Silver manipulation likely involves SLV, David Morgan tells Chris Martenson

 

 Guest Post: The Federal Reserve: Our Policy Is To Steal From You 

We know two things: 1) the official policy of the Federal Reserve is to engineer and maintain inflation and 2) inflation is theft. As I have recounted here many times, in nominal terms, it looks like average wages (earned income) in the U.S. have been rising smartly for decades. But measured in purchasing power, i.e. adjusted for inflation, earned income has declined for most workers, especially in the past three years. Whenever a pundit scoffs at the idea that the dollar might lose 95% of its value, readers remind me it already has lost 95% of its value in the past century. The Federal Reserve robs savers every day of millions of dollars, which it then transfers to the "too big to fail" banks by paying interest on those banks' reserves. Savers earn .01% on their cash while banks are paid 2% interest. The difference is what is stolen from savers and funneled to the banks. 

 

 

 

 

 

The CDO At The Heart Of The Eurozone Just Became Europe's Plunge Protection Team 

There is only one section of the proposed European Bailout draft statement that is relevant to traders: Section 7, bullet 3 which says: "To improve the effectiveness of the EFSF and address contagion, we agree to increase the flexibility of the EFSF, allowing it to intervene in the secondary markets on the basis of an ECB analysis recognizing the existence of exceptional circumstances and a unanimous decision of the EFSF Member States." Everything else is noise. Europe just legalized its own Plunge Protection Team and off balance sheet Quantitative Easing program with one signature. Good luck trading in this, or any, market which even the politicians now admit is nothing more than a central banking policy tool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

UBS Explains What Happens If The US Is Downgraded Without A Default 

With increasing chatter that no matter what Congress agrees on, if anything, vis-a-vis the debt ceiling, the preemptive spin has begun, with the first salvo coming out of UBS' George Bory who has released a note "The difference between downgrade and default" which paints a very placid picture of the consequences of the US losing it AAA rating. Coming from a credit strategist, Bory naturally looks at the tightly confined consequences of such an event within the rates space exclusively without any mention of other cross-linked securities. In UBS' view, we would expect i) 10-yr yields rise 20-25bps, ii) a steeper yield curve, especially long end, iii) Treasuries underperform bunds and other highly rated sovereign debt iv) Vol term structure inverts further, v) Corporate spreads tighten, especially at long end, vi) Bank credit quality re-rated lower. Altogether not too bad. The problem is that there are a few trillion in money market related rating triggers which would grind to a halt the repurchase of paper of a sovereign that no longer has the AAA mark, resulting in our opinion in a dramatic crunch in short-term liquidity, and set the stage for a Lehman-like monetary system paralysis. But that is a topic for another day. Since today reality is to be ignored (see "transitory default"), here is why according to UBS America can simply call Moody's and S&P's bluff. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Details On The "Transitory" Greek Default Emerge 

As more news comes across the tape, we now learn that somehow Greece is expected to experience a default but not just any default: a "transitory" default. From Bloomberg: European officials are trying to orchestrate a second Greek bailout so that a default would only last for a few days, said two officials familiar with the discussions.

  

Crude Back At $100, Highest Since June 15, Going Much Higher Courtesy Of European Monetization Start 

Courtesy of the IEA which earlier loudly announced 'No More SPR Releases' (although like the ECB earlier announced it would not accept defaulted Greek debt as collateral only to reneg, this is total bullshit), and another massive taxpayer funded iteration of EFSF monetization-infused moral hazard, crude is back to $100. Since the EFSF will very soon be expanded to over $1 trillion and since this is nothing less than Europe's version of QE, and paradrops money that just like the Fed's own daily POMOs will ultimately find its way into the market, as holders of toxic Greek debt shift their assets into risk holdings, we expect crude to surge to $110, then $120, then $130 and so forth until another global depression has to be called in. And, naturally, the same with every other hard asset that can not be diluted. 

 

 

 

 

 

Philly Fed Prints At 3.2, Modest Expectations Beat 

After posting two consecutive negative prints, the most recent of which coming at -7.7, the July Philly Fed rose modestly to 3.2, just above consensus estimates of 2.0. Reading between the lines however confirms that there is nothing to write home about - from the report: "Responses to the Business Outlook Survey suggest that regional manufacturing activity remained weak in July. The survey’s indicators for activity and new orders, which had turned negative last month, recovered somewhat but are at very low positive readings. Firms indicated that employment grew modestly while the average workweek lessened. Indexes for prices show a continuing trend of moderating price pressures. The broadest indicator of future activity improved markedly this month, rebounding from its lowest reading in 31 months in June." Among the key components of the index, those relating to corporate margins, the prices paid declined by 1.7 even as prices received declined by 3.3, once again confirming that economic margin reality and corporate ZIRP driven surreality refuse to match. And while number of employees increased from 4.1 to 8.9 the Average Employee Workweek plunged from 1.9 to -5.4. Just hire many people and have them all work 1 hour a day: sounds like the unions building the 2nd avenue subway. Nt surprising, inventories rose from -8.5 to 1.4. The survey conclusion: "The survey’s indicators suggested flat demand for manufactured goods this month, while shipments and employment grew only slightly. Price measures suggested continued moderation in price pressures. The broadest indicators for future activity rebounded after falling sharply last month and firms are somewhat more optimistic about their hiring plans over the next six  

The Two Sides of Precious Metals Propaganda

As we witness another “sudden”, “unexpected”, and temporary reversal in the prices of gold and silver, no doubt most precious metals bulls are surprised  by this lurch lower in prices. In this respect, I will claim to be less surprised than most of my peers – as I had been noting the “clues” as to how and when the next “sell-off” (i.e. ambush) of gold and silver would occur.

Sophisticated gold and silver bulls are attuned to the bearish/negative propaganda released by the anti-gold banking cabal (through their “emissaries” in the mainstream media). While we are not influenced by it, we take note of it in order to determine how gold and silver are being manipulated lower, and when gold and silver will turn higher (or rather what condition will trigger that move).

What most in the sector are not aware of, however, is that these propagandists put in almost as much time and effort on their “message” on days when gold and silver are surging higher – and no anti-gold/anti-silver propaganda is plausible. The reason is simple. Propaganda is a form of control. To maximize that “control” it is just as important to dominate the bullish commentary on precious metals as it is to “lead the choir” on the bearish side. Thus the propagandists are highly motivated to get you to believe them about what is “causing” gold and/or silver to go higher on days the metals are rallying.

The particular case in point is highly illustrative. Any reasonably knowledgeable precious metals bull understands the primary “driver” of gold and silver prices: the out-of-control (and soon hyperinflationary) money-printing of global central banks. It is the simplest arithmetic to observe that if most/all of the paper “money” is being diluted at a rate of 10% (or more) per year, while the supply of “good money” (i.e. gold and silver) is only rising by roughly 2% per year that you only want to hold gold and silver.

As I have explained in the past the concept of diluting currencies through money-printing is identical to the dilution of a company’s share structure when it prints-up a lot of new shares. Only an idiot would hold shares in a company which recklessly/continuously reduces the value of those shares through serial-dilution.

Because this is the most important driver of gold and silver prices, and because the banksters will never reduce the rate of their money-printing (since that is how they steal from us), one of the most important functions of the anti-gold propagandists is to never connect rising gold/silver prices to excessive money-printing. If the average investor ever understood the simple “equation” of the rapid dilution of fiat-paper versus the minimal dilution of gold and silver, the precious metals juggernaut would immediately become unstoppable – and the collapse of the fiat currencies to their true value (zero) would occur much sooner. Since that event also coincides with the annihilation of the banksters and the eradication of their paper “empires”, this gives us a glimpse into their desperation.

It is important to understand, however, that there is a second equally important purpose behind the efforts of the propagandists to control the bullish “message” about gold and silver: to set-up the market for their next “ambush”. In this respect their tactics are totally transparent. Whenever possible, the fiction they invent to “explain” the rise in gold and silver prices will be a temporary event. Obviously if the propagandists can get the sheep to believe their “temporary” explanation of rising gold and silver prices, then when that temporary event subsides, the sheep are now perfectly set-up to follow these Pied Pipers as they lead gold and silver prices lower. Read more: The Two Sides of Precious Metals Propaganda