Infinite Unknown

- As China Buys, Sellers Push Gold Down To 4 Month Lows (ZeroHedge, May 8, 2012):

Gold just lost the $1600 handle for the first time since January 5th and is suffering its biggest one-day loss in over two months as Europe’s meltdown is driving broad liquidations. Are hungry Chinese central bankers more than happy to soak up the precious metal at a discount from levered longs liquidating into the European fiasco?

Chart: Bloomberg

- “Uncivilized” China Quietly Building Gold Reserves As Gold Imports From HK Soar By 587% In First Quarter (ZeroHedge, May 8, 2012):

A month ago we ended up with the hilarious situation where the US was actively considering releasing petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve even as China was demonstratively and concurrently adding to its strategic inventory. Now, as the developed world is seeing day after day of gold hammering on amusing flights of fancy that central banks won’t be forced to engage in more and ever bigger rounds of monetary dilution, and where the seller apparently has no regard for getting a “good” price, but merely seeks to crash the bid stack slams various PM prices, we see the same inversion with gold. Because as Bloomberg reports, “Mainland China’s gold imports from Hong Kong surged more than sixfold in the first quarter, to 156 metric tons, adding to signs that the country may displace India as the world’s largest consumer of the precious metal on an annual basis.” And the punchline: “The purchases through Hong Kong may signal that the mainland is accumulating reserves, London-based brokerage Sharps Pixley Ltd. said in February. The nation last made its reserves known more than two years ago, stating them at 1,054 tons.” Yep ladies and gents: the PBOC is very grateful that it can add hundreds of tons of gold to its reserve holdings in a stealthy operation which it will announce only after its conclusion, at which point, like true 13F chasing lemmings, retail will send gold soaring. But in the meantime, dear hedge funds worried about your margin calls and 1 month performance reports, please proceed calmly along with the lemming herd, and keep pushing gold lower and cheaper for our new Chinese overlords, and for everyone else who, without P&L timing constraints, takes delight in such brief arbitrage opportunities.

From Bloomberg:

Imports from Hong Kong were 135,529 kilograms (135.53 metric tons) between January and March, from 19,729 kilograms in the year-earlier period, according to data from the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong government. Shipments in March rose 59 percent from February, yesterday’s data showed.

Continue reading »

Tags: Australia, Bonds, China, Debt, Dollar, Economy, EU, Europe, Fed, Federal Reserve, GDP, Global News, Gold, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Politics, U.S., World Bank

Source: Unemployment Rate Drops To 8.2% For One Simple Reason: The Number Of People Not In The Labor Force Is Back To All Time Highs: 87,897,000

- Why There Are No Jobs (Intel Hub, May 4, 2012):

What a week. On Tuesday the DOW finished the day at 13,279, its highest close since December 2007.  In terms of the stock market, we’ve crossed the great divide…December 2007, remember, was pre-financial crisis.

In fact, it was nearly a year before Lehman Brothers vanished from the face of the earth and black swans relentlessly descended upon the LIBOR like common ravens upon fresh Southern California road kill.  If you recall, when the sky was falling in late 2008, spread movements that were statistically not possible in a million years, somehow, happened every day.

Money market shares of the Reserve Primary Fund did the impossible…they broke the buck – falling to $0.97 cents a share.  Still, while the stock market may be back to where it was over four years ago, the world is dramatically different…

For one thing, back in December of 2007 you could buy a 10-year Treasury Note yielding 4.23 percent.  Today the 10-year Note Yields less than half that.  Of course, December 2007 was before TARP, CPFF, MMIFF, TAF, ZIRP, QE, QE2, Operation Twist, and all sorts of other harebrained schemes were put into practice to “reflate” financial markets.

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Tags: Bailout, Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, Bonds, Collapse, Debt, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News, Government, Politics, Stock Market, U.S., Unemployment, Wall Street

- Jim Rogers’ Warning: Riots Coming To America (ETF Daily News, May 2, 2012):

Dominique de Kevelioc de Bailleul: Speaking with the Wall Street Journal on Friday, commodities trader Jim Rogers of Rogers Holdings said riots such as the ones witnessed in Greece and reported as widespread in China will hit the United States and again in Europe as the next leg down in the financial crisis takes shape (after the election, he speculates in previous interviews).

“I’m more worried about those kind of problems [rioting] in the U.S. and Europe; this is where social unrest is going to be worse,” Rogers told the Journal.  “I would suspect that, when economic conditions get worse here and get worse in Europe, we’re going to see . . . you’ve seen governments fail in Europe; you’ve seen countries fail in Europe. I suspect you’re going to see more of it [rioting], yes.

“We saw it in London; we’ve seen it in several countries in Europe in the last year or two.  Yes, I expect to see it here, too.  If you don’t, look out your window”

When asked about Bernanke’s credibility regarding his latest FOMC public statement, in which he said the Fed will be able to contain inflation, Rogers became noticeably irritated.

“Mr. Bernanke has zero credibility as far as I’m concerned.  The Federal Reserve has zero credibility,” Rogers said forcefully.   “Simon, go back at everything Mr. Bernanke has said in the last seven or eight years he’s been in Washington.  He’s never been right about anything.  The man has zero credibility for anyone who would take the time to look at his history.”

As far as further inflation down the road, Rogers stated inflation is already in the pipeline, and will manifest in higher commodities and consumer prices—of which, historically, have lagged money supply expansion by six months to one year.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News, Government, Jim Rogers, Obama administration, Politics, Riots, Society, Timothy Geithner, U.S.

- St. Louis Fed’s “Not In Labor Force” Data Is Now Officially Off The Chart (ZeroHedge, May 4, 2012):

The comedy continues: the April “Not in labor force” seasonally adjusted print: 88,419,000. And yet, the maximum reading permitted by St Louis Fed Not in Labor Force (LNS15000000) graph: 88,000,000. The data has now officially dropped off the chart. No further commentary necessary.

Tags: Barack Obama, Collapse, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News, Government, Obama administration, Politics, Society, U.S., Unemployment

- Biderman Makes Friends: “Bankers Are As Dumb As Politicians” (ZeroHedge, May 2, 2012):

In his usual quiet manner, TrimTabs CEO Charles Biderman unloads his emotional baggage along with USAWatchdog’s Greg Hunter in this 15-minute interview. The sad truth is that, just like his alter-ego Lewis Black, Biderman is right – again and again. Whether it is reflecting on the kick-the-can mentality of polticians or US investor’s apparent willingness to accept the  pulling-the-printing-press-over-our-eyes-behavior, or the fact that Europe can only get worse and how that will spread contagiously to the rest of the world (directly via trade or indirectly via risk-aversion), his focus on the facts (especially with regard to the real state of the US economy as he describes it) makes it hard to disagree for even the most vehement long-only manager (is it any wonder we don’t see him on CNBC that much anymore?). Biderman and Hunter discuss the signs of growing inflation, the need to get rid of the deadwood bankers, Europe’s imminent demise, central banks’ ‘funny money’ creation, and the need for Gold and TIPs in any portfolio, Charles is at his best as he makes friends (except with the bankers and politicians that he scoffs at) and hopefully influences people.

YouTube

Tags: Barack Obama, Bonds, Charles Biderman, Debt, Dollar, ECB, Economy, EU, Europe, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News, Gold, Government, Inflation, Obama administration, Politics, Society, TrimTabs, U.S.

YouTube Added: 24.02.2012

Tags: Banking, Barack Obama, Bonds, China, Debt, Dollar, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News, Government, Obama administration, Politics, Ron Paul, Society, U.S.

YouTube Added: 26.04.2012

In case the YouTube video ‘disappears’:

Books from Jim Marrs @Amazon.com:

- The Trillion-Dollar Conspiracy: How the New World Order, Man-Made Diseases, and Zombie Banks Are Destroying America

- The Terror Conspiracy Revisited: What Really Happened On 9/11, And Why We’re Still Paying The Price

- The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America

- Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids

Tags: 1984, 9/11, Afghanistan, Agriculture, Banking, Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, Big Brother, Big Pharma, Bonds, Bush administration, Corporate Media, Debt, DHS, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economy, Farmers, Fascism, Fast and Furious, Fed, Federal Reserve, FEMA, FEMA Camps, Fluor, Fluoridation, Fluoride, George Bush, George H. W. Bush, George Orwell, Gestapo, Government, Homeland Security, Iraq, Jim Marrs, JPMorgan, Martial Law, Medicaid, Medicare, Mexico, Military, Mind-Control, Nazi Germany, Nazis, New World Order, Obama administration, Osama Bin Laden, Pharmaceutical Industry, Police State, Politics, Quantitative Easing, Ron Paul, Social Security, Standard & Poor's, Terrorism, Terrorists, U.S., War, WTC

- Robert Wenzel’s ‘David’ Speech Crushes Federal Reserve’s ‘Goliath’ Dream (ZeroHedge, April 27, 2012):

In perhaps the most courageous (and likely must-read for future economists) speech ever given inside the New York Fed’s shallowed hallowed walls, Economic Policy Journal’s Robert Wenzel delivered the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to the monetary priesthood. Gracious from the start, Wenzel takes the Keynesian clap-trappers to task on almost every nonsensical and oblivious decision they have made in recent years.

“My views, I suspect, differ from beginning to end… I stand here confused as to how you see the world so differently than I do. I simply do not understand most of the thinking that goes on here at the Fed and I do not understand how this thinking can go on when in my view it smacks up against reality.”

and further…

“I scratch my head that somehow your conclusions about unemployment are so different than mine and that you call for the printing of money to boost ‘demand’. A call, I add, that since the founding of the Federal Reserve has resulted in an increase of the money supply by 12,230%.”

But his closing was tremendous: Continue reading »

Tags: Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News, Government, Obama administration, Politics, Robert Wenzel, Society, U.S.

- Why The Euro Is So Strong, Or Why The Market Expects $700bn Of Fed QE3 (ZeroHedge, April 27, 2012)

Tags: Bonds, Debt, Dollar, ECB, Economy, EU, Euro, Europe, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News, Government, Politics, U.S.

- Bill Black: Our System Is So Flawed That Fraud Is Mathematically Guaranteed (ZeroHedge, April 28, 2012)

Tags: Barack Obama, Corruption, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, Government, Politics, U.S.