Thursday, March 28, 2013

Why you never buy gold unless it is IN HAND.

By Tyer Durden

Earlier today, the CFTC issued an order and charges against two Boca Raton companies, (Joseph Glenn Commodities LLC and JGCF LLC, and their owners Scott Newcom and Anthony Pulieri) which accused the abovementioned of engaging in illegal, fraudulent off-exchange financed transactions in precious metals with retail customers
As alleged in the CFTC Complaint against Hunter Wise and according to the CFTC Order in this case, however, neither Joseph Glenn, JGCF, nor Hunter Wise purchased or held metal on the customers’ behalf, or disbursed any funds to finance the remaining balance of the purchase price. The Order finds that the Respondents’ customers thus never owned, possessed, or received title to the physical commodities that they believed they purchased

In other words: that physical gold that your trusted "held" on your behalf... they never really held it, and neither did you.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-27/physical-gold-you-thought-you-owned-you-didnt

Middle Class Extinction: Big government winning the war on middle class


Ponder the polarizing effect this has on our socio-economic status and the resulting class warfare, not to mention the deep impact on the economy....
Spending among the upper quintile of income earners is masking weakness elsewhere but it is jobs headlines that are really hiding the dismal reality in America. As the following chart shows,confirming our earlier discussion, the middle-class income-earner is becoming an endangered species (with no 'conservation group' willing to stand up for them) as the government holds the lowest income earners' hand and Bernanke the highest.



Friday, March 22, 2013

When the middle class collapses.... so goes the rest of the nation


On The Progressing Extinction Of The US Middle Class


By Tyler Durden

Beneath the positive headlines Bloomberg's Joe Brusuelas notes that there is evidence that a good portion of consumers continue to face a difficult adjustment to the $125 billion tax hike in January and the 15 percent increase in gasoline prices during the past four months. Spending among the upper quintile of income earners is masking weakness elsewhere but it is jobs headlines that are really hiding the dismal reality in America. As the following chart shows, confirming our earlier discussion, the middle-class income-earner is becoming an endangered species (with no 'conservation group' willing to stand up for them) as the government holds the lowest income earners' hand and Bernanke the highest.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-14/progressing-extinction-us-middle-class


Thursday, March 21, 2013

An Orwellian America


By Tyler Durden


As a young man, I voraciously read George Orwell’s “1984”,  Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” and Alvin Toffler's trilogy which included "Future Shock"', "The Third Wave" and "Power Shift". During the era of the Vietnam War, I wondered seriously about the future and how it was destined to unfold. Now being considerably older, I have the vantage point to reflect back on my early ruminations and expectations. Unfortunately, I am too old to alter the lessons that are now so painfully obvious. Instead, I pass the gauntlet to those who can understand and take action on what I have unavoidably come to expect for America.
A FRAMEWORK OF UNDERSTANDING

THE 'HUXLEY-ORWELL' TRANSITION
I recently read a perceptive paper by Chris Hedges that would have made any English Professor envious, powerfully philosophical but not something an Economics department would pay much attention to. I found it both intriguing and enlightening.
I have borrowed so heavily from it, that I am unsure where the lines diverge. Therefore, below I give full credit to Chris Hedges and take full credit for all the bad ideas.
The two greatest visions of a future dystopia were George Orwell’s “1984” and Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.” The debate, between those who watched our descent towards corporate totalitarianism, was who was right. Would we be, as Orwell wrote, dominated by a repressive surveillance and security state that used crude and violent forms of control? Or would we be, as Huxley envisioned, entranced by entertainment and spectacle, captivated by technology and seduced by profligate consumption to embrace our own oppression? It turns out Orwell and Huxley were both right. Huxley saw the first stage of our enslavement. Orwell saw the second.


READ MORE (MUCH MORE)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-15/orwellian-america