Dollar set for sharp decline, Goldman forecasts

The dollar will embark on a sharp decline over the next 12 months, Goldman Sachs forecast on Wednesday, as policy makers in Washington look poised to press the trigger on another round of printing money.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/currency/8047468/Dollar-set-for-sharp-decline-Goldman-forecasts.html

The Top-10 Budget-Deficit Time Bombs

If you've read the press releases being put out by Washington these days, you'd be convinced that the big bad Bush-caused recession of 2008-2009 is now safely beyond us.

Tain't so.

If fact, the hoary mess which began under the last days of Bush & Democrats guarantees that Obama & Democrats will continue to take us down the rat-hole of national bankruptcy.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=35666

U. S. Treasury Department report to Congress: U.S debt to rise to $19.6 trillion by 2015

GREAT SITE

http://www.federalbudget.com/

Lear Capital: Origin of Gold vs. Silver Ratio

Discussed more and more, as silver prices rally, is the ratio in value of silver to gold. Currently sitting at 60 ounces silver being equal to 1 ounce gold, some say that ratio is headed much lower. Why the optimism? Perhaps history explains.

http://blog.learcapital.com/blog/lear-capital/0/0/lear-capital-origin-of-gold-vs-silver-ratio

David Morgan: Silver Overdone Now, But Headed Higher in 2011

Gold's record highs might steal all the headlines, but savvy investors know the real story lies in silver, where futures for December delivery topped $22/oz earlier this week—their highest levels in 30 years.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/229059-david-morgan-silver-overdone-now-but-headed-higher-in-2011?source=yahoo

Middle Class Slams Brakes on Spending

Middle-class Americans made their deepest spending cuts in more than two decades, slashing spending on such discretionary items as restaurant meals and alcohol during the recession.

Households in the middle fifth of the population sliced their average annual spending to $41,150 in 2009, the Labor Department said Tuesday in its annual spending breakdown. That was down 3.1% from 2007 and 3.5% from 2008, the steepest one-year drop since records began in 1984. The drop came even as those households' after-tax income remained relatively stable over the two years, at an average $45,199

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703298504575534341401915382.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories

Soaring prices threaten new food crisis

Fears of a global food crisis swept the world’s commodity markets as prices for staples such as corn, rice and wheat spiralled after the US government warned of “dramatically” lower supplies.

An especially hot summer in the US, droughts in countries including Russia and Brazil and heavy rain in Canada and Europe have hit many grain and oilseed crops this year. This has raising concern of a severe squeeze in food supplies and a repeat of the 2007-08 food crisis.

EDITOR’S CHOICE
Lex: Commodities: self-defeating rally? - Oct-08In depth: Global food crisis - Oct-08Wheat and corn rise as Ukraine limits exports - Oct-07Russia put to the test by grain shortage - Oct-04Japan faces food pressure from China - Oct-04beyondbrics: Food file - Oct-05The US Department of Agriculture, in a closely watched report, predicted that the country’s stocks of corn would halve to their lowest levels in 14 years.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/12b06cee-d300-11df-9ae9-00144feabdc0.html

Dollar Falls Below 82 Yen for First Time Since 1995

The greenback was headed for a fourth weekly decline against the euro in the longest stretch of losses since December 2008 as investors speculated the Federal Reserve will debase the currency by stepping up purchases of government debt. The yen and Swiss franc rose today versus most major counterparts as investors sought easily traded alternatives to the dollar.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-08/dollar-falls-below-82-yen-for-first-time-since-1995-on-u-s-payroll-report.html

Chris Hedges: Zero Point of Systemic Collapse

We stand on the cusp of one of humanity’s most dangerous moments.

https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/88/chris-hedges.html

87% of cities are Less Able to meet fiscal needs compared to last year

Frightening Charts Show Record Low Revenue, Worst-Ever Austerity Measures For US Cities

http://www.businessinsider.com/record-low-revenue-record-austerity-measures-for-us-cities-2010-10#87-of-cities-are-less-able-to-meet-fiscal-needs-compared-to-last-year-1

$162 million in stimulus funds not disclosed

WASHINGTON — Recovery.gov promised transparency on how the government spends every dollar of stimulus money, but there's $162 million the website doesn't disclose.
Recipients of 352 federal stimulus contracts, grants and loans have failed to report how they spent the money, the status of their projects or how many jobs were funded, according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-10-06-stimulus06_ST_N.htm

Fed Officials Mull Inflation as a Fix

The Federal Reserve spent the past three decades getting inflation low and keeping it there. But as the U.S. economy struggles and flirts with the prospect of deflation, some central bank officials are publicly broaching a controversial idea: lifting inflation above the Fed's informal target.

The rationale is that getting inflation up even temporarily would push "real" interest rates—nominal rates minus inflation—down, encouraging consumers and businesses to save less and to spend or invest more.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704689804575536391713801732.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

Goldman Sachs Says U.S. Economy May Be `Fairly Bad'

“We see two main scenarios,” analysts led by Jan Hatzius, the New York-based chief U.S. economist at the company, wrote in an e-mail to clients. “A fairly bad one in which the economy grows at a 1 1/2 percent to 2 percent rate through the middle of next year and the unemployment rate rises moderately to 10 percent, and a very bad one in which the economy returns to an outright recession.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-06/oldman-sachs-says-u-s-economy-to-be-fairly-bad-recession-is-possible.html

Fear undermines America’s recovery

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4524339a-d17a-11df-96d1-00144feabdc0.html

The State of Silver: Metal's price has widespread impact

Ted Binion, the eccentric son of legendary casino owner Benny Binion, was right: Silver is a good store of wealth.

Binion hid several million dollars worth of silver coins in an underground vault in Pahrump. Rick Tabish and two others were arrested while trying to steal the treasure after Binion died in 1998. Tabish and Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, later were convicted of murder and found innocent in a second murder trial, but both were convicted in the silver theft.

http://www.lvrj.com/business/the-state-of-silver-104401593.html

Rumours aside, something big is about to happen04Oct10

As I type this, a flurry of activity is taking place within security and financial circles around the world. Normally, this would signify just another busy day in the hard-working quarters of modern defence and finance, however this time there is good reason to suspect that the world may be about to witness something historic.

http://bretthenebery.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/rumours-aside-something-big-is-about-to-happen/

How the Housing Crisis Will End the U.S.A. as We Know It

http://johngaltfla.com/blog3/2010/10/05/how-the-housing-crisis-will-end-the-u-s-a-as-we-know-it/?bcsi_scan_24DE46460B4E2EF0=zs/Hf+cvl0P4w6U0ZPzotZoixyYBAAAA43xcAA==

Perth Mint

DEMAND for gold investment products at the Perth Mint has risen as much as 25 per cent in the past month.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/perth-mint-inundated-as-gold-price-soars/story-e6frg8zx-1225934058127

The Fed is dead, maybe by 2012

OK, so Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the “Black Swan” author, actually said: “The Fed won’t exist in 25 years.” Warning: It’ll happen much sooner, fallout of the coming Second American Revolution.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-fed-is-dead-maybe-by-2012-2010-10-05

Buying Gold Before the “Blow Off Phase”

An interesting graph of “a useful road map to any secular bull market” appeared in Casey’s Daily Dispatch. It was a graph showing how investment interest in a developing bubble classically proceeds through four stages.

http://dailyreckoning.com/buying-gold-before-the-blow-off-phase/

$460B Shadow Inventory Will Take 41 Months to Clear

Um---yeah if the economy starts again. If there are no jobs nobody will be buying houses.

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/sp-460b-shadow-inventory-will-take-41-months-to-clear-2010-09-29

Stocks surge to 5-month highs on Japan, services

U.S. stocks rallied right out of the gate and continued to surge Tuesday, with all three major indexes gaining about 2% and finishing at their highest levels since May. Investors welcomed a surprise move by the Bank of Japan to cut its key lending rate, as well as improved data for the U.S. service sector.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/05/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?hpt=T2

ALL metals JUMPED BIGTIME yesterday

Gold UP $25.60 to $1340.60/oz
Silver UP $1.00 to $22.87/oz
Copper UP 0.0506
Zinc UP 0.0359
Nickel UP 0.3416

LETS HOPE SO

Pelosi's vote to adjourn could be her last hurrah

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Pelosi_s-vote-to-adjourn-could-be-her-last-hurrah-1072704-104165973.html

Super-rich investors buy gold by ton

The world's wealthiest people have responded to economic worries by buying gold by the bar -- and sometimes by the ton -- and by moving assets out of the financial system, bankers catering to the very rich said on Monday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6932NR20101004

Obama’s promise to end tax cuts for rich unravels

Nobody in Washington has put it quite so bluntly. But it seems almost certain now that Barack Obama will be unable to fulfil his pledge of reversing George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Last week, Democratic lawmakers returned home to prepare for next month’s midterm elections having failed in either chamber even to put the issue to a vote.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4931a1f8-cfee-11df-bb9e-00144feab49a.html

Health Care Suit Tests Basic Principles

As arguments begin Tuesday in a Florida District Court where 20 state attorneys general and the National Federation of Independent Business are challenging the constitutionality of the health care law, the American people can be forgiven for feeling a bit ill at ease about the direction their country is going. James Madison would feel the same way.

http://www.aolnews.com/opinion/article/opinion-health-care-lawsuit-tests-basic-constitutional-principles/19631832

IMF admits that the West is stuck in near depression

If you strip away the political correctness, Chapter Three of the IMF's World Economic Outlook more or less condemns Southern Europe to death by slow suffocation and leaves little doubt that fiscal tightening will trap North Europe, Britain and America in slump for a long time.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8039789/IMF-admits-that-the-West-is-stuck-in-near-depression.html

World Economy Decoupling From U.S.

Just three years since America began dragging the world into its deepest recession in seven decades, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Credit Suisse Holdings USA Inc. and BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research are forecasting that this time will be different. Goldman Sachs predicts worldwide growth will slow 0.2 percentage point to 4.6 percent in 2011, even as expansion in the U.S. falls to 1.8 percent from 2.6 percent.

Underpinning their analysis is the view that international reliance on U.S. trade has diminished and is too small to spread the lingering effects of America’s housing bust. Providing the U.S. pain doesn’t roil financial markets as it did in the credit crisis, Goldman Sachs expects a weakening dollar, higher bond yields outside the U.S. and stronger emerging-market equities.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-03/world-economy-decoupling-from-u-s-in-slowdown-returns-as-wall-street-view.html

Enjoying the Weak Dollar? You Could Live to Regret It

Last week's Federal Reserve pledge to keep pumping money into the US economy was interpreted to mean future policies that would weaken the US currency. That in turn set off a wave of dollar selling that has been accompanied by a modest rise in stocks, new historical highs in gold and a substantial drop in Treasury yields.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39420847

Is The Federal Reserve Out Of Control?

Back in March 2009, the Federal Reserve announced that it would purchase $1.7 trillion worth of U.S. Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities over the next 6 to 9 months. That was the first round of quantitative easing and Fed officials believe that it helped the U.S. economy avoid an even worse downturn.

But now Federal Reserve officials are talking about making quantitative easing a regular thing.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/is-the-federal-reserve-out-of-control-markets-across-the-globe-brace-for-impact-as-the-federal-reserve-powers-up-the-printing-presses

Peak Gold Is Upon Us

These are heady inflows into such a small space. All of the gold mined in human history, from King Solomon’s mines to the bars still in Swiss bank vaults bearing Nazi eagles (I’ve seen them) would only fill 2.5 Olympic sized swimming pools. That amounts to 5.3 billion ounces, about $6.3 trillion at today’s prices. For you trivia freaks out there, that is a cube with 65.5 feet on an edge.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/peak-gold-upon-us