Spain: The Ultimate Doomsday Presentation

Since we have grown tired of variations on the theme of "The Pain in ...." (having been guilty of encouraging it ourselves), we will spare readers this triteness, and instead summarize the attached must read slidedeck from Carmel Asset Management as the ultimate Spanish doomsday presentation. Naive and/or idealistic Spanish readers are advised to resume sticking their heads in the sand, and to stay as far away as possible from the attached 54 pages, which prove without any doubt why not only was Greece the appetizer (have your UK law:non-UK Law divergence trade on yet?) but why things in Europe are about to get far, far worse, as the Hurricane shifts to its next preferred location, somewhere above and just south of the Pyrenees.

150 Years Of US Fiat

5 days ago saw the 150th year anniversary of an event so historic that a very select few even noticed: the birth of US fiat. Bloomberg was one of the few who commemorated the birth of modern US currency: "On April 2, 1862, the first greenback left the U.S. Treasury, marking the start of a new era in the American monetary system.... The greenbacks were originally intended to be a temporary emergency-financing measure. Almost bankrupt, the Treasury needed money to pay suppliers and troops. The plan was to print a limited supply of United States notes to meet the crisis and then have people convert the currency into Treasury bonds. But United States notes grew in popularity and continued to circulate." The rest, as they say is history. In the intervening 150 years, the greenback saw major transformations: from being issued by the Treasury and backed by gold, it is now printed, mostly in electronic form, by an entity that in its own words, is "set up similarly to private corporations, but operated in the public interest." Of course, when said public interest is not the primary driver of operation, the entity, also known as the Federal Reserve is accountable to precisely nobody. Oh, and the fiat money, which is now just a balance sheet liability of a private corporation, and thus just a plug to the Fed's deficit monetization efforts, is no longer backed by anything besides the "full faith and credit" of a country that is forced to fund more than half of its spending through debt issuance than tax revenues.

Is the U.S. losing faith in its own dollar? Bills proposed in more than a dozen states to make gold and silver legal currency for use

by Mark Duell, Daily Mail:
U.S. politicians are rapidly losing faith in the dollar, with more than a dozen states proposing legislation to legalise gold and silver as a currency.
Politicians in Colorado concerned about the nation’s financial stability are the latest to push a bill to legalise gold and silver coins as usable currency.
But from a consumer angle the conservative bill would not lead to people carrying gold nuggets in their purses and would have little practical effect.
The GOP proposal reflects anxieties about the domestic consequences of the European debt crisis and chronic deficit spending in Washington D.C.
‘There are lots of concerns about the U.S. monetary system,’ said the bill’s sponsor, Republican Senator Kent Lambert of Colorado Springs.
‘There’s no way to maintain the value of anything if countries start a race to the bottom by inflating their currency to get out of debt.’
Read More @ DailyMail.co.uk

Does the Ubiquitous Red in the Silver Herald a Trend Reversal or Higher Future Profits?

by Przemyslaw Radomski, SilverSeek.com
Yellow and silver are our favorite colors, but red is what we are seeing on the boards this week after the U.S. central bank dashed hopes for more monetary stimulus and a weakened euro weighed on sentiment. Silver and gold were caught in a broad market sell-off which spread across commodities and equities. Bullion lost more than 3 percent over two days after the U.S. Federal Reserve released minutes from its last policy meeting which showed policy makers were less inclined to launch more monetary stimulus. This was strange since the Fed did not explicitly take QE3 off the table. In fact, according to the minutes, if the recovery stumbles, or if inflation is too low, the Fed is already prepared to launch QE3. Press accounts report that the sentiment dimmed precious metals’ appeal as an inflation hedge.
All that red is still a post-breakout consolidation often seen before a rally takes off, only this time, the consolidation is significant (2 months long) enough to make even the staunchest precious metals bull feel nagging doubts. We want to remind you of an investment rule of thumb– the bigger the consolidation, the bigger the following rally. It’s like a coil, the more you press on it and harder it will spring back, the more you pull back the bow the further the arrow will fly.
Read More @ SilverSeek.com

If Technology Fails, Just How Long Are Your Long Range Plans?

by Tom Chatham, SHTFPlan:
When the Roman Empire died , the technology and living standard that had spread around Europe slowly died with them. Things such as paved roads, sanitation and aqua ducts to carry fresh water to cities were forgotten over the generations and men reverted to simpler forms of technology. This reversion led to the dark ages. After many generations the people relearned some of the forgotten technologies and advanced once again. There was no global cataclysm that brought about this reversion , it just happened because the knowledge of how the technology worked decayed along with the Romans and the average man did not understand the significance of these technologies. Eventually , future generations were ignorant of these technologies that once existed.
Today we are blessed with truly unbelievable technology that holds many benefits for man. Almost everyone has a cell phone or computer , but do any of those people actually know how these things work? A lot of people can build a wood stove from scratch but how many can build a microwave oven or know exactly how a gas oven works? Our technology is dependent on simple machines that create parts for other more complex machines that create parts for machines that can make a computer chip. With each layer of technology , fewer and fewer people actually know how to recreate it from scratch. In our society it may not be necessary to know how to fix your own car or how a phone works because there is always someone else that knows the secrets of these devices. But , what if these people that hold the keys to our knowledge suddenly ceased to exist or if the technology somehow broke and they could not fix it?
Read More @ SHTFPlan

Blythe Masters Speaks Out On JPM and Market Manipulation: Take Our Word For It

from Jesse’s Café Américain:
A number of people have asked me what I think about Blythe Masters’ interview on CNBC in which she categorically denies that JPM is involved in anything but legitimate hedging of customer positions in the silver market.
I think a detailed description of all of JPM’s hedging positions in the futures and derivatives market, and the related customers and bullion holdings, should be supplied to Gary Gensler’s CFTC as government regulator so they can look them over. That is what the CFTC has been asked by the people who pay them, the investing public, to do.
And he and his staff should examine the evidence for any conflicts of interest and anomalies in them, for example, hedging related to SLV. They should also carefully examine trading patterns that JPM engaged in over a one year period with special attention to daily drops in price of over 3 percent.
And then Mr. Gensler can present his report to Congress, and the details to select members of the Finance Committee including Ron Paul, and swear under oath that these are legitimate hedging positions and that there is no manipulation in silver market. And then I might believe it.
Read More @ JessesCrossroadsCafe.Blogspot.ca

Fukushima Reactor 4: “Capable of extinguishing all life on Earth”

by Kurt Nimmo, Infowars:
Diplomat Akio Matsumura is warning that the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan may ultimately turn into an event capable of extinguishing all life on Earth.
Matsumura posted a startling entry on his blog following a statement made by Japan’s former ambassador to Switzerland, Mitsuhei Murata, on the situation at Fukushima.
Speaking at a public hearing of the Budgetary Committee of the House of Councilors on March 22, 2012, Murata warned that “if the crippled building of reactor unit 4 – with 1,535 fuel rods in the spent fuel pool 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground – collapses, not only will it cause a shutdown of all six reactors but will also affect the common spent fuel pool containing 6,375 fuel rods, located some 50 meters from reactor 4,” writes Matsumura.
In both cases the radioactive rods are not protected by a containment vessel; dangerously, they are open to the air. This would certainly cause a global catastrophe like we have never before experienced. He stressed that the responsibility of Japan to the rest of the world is immeasurable. Such a catastrophe would affect us all for centuries. Ambassador Murata informed us that the total numbers of the spent fuel rods at the Fukushima Daiichi site excluding the rods in the pressure vessel is 11,421.
Read More @ InfoWars.com

False Flag Attack

by Paul Craig Roberts, Prison Planet:
The stagecoach bounced along the uneven trail through Indian lands. A year ago there would have been danger from Indians. But Ulysses Grant had sent General Philip Henry Sheridan, who had brought the horrors of war to Confederate civilians, to annihilate the plains Indians.
In his winter campaign of 1868-69, Sheridan attacked the Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Comanche tribes in their winter quarters, killing women and children and taking the Indians’ supplies and livestock. In Congressional testimony, Sheridan advocated the slaughter of the vast herds of bison in order to deprive Indians of food.
Having turned professional hunters loose on Indian lands, Sheridan wrote: “Let them kill, skin and sell until the buffalo is exterminated.” For his proficiency in war crimes, Sheridan was made commanding general of the U.S. Army.
Read More @ PrisonPlanet.com

Silver Update 4/6/12 Fundamentals

 

KWN Weekly Metals Wrap

April 7, 2012, at 1:51 pm
by Dan Norcini 

Dear CIGAs,

Please click the link below to listen to this week’s metals wrap up from King World News, featuring our very own Trader Dan Norcini.
Click here to listen to the weekly metals wrap up…

 

 

In The News Today

April 7, 2012, at 1:35 pm
by Jim Sinclair in the category In The News |  Print This Post |  Email This Post

Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

It is true. Strip searches for menial violations is legal.

Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

Blame the rogue trader, never the Company…

JPMorgan Trader’s Positions Said to Distort Credit Indexes By Stephanie Ruhle, Bradley Keoun and Mary Childs – Apr 6, 2012 8:43 AM MT
A JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) trader of derivatives linked to the financial health of corporations has amassed positions so large that he’s driving price moves in the $10 trillion market, traders outside the firm said.
The trader is London-based Bruno Iksil, according to five counterparts at hedge funds and rival banks who requested anonymity because they’re not authorized to discuss the transactions. He specializes in credit-derivative indexes, a market that during the past decade has overtaken corporate bonds to become the biggest forum for investors betting on the likelihood of company defaults.
Investors complain that Iksil’s trades may be distorting prices, affecting bondholders who use the instruments to hedge hundreds of billions of dollars of fixed-income holdings. Analysts and economists also use the indexes to help gauge perceptions of risk in credit markets.
Though Iksil reveals little to other traders about his own positions, they say they’ve taken the opposite side of transactions and that his orders are the biggest they’ve encountered. Two hedge-fund traders said they have seen unusually large price swings when they were told by dealers that Iksil was in the market. At least some traders refer to Iksil as “the London whale,” according to one person in the business.
Joe Evangelisti, a spokesman for New York-based JPMorgan, declined to comment on Iksil’s specific transactions. Iksil didn’t respond to phone messages and e-mails seeking comment.
More…




Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

You think he knows what is coming?

Brian Sack to Resign from New York Fed
Press Release
NEW YORK—The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today announced that Brian Sack, executive vice president and head of the Markets Group, is resigning from the Bank effective September 14, 2012.
Mr. Sack will remain in his current position as head of the Markets Group and Manager of the System Open Market Account (SOMA) until June 29, 2012, to help ensure a smooth transition. The New York Fed has started the search process for Mr. Sack’s replacement.
"Brian’s service to the Bank over the past three years has been critical to our response to the financial crisis and the country’s economic recovery," said William C. Dudley, president and chief executive officer of the New York Fed. "I accepted his resignation with great regret and wish him well."
Mr. Sack will step down as head of the Markets Group and SOMA Manager on June 29, 2012. He will then be placed on leave until September 14, 2012, during which he will have limited contact with the Bank and no access to Bank information, including FOMC and supervisory materials.
Mr. Sack joined the New York Fed as head of the Markets Group in June of 2009.
More…

 

 

Jim’s Mailbox

April 7, 2012, at 1:22 pm
by Jim Sinclair 

Dear Jim,

Happy Easter! We need this kind of justice
CIGA BJS

China sentences woman to death for $16 million fund scam BEIJING | Fri Apr 6, 2012 7:02am EDT
(Reuters) – A 30-year-old Chinese woman was sentenced to death by a court in Wenzhou for "cheating" investors of 100.11 million yuan ($16 million) losing 94 million yuan in futures and gold trading, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.
The death sentence for Wang Caiping – who must first serve two years in prison – came days after Beijing launched a pilot program in Wenzhou to tame the informal private lending market to which the city’s renowned entrepreneurs often turn.
Xinhua said Wang borrowed the money between January and October 2010 promising to buy equipment, invest in property and open credit guarantee firms, but instead used the cash to speculate in futures and gold trading along with her elder brother, Wang Guanglin, who is still at large.
More…




Hey Guys,
I went shopping today and bought a 5lb bag of sugar. The bag looked different. Upon closer inspection it’s now a 4lb bag.
Some back of the napkin math – if the price remained the same then that’s a 20% increase in food inflation. This is in addition to the 25% decrease in size (increase in price) for Egg Beaters I mentioned in my February email.
Are these price increases due to an increase in economic prosperity (demand-pull inflation)? I believe the chart below should answer that.
Possibly the cost-push inflation.
CIGA Rich






Hi Jim,
I understand that QE3 will come for "the good of the World."
How about that?
Kind Regards,
CIGA Charles

Charles,

In one sense yes, but the consequences are tough.

Jim

Dear Jim,
I don’t know about the rest of America, but my daughter goes to Villanova University at a cost of about $60,000+ per year. She’s studying accounting, which is a five year degree. That puts me in the hole for almost a third of a million dollars when she graduates!
It appears the government numbers on student loans are about as accurate, and tallied in the same manner as the Unemployment numbers they release. When people use up their benefits, they are no longer counted as unemployed, but rather removed from the workforce numbers altogether. At that rate, we will eventually reach Zero Unemployment with Zero people working.
CIGA Wolfgang

Average student loan debt tops $25,000 By Blake Ellis November 3, 2011: 5:22 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Students graduating from college last year walked away with more than a diploma, they also left with a record level of student loan debt.
College seniors who took out loans to fund their college education owed an average of $25,250, 5% more than the class of 2009 owed, according to a report from the Institute for College Access & Success’ Project on Student Debt.
More…





Jim,
Will this be the start of MOPE towards a QE announcement?
CIGA Mel

Dear Mel,

What he recently said taken by the market via manipulation regarding the need for a slowdown to qualify QE 3 was in truth the beginning of the MOPE for QE3. Thanks to the gold banks it was grossly misinterpreted.

Jim

Bernanke Warning on Jobs Vindicated by March Payrolls Report By Craig Torres, Alex Kowalski and Lorraine Woellert – Apr 6, 2012 10:00 PM MT
The Labor Department’s March jobs report may have proved Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke right after he warned that payroll gains might slow as companies adjust staffing for a period of moderate growth.
Employers in the U.S. added 120,000 jobs in March, the fewest in five months, the report showed yesterday. The unemployment rate fell to 8.2 percent from 8.3 percent the month before as people stopped looking for work. The March report followed the best six-month streak of job growth since 2006.
“Chairman Bernanke should be putting out the world’s biggest ‘I told you so,’” said Phillip Swagel, an economist at the University of Maryland and former assistant Treasury secretary in George W. Bush’s administration. “It must give the Fed some comfort that they continue to have this accommodative stance.”
More…





Employment gains slow, jobless rate drops CIGA Eric
The dollar’s sharp bounce and drubbing in precious metals and mining shares precipitated from the interpretation that an improving economy had significantly reduced the probability of quantitative easing (QE3) going forward. After today’s disappointing employment data, it’s likely that this assumption will be challenged by the markets next week.
Economic activity is either rising or falling at an increasing rate. The unexpected rollover in the JCH (see chart), suggests that economic activity regardless of the opportunistic actions of the invisible hand or easy headline explanation (such as the Fed minutes were responsible) is beginning to transition from rising to falling at an increasing rate. The public busy flipping houses in the can’t lose real estate sector missed the last transition period in 2005-2006.  Expect the 2012-2013 transition to be no different.
Chart: Job Creation Histogram (JCH): Net Nonfarm Payrolls Added/(Lost) less Civilian Labor Force Added/(Lost), 12 Month Average.

Headline: Employment gains slow, jobless rate drops
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Payrolls rose far less than expected in March, keeping the door open for further monetary policy support from the Federal Reserve, even as the unemployment rate fell to a three-year low of 8.2 percent. Employers added 120,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, the smallest increase since October. Economists polled by Reuters had expected nonfarm employment to increase 203,000 and the jobless rate to hold at 8.3 percent. The slowdown in employment growth last month likely reflected the fading boost from unseasonably warm winter weather. It supported the caution on the labor market from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last week.
Source: finance.yahoo.com
More…




Budget War Threatens America's Survival







Higher Rates End Obama's Borrowing Cost Holiday. 

Interest on Federal Debt Hit $104B in First Half of FY2012—Despite Low Interest Rates




Owe The IRS? Bill Would Suspend Passport Rights For Delinquent Taxpayers. 




The Myth of Silver Confiscation








Iran, Oil, Europe Pose Risk To Economy:  Geithner




Stanford's Lazear:  US Suffering Worst Economic Recovery In History




Iran, Oil Prices, And Gambling With The World Economy

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