Friday, July 24, 2015

Jim Grant On Gold's Liquidation Sale: A "Vexing But Wonderful Opportunity"



"The important thing to recall is why those of us who own it, bought it. What is it about gold that ought to make it appealing – when it seems to be absolutely the thing you don’t want to have." As ValueWalk reports, Grant warned that gold thrives in the face of monetary turmoil, disorder and uncertainty, noting, "I think we have all three of these things."




This Has Never Happened To Gold Before

For the first time since records began, hedge funds are net short gold futures, according to CFTC data...



US Mint Sells Most Physical Gold In Two Years On Same Day Gold Price Hits Five Year Low

Just like in the case of silver three weeks ago, today's gold liquidation was not due to selling of physical metal. In fact, quite the contrary: according to the US mint, so far in July the mint has sold a whopping 143,000 ounces of physical gold - the most in over two years, or since April of 2013 - even as the price of gold briefly slid to the lowest level in 5 years.

The Terrifying Ticking Time Bomb, Gold And A World On The Edge Of Collapse

from Kingworldnews:
Identity problems? Rachel Dolezal wants to be black, Bruce Jenner a woman, or how about Donald Trump for President. Identity problems? No, it is identity theft comparable to the “happy times are here again” mania, fueled by cheap debt and a borrowing binge which has led to overvaluation and risk. In much of the globe, we have negative interest rates pushing investors into US dollar denominated assets like stocks, real estate and for a very long time, US bonds.
The US dollar, once viewed as a sick currency less than a decade ago, is now viewed as a safe haven following the Euro debacle. But the default risk was not just a Greek story. Overlooked is that Ukraine recently declared a “credit event”, raising the risk of default. To date there are more than ten countries that are vulnerable. Argentina is already in technical default and Puerto Rico filed this month owing $72 billion. The debt tide has turned.
John Ing Continues @ King World News



Aussie Dollar Tests Long-Term Trendline As China Contagion Spreads

Last week, we asked "Is Australia the next Greece?" It appears, judging bu the collapse in the Aussie Dollar, that some - if not all - are starting to believe it's possible after last night's 15-month low in China Manufacturing PMI. As UBS previously noted, China's real GDP growth cycles have become an increasingly important driver of Australia's nominal GDP growth this last decade. With iron ore and coal prices plumbing new record lows, a Chinese (real) economy firing on perhaps 1 cyclinder, and equity investors reeling from China's collapse; perhaps the situation facing Australia is more like Greece than many want to admit.




The Eurasian Big Bang: How China & Russia Are Running Rings Around Washington

Tehran, Beijing, Moscow, Islamabad, and New Delhi have been actively establishing interlocking security guarantees. They have been simultaneously calling the Atlanticist bluff when it comes to the endless drumbeat of attention given to the flimsy meme of Iran’s "nuclear weapons program."  And a few days before the Vienna nuclear negotiations finally culminated in an agreement, all of this came together at a twin BRICS/SCO summit in Ufa, Russia -- a place you’ve undoubtedly never heard of and a meeting that got next to no attention in the U.S.  And yet sooner or later, these developments will ensure that the War Party in Washington and assorted neocons (as well as neoliberalcons) already breathing hard over the Iran deal will sweat bullets as their narratives about how the world works crumble.




The Casino-fication Of Markets Is Pervasive & Permanent

Here we now call market deflation by the sobriquet “volatility”, as in “major market indices suffered from volatility today, down almost one-half of one percent”, where a down day is treated as something akin to the common cold, a temporary illness with symptoms that we can shrug off with an aspirin or two. You can’t be in favor of volatility, surely. It’s a bad thing, almost on a par with littering. No, we want good things and good words, like “wealth effect” and “accommodation” and “stability” and “price appreciation”. As President Snow says in reference to The Hunger Games version of a political utility, “may the odds be always in your favor”. Who doesn’t want that?



Did The Canary In The Credit Coalmine Just Croak: Capital One Credit Loss Provisions Soar By 60%

The biggest shocker in COF's earnings release was something found between COF's top and bottom line: a surge in provisions for credit losses: at $1.1 billion this was a jump of 21% from Q1 and up a whopping 60% from the year prior. It was also the biggest credit loss provision the credit card company has taken since Q2 2012.



It Cost The Koch Brothers Only $299,000 To Block Labeling Of Genetically Modified Foods

Here is another example why the stock market with its annual return of 7% is for chumps. If you want to make the kinds of quadruple digit returns on investment, you better buy yourself a congressman. As for the general American population, well: your food may be every so slightly more mutated, but the good news is that it will remain as cheap and unhealthy as always.


Just think about what happens to the Pacific Ocean fish... as One Million Gallons Per Minute 24/7 of highly radioactive water has been dumped into the Ocean over the last 4 years...and will continue forever...Yummy...Eat up...

‘Mutant Daisies’ Found In Fukushima ‘Safe Zone’

by Robert Harrington, Natural Society:
The quoted headline above is certainly not the one that the Fukushima troubleshooters in Tokyo wanted to read. Nevertheless, the photos of the ‘mutant daisies’ shown below, which were taken at a location 65 miles from the nuclear disaster site, do not lie. Both TEPCO and the Japanese government now have a new crisis to deal with.
“‘The images, posted in May by Twitter user @san_kaido of Nasushiobara City, located about 65 miles from the disaster site, show common daisies that appear to have been affected by radiation exposure, oddly fused together like Siamese twins, reports the Weather Channel.’” [1]
Still, there are very few who are aware, after more than four years since the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe which occurred in 2011, that three separate meltdowns actually took place. Consequently, there are various vectors of dissemination of nuclear radiation which continue to ooze from the disaster site. Not only is contaminated water continually released into the Pacific Ocean, but the groundwater around Fukushima has also been adversely affected.
Read More @ NaturalSociety.com


Delayed Greek Collapse Will Start Death of Dollar in 2015

from CrushTheStreet:



‘Old Age or Disability Does Not Make Someone a Threat to Society’

by Melanie Hunter, CNSnews:
Speaking on the House floor on Wednesday, Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) warned that President Barack Obama is trying to “deny millions of law-abiding Americans” the right to bear arms “by going through Social Security.”
“Mr. Speaker, President Obama is at it again. He’s now seeking to deny millions of law-abiding Americans their Second Amendment right to bear arms by going through Social Security, and why is that? Because he couldn’t get gun control through the Congress. The American people wouldn’t stand for it,” said Johnson.
“Mr. Speaker, old age or disability does not make someone a threat to society. These folks should be able to defend themselves just like everyone else,” Johnson said. According to the LA Times, Obama is pushing to extend gun background checks to include “anyone who has been declared incompetent to manage pension or disability payments and assigned a fiduciary.”
Read More @ CNSnews.com



Paul Craig Roberts: The Eroding Character Of The American People

The question is: why do Americans not only sit silently while the lives of innocents are destroyed, but also actually support the destruction of the lives of innocents? Why do Americans believe "official sources" despite the proven fact that “official sources” lie repeatedly and never tell the truth? The only conclusion that one can come to is that the American people have failed. We have failed Justice. We have failed Mercy. We have failed the US Constitution. We have failed Truth. We have failed Democracy and representative government. We have failed ourselves and humanity. We have failed the confidence that our Founding Fathers put in us. If we ever had the character that we are told we had, we have obviously lost it. Little, if anything, remains of the "American character."




Attention America's Suburbs: You Have Just Been Annexed

It’s difficult to say what’s more striking about President Obama’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation: its breathtaking radicalism, the refusal of the press to cover it, or its potential political ramifications. The danger AFFH poses to Democrats explains why the press barely mentions it. This lack of curiosity, in turn, explains why the revolutionary nature of the rule has not been properly understood. It will take time for the truth to emerge. Just by issuing AFFH, the Obama administration has effectively annexed America’s suburbs to its cities. The old American practice of local self-rule is gone. We’ve switched over to a federally controlled regionalist system. Now it’s strictly a question of how obvious Obama and the Democrats want to make this change — and when they intend to bring the hammer down.



Howard Marks Interviewed: "There’s No Free Market Today"

"If investors want complete safety, they can't get much income, and if they aim for high income, they can't completely avoid risk. It’s much more challenging today with rates being suppressed by governments. This is one of the negative consequences of centrally administered economic decisions. People talk about the wisdom of the free market – of the invisible hand – but there’s no free market in money today. Interest rates are not natural."

AMAZON dot CON: The Con Job Strikes Again

by Dave Kranzler, Investment Research Dynamics:

Regarding AMZN AWS Services business:   Another thing that will pummel them simultaneously is analogous to what happened to Sun Microsystems which I remember my CTO predicting before they crashed. Sun Microsystems stock was on a tear during the tech bubble but they sold a ton of equipment to venture backed startups. As that unwound, there stock was destroyed. –  see below
I watched in sheer horror as Amazon’s stock price soared straight up 80 points after it released its Q2 earnings today, up 17% from its NYSE closing price.  CEO Jeff Bezos’ net worth jumped $7 billion after his highly misleading earnings announcement.
Read More @ InvestmentResearchDynamics.com



Fed "Accidentally" Released Dovish Confidential Market-Moving Forecasts, Blames "Glitch"

First The 'unaudited' Fed leaks its FOMC minutes. Then they leak 'inside-information' to Nikkei's latest addition, Medley Global advisors (and remain "above the law" with regard consequences. And now, The Fed admits it leaked full blown confidential economic projections (due to a code glitch), whose summary assessment is shown below as per the leaked file.



What's Really Killing Capitalism

Zombies and cronies stifle the process of growth and wealth creation. New knowledge – accumulated by others – is threatening. It is what causes disruption. And what economist Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destruction.” Cronies fear this new knowledge and try to block it from ever happening – with subsidies, licensing requirements, and other regulatory impediments. It is this obstructionism is a bigger threat to prosperity than debt.



Iran - Before & After The Nuclear 'Deal'

Presented with no comment...




Another VA Scandal: GI Bill Funnels Taxpayer Money To Masturbation Classes, "Hate Churches" & More

If you feel you’ve had enough Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) related scandals for one lifetime, you’ve come to the wrong place...
“We want to get people out of their ruts. Have you been masturbating the same way for 20 years?” the instructor asked rhetorically. “How’s that going for you? Would you like to try something new?”



Syriza "Rebels" Planned To Ransack Greek Mint, Seize Cash Reserves, Arrest Central Bank Governor

Syriza hardliner Panayotis Lafazanis and "a diverse group of far left activists from supporters of the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez to old-fashioned communists," planned to take over the Greek mint, commandeer the country’s reserves, and arrest Yannis Stournaras, the governor of the Bank of Greece, FT says, describing a secret plot hatched at an Athens hotel last Wednesday.




5 Things To Ponder: Shades Of Risk

"It wan't raining when Noah built the ark."


Stocks Suffer Worst Week Of Year Amid Biotech Bloodbath, Commodity Carnage, & Bond Buying







Friday Humor: Buy High, Sell Low










Banks, GMOs and Tail Risk

by Philippe Gastonne, The Daily Bell:
Before the crisis that started in 2007, both of us believed that the financial system was fragile and unsustainable, contrary to the near ubiquitous analyses at the time. Now, there is something vastly riskier facing us, with risks that entail the survival of the global ecosystem — not the financial system. This time, the fight is against the current promotion of genetically modified organisms, or G.M.O.s. As we said, the financial system nearly collapsed, but it was only money. We now find ourselves facing nearly the same five fallacies for our caution against the growth in popularity of G.M.O.s. – Mark Spitznagel and Nassim Taleb, New York Times editorial, July 13, 2015
The two authors of today’s story draw an interesting parallel between financial manipulation and genetic manipulation. Both, they say, are interventions in complex, imperfectly understood systems that risk dangerous negative consequences. Big Finance and Big Agriculture certainly have similar influence on their respective regulators. Their generous political contributions and the revolving door between their executive suites and government service ensures both industries face little resistance in Washington. That the results could also be similar is plausible.
Read More @ TheDailyBell.com

Commodities Collapse: It’s Not Just About Gold

by Lawrence Williams, MineWeb.com:
Believe it or not, gold and silver have actually been two of the best performing metal commodities in dollar terms so far this year. Yes their prices have fallen since the markets opened for the New Year on January 2, but gold is only down 7.3% year to date and silver 6.1%. Yet reading the international media one would gain the impression that the gold price, in particular, had been absolutely decimated by the recent falls.
But how about other metals commodities? Platinum and palladium are both down around +/- 20% year to date, yet both were tipped by analysts to comfortably outperform their precious metals peers. This just shows how wrong even the most qualified and experienced analysts can be at specific points in time!
Read More @ MineWeb.com

Satirical Onion Article Accidentally Predicts Actual News Headline

by Carey Wedler, The Antimedia:
The Onion is both notorious and beloved for its painfully accurate satire. “CIA Realizes It’s Been Using Black Highlighter All These Years,” and “U.S. Flag Recalled After Causing 143 Million Deaths” are popular examples of the Onion’s knack for humorously pointing out political corruption and tragedy. Last week, however, the Onion predicted an actual headline, preempting a real development regarding Iran and its relations with the West.
Following agreement on Obama’s much-anticipated deal to reduce Iran’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for lifted sanctions (that the president himself originally promoted and imposed), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was publicly incensed. In predictable jest, The Onion published an article last Tuesday—as the deal was reached—titled, “U.S. Soothes Upset Netanyahu With Shipment Of Ballistic Missiles.” It joked that to pacify the saber-rattling leader, Obama sent him a special shipment of weapons—mocking the United States’ sizable contributions to its favorite ally in the region.
Bibi always gets a little cranky when he sees us talking to Iran, but a few dozen short-range surface-to-surface missiles usually cheer him right up,” the Onion joked a State Department official said.
Read More @ theantimedia.org

9 Reasons Why the U.S. is COLLAPSING

from TheMoneyGPS:



Beppe Grillo Calls for Nationalisation of Italian Banks and Exit from Euro

by Stephanie Kirchgaessner, The Guardian:

The populist leader of Italy’s second largest political party has called for the nationalisation of Italian banks and exit from the euro, and said the country should prepare to use its “enormous debt” as a weapon against Germany.
Former comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo, who transformed Italian politics when he launched his anti-establishment Five Star Movement in 2009, has long been a bombastic critic of the euro. But his stance hardened significantly in a blogpost on Thursday in which he compared the Greek bailout negotiations to “explicit nazism”.
Grillo constructed what he called a “Plan B” for Italy, which he said needed to heed the lessons of Greece so that it was ready “when the debtors come round”.
Read More @ TheGuardian.com

Not Your Father’s Inflation

by Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, Silver-coin-investor:

“Profound ignorance masquerading as wisdom – all the worse from the mouths of the prestigious,  the PhD,  the Nobel prize winner….” – Unknown
It’s time to revisit British economist Peter Warburton’s April 2001 classic tome “The debasement of world currency: It’s inflation but not as we know it“.
Our friend from GATA, Ed Steer brought it to attention once again.
Three important paragraphs describe the situation as it was, and how it is now by all means necessary…with one minor adjustment…
Read More @ Silver-coin-investor.com


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