community organizer on the far South Side of Chicago. Obama worked for Gerald Kellman’s Developing Communities Project where he learned and taught Alinsky’s methods for community organizing. Obama would later work for ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
“This new and complete Revolution we contemplate can be defined in a very few words. It is … outright world-socialism, scientifically planned and directed,” H.G. Wells wrote in The New World Order.
“the destruction of capitalism in America by swelling the welfare rolls to the point of collapsing our economy and then implementing socialism by nationalizing many private institutions” is a meticulous plan on the part of the global elite to consolidate power and destroy all opposition.
It has nothing to do with liberating the proletariat but rather subjecting them to banker engineered “world-socialism, scientifically planned and directed” and devised to transform the planet into a banker dominated high-tech prison gulag.
http://www.infowars.com/obama-the-cloward-piven-strategy-and-the-new-world-order/
Some depressing benchmarks on the country’s economic status.
by Moe Lane
http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2011/04/11/some-depressing-benchmarks-on-the-countrys-economic-status/
| March ‘07 | March ‘11 | |
| Unemployment Rate | 4.40% | 8.80% |
| Gas price (per gallon) | $2.56 | $3.60 |
| National Debt | 8.84 trillion | 14.27 trillion |
| Monthly deficit | 95 billion | 189 billion |
| Median House Price* | $262,600 | $202,100 |
| S&P 500 Index | 1420.86 | 1332.31 |
| Employment-Population Ratio | 63.3% | 58.5% |
| Consumer Price Index* | 205.532 | 221.309 |
http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2011/04/11/some-depressing-benchmarks-on-the-countrys-economic-status/
Monday, April 11, 2011
Gas prices up to $3.77 national average.
The national price of gasoline has gone up $0.22 in the last month, to $3.77 / gal. This is in conjunction with a decrease in sales as well. So much for the law of Supply & demand.
It is $3.79 here today - But that is better than upstate - Regular gasoline is $4.13/gal in New York right now.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4638154/gas-prices-up-sales-down
It is $3.79 here today - But that is better than upstate - Regular gasoline is $4.13/gal in New York right now.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4638154/gas-prices-up-sales-down
Survival Guide for High-Rising Gas Prices
By Kate Rogers
Gas prices continued to climb over the weekend, topping $4 per gallon in states like California, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. No matter what make or model your car is, chances are it's hurting your wallet to fill up your tank.
Aside from giving up driving all together, there is little relief for drivers looking to save on gas. However, Jason Toews, co-founder of GasBuddy.com (www.gasbuddy.com) said drivers who know where to look, and consider their options often save more at the pump, even when prices are rising daily.
“In any major city, gas prices will vary as much as 50 to 80 cents per gallon,” Toews said. “You can save as much as 20 cents on the gallon just by knowing where to look. Paying 20 more cents here and there, it definitely does add up.”
CLick here for 9 tips on how to save money buying and using gas:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/04/11/gas-survival-guide/
Gas prices continued to climb over the weekend, topping $4 per gallon in states like California, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. No matter what make or model your car is, chances are it's hurting your wallet to fill up your tank.
Aside from giving up driving all together, there is little relief for drivers looking to save on gas. However, Jason Toews, co-founder of GasBuddy.com (www.gasbuddy.com) said drivers who know where to look, and consider their options often save more at the pump, even when prices are rising daily.
“In any major city, gas prices will vary as much as 50 to 80 cents per gallon,” Toews said. “You can save as much as 20 cents on the gallon just by knowing where to look. Paying 20 more cents here and there, it definitely does add up.”
CLick here for 9 tips on how to save money buying and using gas:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/04/11/gas-survival-guide/
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Are Central Bankers Loading Up On Gold?"
by Tyler Durden
"Gold prices hit a record high in nominal terms for the second consecutive day. We are not sure who is driving up prices." The speculative conclusion: "Are central bankers loading up on gold as they crank up the printing presses and keep interest rates ridiculously low?" Of course, at first glance this would be preposterous as it has long been accepted that for the Fed a jump in surge prices is a very adverse development. Well, is it? Traditionally rising gold prices have been merely indicative of abnormally high inflation, which for the Fed was a "bad" thing in the past. Not so much any more, or at least since the advent of the "wealth effect" experiment.
remember that there has been speculation that various banks are pushing for a mark to market treatment of gold held at central banks. Our own Fed marks its 8,133.5 tons of gold at $42.22/ounce. In other words, if at some point the central bank cartel needs to expand excess reserves even more, thereby creating an even greater "inflationary threat", what better way than to convert held gold from a fixed to a MTM price. For the Fed alone this move would imply a $350 billion "increase" in assets, which would then need a comparable increase in bank reserves (and currency eventually).
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/surprising-observations-trimtabs-are-central-bankers-loading-gold
"Gold prices hit a record high in nominal terms for the second consecutive day. We are not sure who is driving up prices." The speculative conclusion: "Are central bankers loading up on gold as they crank up the printing presses and keep interest rates ridiculously low?" Of course, at first glance this would be preposterous as it has long been accepted that for the Fed a jump in surge prices is a very adverse development. Well, is it? Traditionally rising gold prices have been merely indicative of abnormally high inflation, which for the Fed was a "bad" thing in the past. Not so much any more, or at least since the advent of the "wealth effect" experiment.
remember that there has been speculation that various banks are pushing for a mark to market treatment of gold held at central banks. Our own Fed marks its 8,133.5 tons of gold at $42.22/ounce. In other words, if at some point the central bank cartel needs to expand excess reserves even more, thereby creating an even greater "inflationary threat", what better way than to convert held gold from a fixed to a MTM price. For the Fed alone this move would imply a $350 billion "increase" in assets, which would then need a comparable increase in bank reserves (and currency eventually).
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/surprising-observations-trimtabs-are-central-bankers-loading-gold
Glen Beck says "Something Wicked is coming" in his goodbye speech
Glen Beck is a over the top sensationalist, which would be a problem if he weren't frequently right.
But this is nothing new to those of you who are regular Beck listeners.
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/04/06/video-glenn-beck-says-goodbye-sort-of/
But this is nothing new to those of you who are regular Beck listeners.
"If you have watched this program... You know what I believe is coming"
"If you watched tonigts show you know that I believe we are headed into deep and trecherous waters".
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/04/06/video-glenn-beck-says-goodbye-sort-of/
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Shocker: Inflation is back, wages falling behind
by Ed Morrissey
What a surprise! Who could have predicted this?
Inflation is back, with higher prices for food and fuel hammering American consumers, and this time it really hurts.
It’s not just that prices are rising — it’s that wages aren’t.
Previous bouts of inflation have usually meant a wage-price spiral, as pay and prices chase each other ever upward. But now paychecks are falling further and further behind. In the past three months, consumer prices have been rising at a 5.7 percent annual rate while average weekly wages have barely budged, increasing at an annual rate of only 1.3 percent.
And the particular prices that are rising are for products that people encounter most frequently in their daily lives and have the least flexibility to avoid. For the most part, it’s not computers and cars that are getting more expensive, it’s gasoline, which is up 19 percent in the past year, ground beef, up 10 percent, and butter, up 23 percent.
What a surprise! Who could have predicted this?
Surging Oil And Deepening Inflation - Gold & Silver Rise To Record Nominal Highs At $1,459 And $39.50
by Tyler Durden
In trading in London this morning, gold reached a new record nominal high ($1,459.07) and silver a new 31 year nominal high ($39.50) as investors bought the precious metals to hedge deepening sovereign debt risk (in the EU but also in the US with the threat of a federal budget shutdown), geopolitical risk and deepening inflation.
Brent crude reached $123.00 a barrel this morning
Gold and silver’s record highs were barely reported in the non financial press and the majority of the investing public will not be aware of the record nominal highs. This is a continuing indication which suggests that the precious metals are far from the mania bubble phase.
In trading in London this morning, gold reached a new record nominal high ($1,459.07) and silver a new 31 year nominal high ($39.50) as investors bought the precious metals to hedge deepening sovereign debt risk (in the EU but also in the US with the threat of a federal budget shutdown), geopolitical risk and deepening inflation.
Brent crude reached $123.00 a barrel this morning
Gold and silver’s record highs were barely reported in the non financial press and the majority of the investing public will not be aware of the record nominal highs. This is a continuing indication which suggests that the precious metals are far from the mania bubble phase.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
The Solution (that will unfortunately never be implemented)
Paul Ryan’s revolution would finish Reagan’s
by James Pethokoukis
Is Rep. Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” potentially the most important and necessary piece of economic legislation since President Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts in 1981? Quite likely. The blueprint embraces free markets and individual choice to radically reshape America’s social welfare state for the 21st century and shrink government. Instead of looking for ways to finance an ever-expanding public sector, it would prevent Washington from growing to a projected 45 percent of GDP by 2050 (vs. 24 percent today) and instead reduce it to just under 15 percent by that year. Ryan would downsize government to its smallest size since 1950 and prevent the Europeanization of the American economy. The Ryan Path embraces dynamic growth, not managed decline and stagnation.
by James Pethokoukis
Is Rep. Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” potentially the most important and necessary piece of economic legislation since President Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts in 1981? Quite likely. The blueprint embraces free markets and individual choice to radically reshape America’s social welfare state for the 21st century and shrink government. Instead of looking for ways to finance an ever-expanding public sector, it would prevent Washington from growing to a projected 45 percent of GDP by 2050 (vs. 24 percent today) and instead reduce it to just under 15 percent by that year. Ryan would downsize government to its smallest size since 1950 and prevent the Europeanization of the American economy. The Ryan Path embraces dynamic growth, not managed decline and stagnation.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Government's Stealth Takeover of Food
by Roger Hedgecock
Been to the grocery store lately? Prices are up and food packages are shrinking. Call it stealth inflation.
There's no hiding the skyrocketing price of gas that hits you in the face every time you fill up the tank. But food? Last year's steep rise in the price of wheat, corn, coffee, and chocolate is now rippling through the food chain, but the food industry is working overtime to mask food price inflation.
Food packages, cans, and bottles have been downsized.
The New York Times reported the story of Lisa Stauber of Houston, who used to feed her nine children with three boxes of pasta. When the three boxes came up short one night, she checked the box to find that the old 16 ounce-sized box of pasta now contained only 13.25 ounces, but she was still charged the price for 16 ounces.
Food inflation, like all inflation, is driven by the government printing money beyond the value of the economy. The Federal Reserve is, as we speak, drawing dollars out of thin air to "buy" the debt from the U.S. Treasury, a classic move that will make every dollar in existing circulation (or in your savings account) worth less.
Food prices have also been driven up by a worldwide increase in the demand. Higher demand but lower supply = higher prices.
There's another reason supply is tightening and food prices are skyrocketing.
Been to the grocery store lately? Prices are up and food packages are shrinking. Call it stealth inflation.
There's no hiding the skyrocketing price of gas that hits you in the face every time you fill up the tank. But food? Last year's steep rise in the price of wheat, corn, coffee, and chocolate is now rippling through the food chain, but the food industry is working overtime to mask food price inflation.
Food packages, cans, and bottles have been downsized.
The New York Times reported the story of Lisa Stauber of Houston, who used to feed her nine children with three boxes of pasta. When the three boxes came up short one night, she checked the box to find that the old 16 ounce-sized box of pasta now contained only 13.25 ounces, but she was still charged the price for 16 ounces.
Food inflation, like all inflation, is driven by the government printing money beyond the value of the economy. The Federal Reserve is, as we speak, drawing dollars out of thin air to "buy" the debt from the U.S. Treasury, a classic move that will make every dollar in existing circulation (or in your savings account) worth less.
Food prices have also been driven up by a worldwide increase in the demand. Higher demand but lower supply = higher prices.
There's another reason supply is tightening and food prices are skyrocketing.
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