Silver Shortage This Decade, Silver Will Be Worth More Than Gold

A Silver Shortage?

The Most Predictable Financial Calamity in History

In November 2010, the Federal Reserve announced a second round of economic stimulus commonly referred to as Quantitative Easing (QE2). The reason, according to the Fed, was “progress toward its objectives has been disappointingly slow.” So, to try and turn the economy around, the Fed said, “. . . the Committee intends to purchase a further $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter (June) of 2011, a pace of about $75 billion per month.” QE means the Fed basically creates money out of thin air to buy debt. The current money printing orgy is financing more than half of U.S. government right now. The first round of QE bought toxic mortgage debt and bailed out the bankers.

http://usawatchdog.com/economic-stimulus-quantitative-easing-qe3/

Dead ahead: State and city pension Failures

Last week The New York Times dropped a bombshell, reporting that "policy makers are working behind the scenes to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers."

This is truly huge news, with far-reaching consequences. But it shouldn't come as a surprise if you've been reading my columns ...

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/375/477/Dead_ahead:_State_and_city_pension_FAILURES.html

Second wave of housing bust hammers more cities

A second wave of falling home prices is battering some cities that had escaped the worst of the housing market bust.

Prices in Seattle, Charlotte, N.C., and Portland, Ore., have hit their lowest points since peaking in 2006 and 2007. Denver and Minneapolis are nearing new lows. High unemployment and rising foreclosures are taking a toll even on markets that never overheated during the boom years.

Home values are dwindling in nearly every American market. Prices fell in November in all but one of the 20 cities in the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. Eight of those markets hit their lowest point since the housing bubble burst.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Second-wave-of-housing-bust-apf-411171723.html?x=0

Gold Holdings in ETPs Plunge Amid Signs of Recovery

Gold held through exchange-traded products, or ETPs, tumbled by the most in more than two years amid speculation that improving prospects for the global economic recovery are undermining demand and hurting prices.

Assets in gold-backed ETPs fell 31 metric tons yesterday to 2,043.09 tons, the lowest level since Aug. 10, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from 10 providers. That’s the biggest drop in percentage terms since October 2008, the data show. Holdings have shrunk 3.4 percent from the record 2,114.6 tons on Dec. 20.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-26/gold-assets-in-etps-plunge-most-since-2008-amid-signs-of-global-recovery.html

Finally, It’s the Fed That Has Become Too Big to Fail

We’re still not sure whether CNBC was making a joke or simply advertising its ignorance with a recent headline, “Accounting Tweak Could Save Fed from Losses,” This was a tweak about as subtle and ingenuous as Bernie Madoff’s balance sheet.

http://news.goldseek.com/RickAckerman/1295938860.php

An Ugly Side Effect of New 1099 Law: More Tax Evasion

Tax pros now fear that tax evasion could go viral if the health-reform bill’s new 1099 requirement takes effect next year. They say more small businesses will likely opt to do all-cash transactions under the table to avoid the 1099 reporting requirement, and all of its onerous provisions, which are worse than small businesses may realize.

That's the direct opposite effect of what lawmakers had hoped for, and it would pose a bad development for the Internal Revenue Service, which for years has been under pressure from Congress to bring in more tax revenue. That revenue is needed now more than ever, as Social Security and Medicare teeter into the red, and as more states rely on federal revenue to fill their budget holes.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/01/21/new-ugly-effect-tax-evasion/#

Higher pump prices coming your way this spring

Pump prices have risen nearly 9 percent since Dec. 1 and topped $3.10 a gallon this week. That's the highest level since October 2008. The price may rise or fall a little over the next few months, but analysts expect it to range between $3.20 and $3.75 gallon by March and April ahead of the summer driving season.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Higher-pump-prices-coming-apf-1797090788.html?x=0

Which Of The Currencies Of The World Is Going To Crash First?

The U.S. and Japan are both steamrolling toward insolvency, and several European nations would have already defaulted on their debts if they had not been bailed out. So which of the major currencies of the world is going to crash first? Will one (or more) of the big currencies fall before the end of 2011? Once one major currency collapses will the rest start to fall like dominoes? The truth is that the world has never seen a sovereign debt crisis of this magnitude in all of human history. Almost the entire globe is drowning in a sea of red ink and it has brought us right to the brink of financial disaster.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/which-of-the-currencies-of-the-world-is-going-to-crash-first

Fed Hides Major Accounting Change

Concerns that the Federal Reserve could suffer losses on its massive bond holdings may have driven the central bank to adopt a little-noticed accounting change with huge implications: it makes insolvency much less likely.

The significant shift was tucked quietly into the Fed's weekly report on its balance sheet and phrased in such technical terms that it was not even reported by financial media when originally announced on Jan. 6.

But the new rules have slowly begun to catch the attention of market analysts. Many are at once surprised that the Fed can set its own guidelines, and also relieved that the remote but dangerous possibility that the world's most powerful central bank might need to ask the U.S. Treasury or its member banks for money is now more likely to be averted.

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/01/hot-fed-hides-major-accounting-change.html