David Rosenberg: "The Best Currency May Be Physical Gold"

Rosie: "Somehow a long gold, short euro barbell looks really good here. Bernanke, after all, now seems reluctant to embark on QE3 barring a renewed economic turndown while the ECB is moving further away from the role of a traditional central bank to take on the role of quasi fiscal policymaking, The German central bank, after all, is responsible for 25% of any losses that would ever be incurred by the massive Draghi balance sheet expansion. Why would anyone want to be long a currency representing a region with a 10.7% unemployment rate, rising inflation rates and free money? Mind you — the same can be said for the US (where U-6 jobless rate is even higher), which is why the best currency may be physical gold."

 

Presenting The Truth Behind America's Fiscal And Employment Picture

Two weeks ago we penned "As US Debt Hits New Record, Fiscal 2012 Tax Revenues Are 10% Higher Than Debt Issuance" which unfortunately was very wrong: we completely forgot that tax revenues in the US are a two way street particularly from January through the end of tax season on April 15, when income and employment tax withholdings are offset by tax refunds as consumers rightfully claim (and in the process pad TurboTax revenues simply for having under-exempted themselves) what was overcollected by the government. Unfortunately, it also means that we showed the US in a far better fiscal light than it is in reality, because contrary to our conclusion that tax revenues are higher than debt issuance in fiscal 2012 (starting October 1, 2011), the reality is not only a mirror image, but worse, with total debt issued now surpassing net revenues (withholdings net of refunds) by a whopping 15%! In other words, for $710.7 billion issued in debt YTD (debt has risen from $14.79 trillion to $15.5 trillion), net tax revenues have risen only by $607 billion. Which means that contrary to conventional wisdom that the US collects in taxes modestly more than it issues, at least through the peak of tax refund season that is certainly not the case. It also means that little by little that neo-Keynesian ideal (where we hope we jest but are no longer sure) of all deficits being funded purely by debt issuance, is slowly coming true.

North Korea Has Allegedly Tested Nuclear Warheads For Iran

What is one sure thing sure to set triggerhappy warmonger fingers in the US and Israel on Defcon 1 more than the word Iran? The words Iran and North Korea. How about three nouns that will send crude soaring by at least $10 the second a CL trading algo sees them fly across Bloomberg? Try "Iran" "North Korea" and "Nukes." And if the following report just released by the Wiener Zeitung is even remotely correct, then Israel, the military industrial complex, and crude are all about to go ballistic, not necessarily in that order.

Trader Dan on King World News Weekly Metals Wrap

Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 13 hours ago

Please click on the following link to listen in to my regular weekly radio interview with Eric King on the KWN Weekly Metals Wrap. *http://tinyurl.com/7u3mq82* more »

 

 

Former Japan Government Officials Promoted AIJ to Pension Funds

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ECB record deposits/Moody's lowers Greek debt to C/Spanish unemployment rises as GDP contracts

Harvey Organ at Harvey Organ's - The Daily Gold and Silver Report - 15 hours ago

Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen: Gold closed lower by 10 dollars to $1710.  The object of the exercise is no doubt silver as this metal was lowered by 90 cents to $34.60. Yesterday  Moody's lowered the debt rating on Greece to C. We witnessed unemployment rise in Spain as well as another contraction in their GDP. The EU decided to give Greece only 58 billion euros out of 130 billion in the more »

 

 

I Expect Very High Volatility In All Asset Classes In The Next Few Years

Admin at Marc Faber Blog - 16 hours ago

As for volatility, it increased sharply last year, but has diminished over the last three-months. I expect we’ll see increasingly very high volatility in all asset classes in the next few years. The money in an environment of negative real interest rates will flow. It might flow into fewer and fewer stocks, or into fewer and fewer assets that could go ballistic on the upside. - *in Jutia* *Marc Faber is an international investor known for his uncanny predictions of the stock market and futures markets around the world.* 

Guest Post: Warren Buffett Priced In Gold

Warren Buffett loves to bash gold — claiming that stocks are inherently superior, because they produce a return, whereas gold just sits.  Trouble is, stocks (and all paper assets) are subject to counter-party risk, whereas physical gold isn’t. Gold doesn’t overcompensate its CEOs, it doesn’t leverage its productive capital in toxic derivatives, it doesn’t cause industrial disasters like Deepwater Horizon, its value isn’t dependent on central banking, or securitisation, or American imperialism, or the machinations of the military-industrial complex. It just sits, retaining its purchasing power.

Will Central Bankers Be The Next Unchosen People?

In his latest piece on popular delusions, SocGen's Dylan Grice conducts a much needed advance thought experiment looking at two specific things: on one hand he isolates the next inevitable social tension: that between "everyone" and the central bankers. Because if there is one specific reason why OccupyX never truly got off the ground is that deep down, the population knows that while bankers are to be despised for their "contributions" to society, they would never have the opportunity to do what they do absent the enabling stance of the "democratically" elected politicians, and more importantly, the deeds of those few academics stuck in a dark room, who daily decide the nominal fate of the world courtesy of money printing. Which means that in the inevitable progression of "marginalizing-then-brutalizing", when society finally cuts through all the noise and focuses on the one source of all that is wrong in the world, it will not be those residing at 200 West, but the tenants at the Marriner Eccles building: "Politicians can and will take back what they have previously given if and when it is deemed in their interests to do so. One way they do this is by using the time-tested political strategy known as “marginalise-then-brutalise”. Politicians start by identifying the obstacle to their objectives. For a government short of funds the objective is to raise more funds, and the obstacle is any group/sector which has them." Thus Mugabe “marginalised then brutalised” white farmers, while Hugo Chavez set his sights on private sector “profiteers” … for Hitler it was the Jews, for Philip IV of France it was the Knights Templar, for Diocletian it was the Christians, etc. How long before it is the central banks?" How long indeed? And whether it is with or without political prodding, once the central planning experiment fails, as it will, we would certainly not want to be in Bernanke's shoes...

Michael Pento: Gold Will Surge 20% to 30% in the Next Twelve Months

from King World News:
Today Michael Pento told King World News precisely when he expects the next round of quantitative easing to be announced and how much the price of gold will spike. For KWN readers globally, according to Bloomberg News, Michael Pento has correctly predicted the annual high prices of gold for the last three years in a row. Pento, who founded Pento Portfolio Strategies, also gave this extraordinary account of previous rounds of QE and their impact on the gold market: “Global central banks have now entered the twilight zone of monetary policy. Never before in the history of planet earth have we seen such a synchronized counterfeiting scheme to monetize insolvent sovereign debt. However, right now there is a break in the action.”
Michael Pento continues: Read More @ KingWorldNews.com

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