Central Banks Leading New Gold Rush

Russia, India, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines follow Soros and Paulson into the metal.

So far in 2010 Russia has increased its gold holdings by 2.8 million ounces, $3.6 billion at current prices. Total holdings by the Putin government total almost $30 billion. Saudi Arabia and the Philippines have disclosed new gold buying in 2010, plus India, Sri Lanka and Mauritius bought gold in 2009.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/09/10/barrick-gold-mining-markets-china-india.html?feed=rss_business_commerce

The Muni Bond Crisis Has Officially Begun

This is just the beginning. Collectively US states continue to face massive budget short-falls in spite of massive Federal Aid. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, US states are expected to run deficits of $144 billion and $119 billion in FYs 2011 and 2012 respectively, unless they can cut spending further or raise taxes dramatically to close these gaps.

Remember, the muni bond market is $2-3 trillion in size, so we’re not talking about a minor issue here.

http://www.kitco.com/ind/Summers/sept092010.html

Nervous Americans want easy access to their cash

People are bailing out of bank certificates of deposit and parking their cash in checking and savings accounts that earn little or no interest but also don't exact penalties for early withdrawal.

It's another signal of how nervous Americans are about their finances as the U.S. economy struggles. Consumers are stuck with few options to make their money work. The Standard & Poor's 500 is down 0.5 percent for the year, one big reason why people have pulled a net $145.3 billion out of mutual funds in the first eight months of the year, according to Lipper Inc.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2012861707_apuscashjitters.html

Silver at $21 an ounce this September

Soon after briefly touching a nearly 30-month high of $20.04 an ounce early in the trading session Tuesday, silver dipped as low as $19.68. The white metal managed to make a bid back up to its earlier highs, scratching $19.90 before falling back down to a close of $19.82 an ounce on the COMEX.

http://silverinvestingnews.com/4082/silver-at-21-an-ounce-this-september.html

Confiscation of Private Retirement Accounts: US Departments of Labor and Treasury Schedule Hearing

On August 26, the US Department of Labor issued a news release:

It lists the agenda for the joint hearings being held with the Department of Treasury September 14-15, 2010 on what is euphemistically called “lifetime income options for retirement plans.” The hearings are being conducted by the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration. I don’t like speaking in tabloid-style terms, but the unstated agenda of these hearings, as I understand it, is to push for the US government to eventually nationalize (confiscate) all assets in private Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and 401K plans!

http://www.libertynewsonline.com/article_301_29362.php

5 Doomsday Scenarios for the U.S. Economy

1. Housing's Mini-Bubble Pops
2. You Break the Economy
3. Toxic Assets Return
4. Europe Falls Apart
5. Debt Finally Catches Up to Us

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/110581/5-doomsday-scenarios-for-the-us-economy

How Hyperinflationary Hell – and Commodity Heaven – Will Happen (Before the End of 2011!)

How Hyperinflation Will Happen---enlightning list:

http://www.munknee.com/2010/08/how-hyperinflationary-hell-and-commodity-heaven-will-happen-before-the-end-of-2011/

Gold Will Go To $5,000 and the Dow To Above 27,000 by 2015

A MIX of good and bad news...VERY OPTIMISTIC...

http://www.munknee.com/2010/08/gold-will-go-to-5000-and-the-dow-to-above-27000-by-2015/

More than 400 US Banks Will Fail: Roubini

Even if the US and European economies manage to avoid a double dip, it will still feel like a recession, while more than half of the 800-plus US banks on the "critical list" are likely to go bust, according to renowned economist Nouriel Roubini of Roubini Global Economics.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38986777

Investors Head for Bunkers, Driving Up 'Shelter Shares'

Amid the market tumult, a handful of stocks have seen their share prices ratchet up to record highs in recent weeks. And many of them are connected by a curious, if disconcerting, thread: Between them, they provide an investor with essentials for any respectable fallout shelter—makers of bottled water, canned goods, dehydrated broth, gas masks and auxiliary generators.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703418004575455942651218872.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_personalfinance

Ron Paul questions whether there's gold at Fort Knox, NY Fed

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said he plans to introduce legislation next year to force an audit of U.S. holdings of gold.

Paul, a longtime critic of the Federal Reserve and U.S. monetary policy, said he believes it's "a possibility" that there might not actually be any gold in the vaults of Fort Knox or the New York Federal Reserve bank.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/116341-ron-paul-plans-bill-to-audit-us-gold-reserves

Obama Needs Your 401(k) to Balance His Budget

The Obama administration is “taking the first steps to confiscate retirement dollars,” according to Dr. Jerome Corsi who predicts that the end result will be retirees with 401(k) plans holding near-worthless government debt “that will be paid off in a devalued currency worth … pennies on the dollar.”


http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/congress/4413-obama-needs-your-401k-to-balance-his-budget

Dow Faces Bouncy Ride to 5,000

Stocks are currently in a bear-market rally, and looking at charts and past trends, unemployment and leading indicators suggest the Dow will drop to 5,000 in the next two to two-and-a-half years, Nenner told CNBC in an e-mail.

Deflation will arrive, along with a sharp double-dip recession, pushing the Dow lower, although, like the Japanese market, stocks will see several jumps of 30 percent to 40 percent, he said.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38826988

US Said Preparing New Laws To Seize Americans Retirement Accounts

First They Destroy Private Healthcare in America – Yes, the socialist Democrats won their first battle to destroy the private healthcare system in the US but the automatic IRA bill now in Congress is their next attack to also control, confiscate and destroy the private retirement system. Ultimately, nationalizing healthcare is designed to create a major new government revenue stream by replacing private health insurance with a nationalized, mandatory, government program and their goal is identical with your retirement plan.

http://www.eutimes.net/2010/08/us-said-preparing-new-laws-to-seize-americans-retirement-accounts/

Co-chair of Obama 310 million tits

An advocacy group is calling for the ouster of former Sen. Alan Simpson, the co-chairman of President Obama's bipartisan debt commission, who described Social Security as a "milk cow with 310 million tits!" in an email.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/25/news/economy/alan_simpson_fiscal_commission/index.htm

Morgan Stanley Says Government Defaults Inevitable

Investors face defaults on government bonds given the burden of aging populations and the difficulty of increasing tax revenue, according to a Morgan Stanley executive director.

“Governments will impose a loss on some of their stakeholders,” Arnaud Mares in the firm’s London office wrote in a research report today. “The question is not whether they will renege on their promises, but rather upon which of their promises they will renege, and what form this default will take.” The sovereign-debt crisis is global “and it is not over,” he wrote.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-25/morgan-stanley-says-government-bond-default-is-question-of-how-not-if-.html

Ron Paul Calls for Audit of US Gold Reserves

This is not the first time the congressman has made his pitch. “In the early 1980s when I was on the gold commission, I asked them to recommend to the Congress that they audit the gold reserves – we had 17 members of the commission and 15 voted not to the audit,” said Paul. “I think there was only one decent audit done 50 years ago,” he said.

http://www.kitco.com/reports/KitcoNews20100824DC.html

"Enron Accounting" Has Bankrupted America: U.S. Deficit Really $202 Trillion

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecasts the U.S. budget deficit will hit $1.3 trillion this year. An astronomical figure, to be sure, but that’s lower than was projected in March. It’s also less than last year’s record $1.41 trillion deficit, which was close to 10% of GDP.

And, that's the good news.

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/%22enron-accounting%22-has-bankrupted-america-u.s.-deficit-really-202-trillion-kotlikoff-says-535354.html;_ylt=AkIrP5.B3xpwlgX_5f3J.kq7YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTE2MDRmbzdqBHBvcwMxMQRzZWMDdG9wU3RvcmllcwRzbGsDZW5yb25hY2NvdW50?tickers=udn,tlt,tbt,uup,TIP,^gspc,GLD&sec=topStories&pos=9&asset=&ccode=

How Hyperinflation Will Happen

In other words, Treasuries are now the New and Improved Toxic Asset. Everyone knows that they are overvalued, everyone knows their yields are absurd—yet everyone tiptoes around that truth as delicately as if it were a bomb.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-how-hyperinflation-will-happen

Americans eating through beef, pork surpluses

Do you think these increases get passed on to the customer...you be they do!

Cattle and hog prices continue to reflect the tighter supplies. Live cattle for October delivery opened up 55 cents per hundredweight Wednesday to $96.50 on the Chicago Board of Trade. That price is almost $15 per hundredweight more than cattle brought a year ago.

Live hogs for October delivery opened up $1.50 per hundredweight in Chicago this morning to $77. A year ago hog prices were headed for a decade-low of $46 per hundredweight.

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2010/08/18/americans-eating-through-beef-pork-surpluses/