Infinite Unknown

- Gold Bug Bill Gross Will Gladly Pay You Tuesday For A Hamburger Today, Hoping “Tuesday Never Comes” (ZeroHedge, May 1, 2012):

We will forgive Bill Gross for taking the chart that Zero Hedge first presented (oddly enough correctly attributed by his arch rival Jeff Gundlach) as the centerpiece of his just released monthly musings, and wrongfully misattributing it, for the simple reason that everything else in his latest monthly letter “Tuesday Never Comes” is a carbon copy of the topics covered and discussed extensively on these pages both recently and over the past 3 years. However something tells us that the man who manages over $1 trillion in bonds in the form of the world’s largest bond portfolio will be slowly in getting branded a gold bug by the idiot media even with such warnings as “real assets/commodities should occupy an increasing percentage of portfolios.” Neither will his warnings that an inflationary spike courtesy of the tens of trillions in loose money added to the system will be inflationary: “inflation should creep higher. Do not be mellowed by the affirmation of a 2% target rate of inflation here in the U.S. or as targeted in six of the G-7 nations. Not suddenly, but over time, gradually higher rates of inflation should be the result of QE policies and zero bound yields that were initiated in late 2008 and which will likely continue for years to come.” Finally, since Zero Hedge is the only venue that has been pounding the table on the whole “flow” vs “stock” debate which is at the heart of it all (see here), we were delighted to see this topic get a much needed mention by the world’s now most influential gold bug: “The Fed appears to have a theory that is somewhat incomprehensible to me, stressing the “stock” of Treasuries as opposed to the “flow.” And there you have it. In summary: to anyone who has read Zero Hedge recently, don’t expect much new ground covered. To anyone else, this is a must read.

From Bill Gross

Tuesday Never Comes

• The current acceleration of credit via central bank policies will likely produce a positive rate of real economic growth this year for most developed countries, but the structural distortions brought about by zero bound interest rates will limit that growth and induce serious risks in future years.
• Not suddenly, but over time, gradually higher rates of inflation should be the result of QE policies and zero bound yields that will likely continue for years to come.
• Focus on securities with shorter durations – bonds with maturities in the five-year range and stocks paying dividends that offer 3%–4% yields.  In addition, real assets/commodities should occupy an increasing percentage of portfolios.

Continue reading »

Tags: Bill Gross, Economy, Global News, Gold, PIMCO

- Eric Sprott: “When Fundamentals No Longer Apply, Review the Fundamentals” (ZeroHedge, April 28, 2012):

When Fundamentals No Longer Apply, Review the Fundamentals

This may not come as a surprise, but we’re still not seeing it. We’re not seeing a US recovery.

Here we are, well into 2012, and the fact remains that the US housing situation is still a bust. There is simply no housing recovery happening in the United States. US New Home Sales fell for the fourth time in a row month-overmonth in March, representing a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 328,000, down from 353,000 in February.¹ Do you know what the annual rate of New Home Sales was back in 2006? About 1.21 million.² No recovery there.

Same goes for US Existing Home Sales, which fell unexpectedly by 2.6% in March to an annual rate of 4.48 million units.³ Again – would you care to know where they were in the same month back in 2006, before the financial system fell apart? Approximately 6.92 million units.⁴ No recovery there either.

Then there’s unemployment. Judging by all the recent earnings-release cheerleading, March’s jobs numbers seem to have been forgotten, but they were plainly weak. The US Labor Department showed US hiring slowing to a mere 120,000 new jobs in March, below expectations of 200,000+.⁵ That’s not a recovery. That’s simply weak data.

Same goes for the most recent jobless claims numbers, which have been running above 380,000 for the last two weeks, above the 375,000 threshold that supposedly signals future unemployment increases.⁶ Again – this is not positive data, this is weak data. How high will it have to go before the economists admit that it’s weak? 400,000? 425,000? We’re asking – we’d like to know.

Then there are US tax receipts, which continue to point in the same direction. If the US is recovering so strongly, then why are employment tax receipts only up 2%? ($484 billion fiscal year-to-date as of March 2012 vs. $475 billion over the same period to March 2011).⁷ A 2% increase is explainable by inflation alone, which was last reported running at 2.7% according to the Bureau of Labour Stastics.⁸ Shouldn’t the tax receipts be much higher than that? Wasn’t unemployment down so far this year? As the Associated Press plainly states, “The unemployment rate has fallen to 8.2% in March [2012] from 9.1% in August [2011]. Part of the drop was because people gave up looking for work. People who are out of work but not looking for jobs aren’t counted among the unemployed.”⁹ Oh! Sorry,… now the numbers make more sense. There hasn’t been any net new employment at all. Question: if everyone “gives up” looking for work next week, will the US unemployment rate go to zero? We’re asking – we’d like to know.

Continue reading »

Tags: China, Collapse, ECB, Economy, Eric Sprott, Eric Sprott Management, EU, Europe, Global News, Gold, Government, IMF, Politics, Real Estate, Society, U.S., Unemployment

- A Front Page You Won’t See In The US (ZeroHedge, April 24, 2012):

Just because try hard as it may, the Chairman’s printer simply can’t issue infinite electronic equivalents of the 79 proton element, newspapers with a circulation of 435,000 (same as the Chicago Tribune) on this side of the Ganges will hardly ever be allowed to show the following anti-patriotic advertisement.

See also:

- Russia And Mexico Both Buy Nearly $1 Billion Worth of Gold in March

- Chris Martenson And Harvey Organ: Get PHYSICAL Gold And Silver

- US Editor Of The Economist: Governments To Debase The ‘Paper Dollar And ‘Paper Euro’ ‘In A Big Way

- MUST-SEE: The Implications Of A Failed Monetary System (Video)

- The Great Collapse Of The US Empire

- Chinese Gold Imports From Hong Kong Rise Nearly 13 Fold – PBOC Likely Buying Dip Again

- Gold And Silver Confiscation (Video)

- JPMorgan’s Blythe Masters On The Blogosphere, Silver Manipulation, Gold-Axed Clients And Doing The ‘Wrong’ Thing (VIDEO)

- Must Read: Jim Grant Crucifies The Fed; Explains Why A Gold Standard Is The Best Option

- CFTC Pulls ‘JPMorgan Whistleblower’ Letter

- Famous Investor Marc Faber: US ‘Financial Mess’ Will Force Government To Take Your Gold

- Warren Buffett Priced In Gold: Can You Say Bubble? Or, More To The Point, Can You Say Bursting?

- Ron Paul To Ben Bernanke: ‘People Lose Trust In The Government Because You Lie To Them About Inflation’ – ’98% Of The Dollar Value Is GONE From The 1913 Dollar!’

Tags: Corporate Media, Economy, Global News, Gold, India, Society, U.S.

- Russia And Mexico Both Buy Nearly $1 Billion Worth of Gold in March (ZeroHedge, April 24, 2012)

Tags: Economy, Global News, Gold, Government, Mexico, Politics, Russia

- Italian Police Seize $1.5 Billion U.S. Securities From Man’s Car (Bloomberg, April 21, 2012):

Italy’s financial police seized U.S. government securities with a nominal value of $1.5 billion from an unidentified man in his 70s, they said in an e-mailed statement.

The police said they also took certificates of deposit for about 1,000 tons of gold, which together with the U.S. bonds are worth more than 3 billion euros ($4 billion). The assets were found in a briefcase in the man’s car in Viterbo near Rome because of their “doubtful origin,” according to the statement.

Continue reading »

Tags: Bonds, Debt, Economy, EU, Europe, Global News, Gold, Government, Italy, Police, Politics, U.S.

- Chris Martenson And Harvey Organ: Get Physical Gold & Silver (ZeroHedge, April 21, 2012):

Harvey Organ has been analyzing the bullion markets closely for decades. The quality and accuracy of his work is respected enough to have earned him an invitation to testify before the CFTC on position limits for precious metals back in 2010.

And he minces no words: gold and silver prices are suppressed. With extreme prejudice.

In this detailed interview, Harvey explains to Chris the mechanics how of he sees this manipulation occurring, why he predicts this fraudulent pricing scheme will collapse soon, and why it’s critical to be holding physical (vs paper) bullion when it does.

The real suppression of the metals started in 1988. That’s when the leasing game started and was invented by J.P. Morgan. Continue reading »

Tags: Banking, COMEX, Economy, Global News, Gold, JPMorgan, Silver, U.S.

See also:

- MUST-SEE: The Implications Of A Failed Monetary System (Video)

- Chinese Gold Imports From Hong Kong Rise Nearly 13 Fold – PBOC Likely Buying Dip Again

“People Have Lost Faith In the 20th Century Religion Of Government Backed Fiat Money”

Matthew Bishop, the US Editor of The Economist, has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal TV about gold and why “people have lost faith in the 20th century religion of government backed fiat money.”

He says that he has become an agnostic or an atheist with regard to his belief in government-backed money as he fears that governments are in a position whereby they are going to debase currencies such as the “paper dollar and “paper euro” “in a big way.” Gold becomes one of the “alternative religions” in that environment.

History shows that a deleveraging downturn takes a long time and can take 7 or 8 years. Inflationary pressures are building and will be seen in the second half of the cycle, according to Bishop.

Continue reading »

Tags: Debt, Dollar, Economy, EU, Euro, Europe, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News, Gold, Government, Politics, Quantitative Easing, U.S.

Watch the video here:

- The Implications Of A Failed Monetary System (ZeroHedge, April 16, 2012):

Santiago Capital has put together a concise and highly informative 10 minutes video, which explains in the amount of time that a traditional economics professor takes to prepare their coffee, virtually everything that is at risk, and fundamentally flawed, with the current monetary system. While this presentation will not be news to regular readers, we suggest it is watched with recent revelations elsewhere (certainly not here: this has been the default assumption here since day one), that it is flow, not stock that matters to price formation. Which means the exponential curve discussed below will only get ever steeper to asymptote, if the true purpose of the Fed is simply to ramp stocks come hell or high water, in its artificial pursuit of “price stability.”

Tags: Banking, Ben Bernanke, Bonds, Debt, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News, Gold, Government, Politics, U.S.

The greatest financial collapse in world history is coming.

This is the ‘Greatest Depression’.

- The Great Collapse of the US Empire (LewRockwell, April 12, 2012):

The biggest story of the late 20th century was the collapse of the Soviet Union. After decades of a government controlled, centrally planned economy and outsized military expenditures the Soviet Union just one day ceased to be. Fast forward a few decades and now the biggest story about to happen in the early 21st century will be the collapse of the US empire for the exact same reasons.

The US economy has been centrally planned and manipulated by the communist fashioned central bank, the Federal Reserve, for 99 years now. But it wasn’t until August 15, 1971 that the last linkage of gold from the US dollar was removed and the US Government and the Federal Reserve were allowed to truly run rampant with their anti-capitalist economic system.

A look at US Government debt since the beginning of the 20th century tells the story:

Just like the Soviet Union the US has also bankrupted itself on offense. Sorry, they call it defense even though all they do is attack and occupy other countries. The US spends more than the rest of the world combined on its military and spends $2,374 per capita each year. The next nine closest countries in military spending per capita average $80 per annum. Continue reading »

Tags: Bonds, Collapse, Debt, Dollar, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News, Gold, Government, Politics, Quantitative Easing, Society, U.S.

- Chinese Gold Imports From Hong Kong Rise Nearly 13 Fold – PBOC Likely Buying Dip Again (ZeroHedge, April 10, 2012):

Tags: China, Economy, Global News, Gold, Government, People's Bank of China, Politics