As Soros Starts A Three Month Countdown To D(oom)-Day, Europe Plans A New Master Plan

What would the weekend be without at least one rumor that Europe is on the verge of fixing everything, or failing that, planning for a master fix, OR failing that, planning for a master plan to fix everything. Sure enough, we just got the latter, which considering nobody really believes anything out of Europe anymore, especially not something that has not been signed, stamped and approved by Merkel herself, is rather ballsy. Nonetheless, one can't blame them for trying: "The chiefs of four European institutions are in the process of creating a master plan for the euro zone, the daily Die Welt reports Saturday, in an advance release of an article to be published Sunday. Suggestions targeting a fiscal, banking, and political union, as well as structural reforms, are being worked out..." Less than credible sources report that Spiderman towels (which are now trading at negative repo rates) and cross-rehypothecated kitchen sinks are also key components of all future "master plans" which sadly are absolutely meaningless since the signature of Europe's paymaster - the Bundesrepublik - is as usual lacking. Which is why, "the plan may well mean that the euro zone adopts measures not immediately accepted by the whole of the European Union, the article adds." So... European sub-union? Hardly strange is that just as this latest desperate attempt at distraction from the complete chaos in Europe (which will only find a resolution once XO crosses 1000 as we and Citi suggested two weeks ago and when the world is truly on the verge of the abyss), none other than George Soros has just started a 3-month countdown to European the European D(oom)-Day.

WORLD BANK BOSS: We’re Headed For “Impending Catastrophe” — “A Rerun Of Great Panic Of 2008″

‘Beware a rerun of the Great Panic of 2008′: Head of World Bank warns Europe is heading for ‘danger zone’ as world markets suffer bleakest day of the year so far
by Hugo Duncan, dailymail.co.uk:
The head of the World Bank yesterday warned that financial markets face a rerun of the Great Panic of 2008.
On the bleakest day for the global economy this year, Robert Zoellick said crisis-torn Europe was heading for the ‘danger zone’.
Mr Zoellick, who stands down at the end of the month after five years in charge of the watchdog, said it was ‘far from clear that eurozone leaders have steeled themselves’ for the looming catastrophe amid fears of a Greek exit from the single currency and meltdown in Spain.
The flow of money into so-called ‘safe havens’ such as UK, German and US government debt turned into a stampede yesterday.
In Berlin the two-year government bond yield fell below zero for the first time, with the bizarre result that jittery international investors are now paying – rather than being paid – for lending to Germany.
Read More @ dailymail.co.uk

International Banker Says ‘Acceleration Of Financial Meltdown Can’t Be Stopped’

from Steve Quayle:
The Iron boot has been firmly planted to the pedal of this runaway tractor trailer that is heading off the cliff. All of the Euro banks including my former associates at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are all prepped and ready for the Euro collapse. What we in the inside are calling “Spanish Flue” is now running hot with temperatures that are setting ten year yields sky high. What many do not realize is that Bankia’s demise has started a breach in all the firewalls and safety measures that are in place in the Eurozone. This had an immediate effect on the Italian markets as you can now see the pandemonium that is there.
We keep hearing reports of massive bank runs that are occurring across many of the PIIGS but is not just limited to them. As I stated many times the UK and France are the most vulnerable to the Eurozone collapse, many of their populace are cashing out of their equities though there is a massive media blackout about this. European contacts report that there is a flight to German bonds, UK and a mass migration to the US dollar. But these currency life preserver jumps will not help as the contagion in all FIAT markets are affected. It is a game of hot potato that the investors are playing, jumping from one asset to the next and again before the one that they just jumped to burns. A juggling act with fire that cannot be quenched. Gold jumped over $40, it is telling us something.
Many banks in the Eurozone are stuffed with US Bonds/TBills as a hedge, this will not work for them for the following reasons:
Read More @ SteveQuayle.com

IceCap Asset Management: Hope Is Never A Good Strategy

Dodge City, Kansas is a lovely place. The home to 26,101 people regularly enjoy old west casinos, old west rodeos and old west movies. Like we say – it is a lovely place. Yet years ago when it was still cool to be a cowboy, cowboys of all types were getting’ out of Dodge. And who could blame them - bullets flew around town on a regular basis. As we look across the globe today, Dodge City’s are popping up all over the place across America, Europe and Asia. However, within the World of financial markets, government sponsored economic policies are desperately trying to keep everyone in the 2012 financial version of Dodge. Today’s question of the century is which market is the equivalent of Dodge? One thing is for sure, financial bullets are flying fast and furious these days forcing every sane investor to keep their head down. For all other investors, be a good cowboy and be sure to have an exit plan – you never know when you’ll need it.

America's Transition To A Part-Time Worker Society Accelerates As Part-Time Jobs Hit Record

Back in December 2010 Zero Hedge was the first to point out what is easily the most troubling characteristic within America's evaporating labor force: its gradual transition to a part-time worker society. We elaborated on this back in February when we noted that the quality assessment of US jobs indicates that this most disturbing trend is accelerating. Finally, yesterday, the BLS' latest jobs report confirmed that our concerns have been valid all along: as of May, part-time jobs just as disclosed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics hit an all time high, over 28 million! These are people who traditionally have zero job benefits, including healthcare and retirement, and which according to the BLS "work less than 35 hours per week." In other words, as little as one hour per week of "work" is enough to classify one a part-time worker. More disturbing: the increase in part-time jobs in May compared to April: 618,000, or the fifth highest on record. It gets better: when added with the 508,000 increase in part-time jobs in April, this is the largest two month increase in part time-jobs in history. Which means of course that full time jobs in May must have declined: sure enough, at a -266,000 drop in full time jobs, the quality composition of the NFP report was just abysmal and makes any reported "increase" in those employed into a sad farce.

Canada Oil Sands And The Precautionary Principle

The precautionary principle is typically defined as “if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific evidence that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those taking the action.”  In practice, the principle is utilized by government policy makers to ensure technological advances don’t pose too dire of an effect on the surrounding environment.  This may appear a noble goal if one accepts the premise that the prime function of government is the protection of life and property.  History proves otherwise as easily corruptible politicians have tended to grant exceptions to wealthy business interests which look to dump their waste in public-owned natural resources such as waterways.  It is also clear judging by historical cases that socialization often results in environmental degradation.  One look at the pollution in once-communist nations such as China or the former Soviet Union reveals that a lack of private property results in a type of moral hazard en masse as there is little incentive to preserve what you don’t officially own.

Jim Willie Interviewed: Debt Tower of Babel! Bank Holidays Coming to Euro Zone, London & NY

Financial Times Attacks Gold – Bottom Must Be In

from Silver Vigilante:

It appears there is now a new psychological disorder developing in which paranoid and extreme individuals develop a worship of gold. Call it Gold Worship Disorder.
A recent piece in Financial Times by Izabella Kaminska lambasts gold and “goldbugs,” thus showing the mainstream press in Britain’s fear in the face of rising precious metals and commodity prices amid aggressive fiat devaluation by keystone western nations. In short, what the piece tries to get across is that the peasants musn’t seek alternatives to the intravenous drip of fiat. The piece begins:
Goldbugs don’t just believe in the fundamentals of gold. They worship at the altar of gold.
The goldbug view represents a market philosophy, a doctrine and a belief-system.
Whilst the first sentence serves as a low-blow to goldbugs with very little substance, the second line is true. The market philosophy and belief system of those who look to gold to preserve wealth is one that is against the command-and-control economics of fiat currency.
Read More @ SilverVigilante.com

Updated Gold and Silver Charts

from TF Metals Report:
My Dear Extended Family,
QE to infinity is for certain. About that there is no question whatsoever. It cannot be avoided.
Operation twist is a damn joke stimulation wise. At this point in time it is a dark joke.
The Fed is playing with something worse than fire. That fire is posted in a video today on www.jsmineset.com. This video references a worldwide financial crisis that if it starts cannot be stopped by any power on the planet. They are already easing up on the rhetoric. The Fed will downright panic as the world’s economies go from slow to dropping out of sight. That is what is on the plate tonight, this night, right here and now. Safety only exists in gold bullion and in the outrageously depressed good gold shares now shorted out of sight.
Love, Santa
Yikes! Sounds like everything really is as serious as it seems.
Read More @ TF Metals Report.com

Report: JPMorgan Returns $600 Million of MF Global Funds

from Silver Doctors:
JP Morgan’s collateral issues just got worse.
The troubled bank reportedly has relented and will return $600 million in stolen MFGlobal client funds to the MFG trustee, 7 months after MFG’s bankruptcy.
While this is clearly a major victory for MF Global clients (including several SD readers who are still missing over $100,000 in their private accounts), what about the missing 1.4 million ounces of physical silver?
NEW YORK (AP) – JPMorgan Chase has returned about $600 million that was held at the bank when securities firm MF Global Holdings Ltd. failed last fall, according to a news report.
The Wall Street Journal also reported Saturday that a bankruptcy trustee representing MF Global’s customers might pursue JPMorgan for several hundred million dollars in additional claims.
The newspaper cited unnamed people familiar with the matter and with the investigation into MF Global’s collapse.
MF Global failed in October after a calamitous bet on European debt spooked its investors, partners and clients. The collapse left an estimated $1.6 billion hole in customer accounts at MF Global.
Read More @ SilverDoctors.com

Don Coxe – Emergency Fed Meeting & Gold Backed Bonds

from KingWorldNews:
With continued turmoil in global markets, today King World News interviewed 40 year veteran Don Coxe, Global Strategy Advisor to BMO ($538 billion in assets). Coxe shocked KWN by saying that Europe is actively working to introduce gold backed bonds. He said, “They would have the security of gold.” Coxe stated we could see this take place “within the next three months … because this crisis is developing so fast.” Coxe also discussed the possibility of an emergency Fed meeting, but first, here is what Coxe had to say about the spectacular gold rally which took place on Friday: “First of all, a rally like this, you know a huge amount of it is short covering. The short positions had been building up on this. We were having one of the highest short positions on the gold futures that we’ve seen in a long time.”
Don Coxe continues @ KingWorldNews.com

Weak Jobs Data Knock US Yields to New Lows

Reuters via CNBC:
U.S. government debt yields dropped to record lows on Friday after a stunningly weak report on U.S. job growth stoked worries of an economic slowdown and raised bets for a third round of bond purchases from the Federal Reserve.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes yields traded as low as 1.442 percent, the lowest level in records going back to the early 1800s, according to data gathered by Reuters. They last traded up 28/32 with a 1.47 percent yield, down 9 basis points on the day.
Read More @ CNBC

Gold: The History of Gold (Part I)

Visual Capitalist:
Wars have been fought over gold. Love has been expressed by it. Gold has changed the landscape of civilizations and the world.
But what makes gold so great? This infographic examines the history of gold from ancient history to the gold rushes of the centuries ago. It looks at its properties and how it became not only a currency, but the gold standard.
This is the first instalment of a four part infographic series on gold
Read More @ visualcapitalist.com

Investing in the Face of Global Instability

By Nickolai Hubble, DailyReckoning.com.au:

Pop quiz!
Sort the following quotes into whether they refer to:

a) The East-Asian financial crisis
b) The American subprime debt crisis of 2008
c) The European sovereign debt crisis
d) The Japanese lost decade

(We’ve blacked out any give-aways.)

• ‘In response to a sluggish economy, xxxxxx tried to stimulate its economy by easing monetary policy. Credit grew quickly in the xxxxxx economy, but so too did debt. The credit expansion led to a massive rally in stock prices and real estate prices. However, the rate of debt to GDP also skyrocketed.’
• ‘In the xxxxs, a real estate and financial bubble formed, driven by a rapid increase in lending.’
Read More @ DailyReckoning.com.au

The most important gold market event since 1999

by Michael J. Kosares, USAGold.com:
Consider this from a recent World Gold Council (WGC )report:
“Central banks continued to buy gold; net purchases recorded during the [first quarter, 2012] amounted to 80.8 tonnes, accounting for around 7% of global gold demand. Central banks from a diverse group of countries added to the overall holdings of the official sector, with a number of banks making sizable purchases. Diversification requirements and growth in foreign exchange reserves of a number of countries point towards a continuation of this trend.”
In keeping with this analysis, the World Gold Council moved to “incorporate official sector purchases as an element of gold demand” (my emphasis) in its fundamentals table. Previously central banks occupied a slot on the supply side of the ledger. “The net purchasing of gold by the official sector,” says the Council, “is now an established trend, which is likely to remain in place for the forseeable future.”
Read More @ USAGold.com

Best day for gold in three years breaking link with falling stocks

from, Arabian Money:
Gold and silver broke free from falling global stock markets yesterday with the yellow metal enjoying its best day for three years while the US markets suffered their worst declines in six months.
This appears to confirm the bottom is already in for gold and silver prices as previously forecast on ArabianMoney with gold bouncing back from $1,530 an ounce. Gold and silver have been falling with other risk assets but this reversal signals a switch to safe haven status.
Read More @ arabianmoney.net

Frackin’ Reserve – Summary and Additional Resources (6/6)

by Ryan Smyth, Activist Post
But if you want to continue to be slaves of the banks and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money and control credit. — Josiah Stamp
This series of articles on fractional reserve banking started with an introduction to the mechanics of fractional reserve banking. The important points were:

• The simple nature of the mathematics and the factors involved
• The iterative nature of the process as a continuing cycle
• The process has mathematical limits, except in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden
• The limits are drastically affected by the reserve requirement

We then looked at one perspective on the difference between money and wealth, and defined money as an instrument to facilitate trade and commerce.
Part 3 accelerated by explaining the exact mechanism by which fractional reserve banking works, and exposed it for the fraud that it is. It illustrated that by taking advantage of float time, in the same way as check kiting, fractional reserve banking is a temporal pyramid scheme.
Read More @ Activist Post
Click Here for Part 5

The Collapse is the Easy Part

by John Galt:
Throughout the recent five years of American economic, political, and Constitutional crises the world chugged along with winners and losers selected by fate and foolishness as the erosion of our modern civilization continued from within. This system crash at all levels, morality, financial structure, religion, politics, and the viability of the nations impacted from this disaster is going to lead to some extremely long term changes in the world, some of which will shock the unprepared, and kill the unaware. There is, however, some good news:
The collapse is the easy part.
If one takes a moment to review modern history, the realization that the statement above is not a concoction of a historian from the skeptical point of view, but one of reality. The American people have been living in a bubble since 1991, created by politicians who over reacted to a garden variety slowdown in the business cycle by pressuring a then scheming Alan Greenspan into finding new ways to use the power of the Federal Reserve banking system to inflate and expand economic activity. Based on the charts below, the efforts of the political and financial elites was a resounding success until the end of the century.
Read More @ JohnGaltFLA.com

Please Donate
Thank You

I'm PayPal Verified