Eric Sprott: The Financial System’s Death Knell?

Under widespread NIRP, pensions, annuities, insurers, banks and ultimately all savers will suffer a slow but steady decline in real wealth over time. Just as ZIRP has stuck around since the early 2000’s, NIRP may be here to stay for many years to come. Looking back at how much widespread damage ZIRP has caused since its introduction back in 2002, it’s hard not to expect that negative interest rates will cause even more harm, and at a faster clip. In our view, NIRP represents the death knell for the financial system as we know it today. There are simply too many working parts of the financial industry that are directly impacted by negative rates, and as long as NIRP persists, they will be helplessly stuck suffering from its ill-effects.


Gold & Silver Spike & The Oil Quote May Skyrocket

from KingWorldNews:

On the heels of the release of the Fed minutes and subsequent spike in gold and silver, today King World News interviewed one of the wealthiest and most street-smart pros in the business, Rick Rule. Rule told KWN that gold is showing signs of strength and we have now started a merger and acquisition boom in the mining sector.
Rule, who is now part of Sprott Asset Management, also discussed the enormous problems both Europe and the US face: “Additional stimulus will be needed soon according to many Federal Reserve policymakers, unless the economy shows signs of a durable pickup. I don’t see any signs of a durable pickup, so I think they are signaling that there is going to be additional easing.”
Rick Rule continues @ KingWorldNews.com

The History Of The World's FX Regimes In One Infographic

The evolution of currency systems over the past two centuries, as it turns out, is far more exciting than is usually let on (think political thriller as opposed to economic textbook!). GoldMoney presents, in all its glory, the quixotic history of exchange-rate regimes from 1821 to the present day.

Beige Book release seems to indicate movement to more easing/ Implosion in trade figures for Japan/Spain's Ibex drops 2.7%

Harvey Organ at Harvey Organ's - The Daily Gold and Silver Report - 2 hours ago

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen: Gold closed slightly down to the tune of $2.50 to $1637.40.  Silver on the other hand refused to listen to gold and advanced another 13 cents to $29.55. However after the comex close, the Fed released it's beige book and the feeling is that the Fed will have to engage in official QEIII before long.  Gold and silver shot up big time as did the Euro. Here are

 

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Rally Intensified on Fed's QE Statement

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Pop Goes the Fed

Gold (and silver) Is Getting Ready For Big Move

Dave in Denver at The Golden Truth - 4 hours ago

*The bottom line here is that these large, well-financed entities are now anticipating inflation for the foreseeable future. This means the ‘risk on’ trade is back in vogue, and we should see higher prices for gold and silver going forward. I would also add that there is a great deal of money on the sidelines and this means we will see some violent action as these markets move to the upside* *- *Dan Norcini from King World News LINK The price of gold has been in a massive consolidation phase for about a year. With or without help from another round of QE, the world's oldest ... more » 

PIMCO Buying Gold

Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 7 hours ago

Dow Jones is reporting this morning that PIMCO's Commodity Real Return Strategy Fund, with about $20 billion in assets, has raised its gold holdings to 11.5% of it total assets from 10.5% two months ago. The position was apparently taken when gold dipped towards $1500 according to comments from Nic Johnson, its co-portfolio manager. Their concern is a triple one - loose monetary policy, high levels of sovereign debt and rising commodity prices are going to fuel an inflation outbreak as we move ahead. Sounds familiar doesn't it? Here is the point - the chart in gold showed tremendou... more » 

With AAPL 19.8% Of The NASDAQ, Is Another Rebalancing Imminent?

Just over 16 months ago, the NASDAQ did an unusual thing. As the WSJ noted at the time, AAPL, which had reached a 20% weighting in the NASDAQ-100, was rebalanced to 12.3%. This weighting was apparently too much for the index-provider who feared "the tech company's big weighting means that a change in fortune for the maker of iPhones, iPods and iPads has a huge impact on one of the most heavily traded indexes in the market." Since 04/05/11, when that rebalance occurred, AAPL's market cap has doubled, while the NASDAQ-100 is up just under 20% ($627bn versus $3.15tn). With the current weighting of AAPL in the NASDAQ-100 at 19.8%, we wonder what is next - as the WSJ noted at the time, any "rebalancing is likely to kick off waves of trading... as money managers scramble to adjust holdings to reflect the new composition of the index." Interestingly, AAPL has reached 20% of the index twice this year already - which just happened to coincide with significant selling pressure on the stock - will third time be the charm?

Gold Up, Stocks Up, Bonds Up, VIX Up; That Is All

The market was not exactly ecstatic at the FOMC minutes but certainly squeezed up off its pre-minutes lows to end very fractionally green (S&P small up, Dow down, NASDAQ up - thanks to AAPL's 2% gain - it's 7th in 3 month). Post-FOMC the QE-on trade was very clear - Treasury yields tumbled, stocks popped, USD weakened, and Gold soared. These were quite significant moves relative to recent ranges: Gold broke above its 200DMA - back to early May highs; Treasury yields dropped 10bps - biggest plunge in rates since start of June (as it bounces off its 200DMA). On the week, the NASDAQ is the only major US index in the green (+0.1%) while the Dow is down 0.78%.

We The Sheeplez... is intended to reflect excellence in effort and content. Donations will help maintain this goal and defray the operational costs. Paypal, a leading provider of secure online money transfers, will handle the donations. Thank you for your contribution.

I'm PayPal Verified
 

US Fed hints strongly at fresh round of stimulus

The Federal Reserve has delivered its strongest hint yet that it will unleash a fresh round of “stimulus” to help the flagging US economy
by Richard Blackden, The Telegraph:
In a surprisingly strong signal, many of the rate setters at the Fed have decided that further stimulus is needed “fairly soon”, according to the minutes of their meeting this month.
Many of those on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) – the equivalent of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee – also judged that more quantitative easing could offer “additional support” for the economy.
Economists said the minutes showed that after a summer watching the recovery lose momentum, top officials at the central bank have decided that the potential benefits of further action outweigh the risk of fueling inflation.
After an encouraging first quarter of the year, the world’s biggest economy expanded at an annual pace of just 1.5pc in the second as employment growth weakened and consumers retrenched. With Europe’s debt crisis far from over, and the US presidential election a matter of weeks away, few private forecasters expect growth to pick up in the second half of the year.
The Congressional Budget Office warned today that the US could plunge back into recession if a series of tax increases and spending cuts are allowed to take effect at the start of the year.
Read More @ Telegraph.co.uk

Monsanto’s GMO corn to flood Walmarts

Walmart will soon be stocking their shelves with GMO corn developed by Monsanto despite of all the protests by activists. Millions of Americans shop at Walmart, but that doesn’t mean that they all know what they’re getting. The retail giant says they won’t advertise which of their products are made with genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

Did Someone Say ‘War’?

by William Pfaff, Truth Dig:

Politics tends to wring all seriousness out of speech. Sometimes this is a demonstration of unforgivable ignorance. Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan thinks that “Now is the time to lock in the success that is within reach” in Afghanistan. Ryan’s comment seems like it’s grasping to be completed by a call to get out of Afghanistan now. That would shake up the presidential campaign.
Washington undoubtedly includes thousands or tens of thousands, connected or not with the U.S. government, who believe “success” in Afghanistan is “within reach” because that is what the Obama administration, and before it, the G.W. Bush administration, has consistently told them. But we are now told that NATO instructors assigned to Afghan training units will be given “guardian angels,” their weapons always charged, to protect the teachers from their students. During the first eight months of 2012, more NATO soldiers have been killed by the Afghans they were instructing than during the entire period from 2007 to 2010. That doesn’t sound like success. The Taliban are even shooting up the airplanes at Kabul airport used by commanders from Washington.
Read More @ TruthDig.com

Philippines Black Market is China’s Source of Cheaper Gold

from NTDTV:

High worldwide gold prices are a boon to small-scale miners in the southern Philippines these days, and a mine worker can earn ten times as much as a laborer in Manila.

Feeling Good, Louis!

from TF Metals Report:
Wednesday, August 22, 2012 at 4:19 pm
OK, now that we’ve got that FOMC nonsense out of the way, the rallies can continue. How much farther and how fast? Those are the questions.
In case you missed it, the FOMC minutes were QE-bullish. Essentially, The Fed stands ready for more “accommodation” if the economy fails to improve “substantially”. You and I know that this is all bullshit, anyway, as The Fed is nearly out of ammo for additional Operation Twist measures and rates must be kept low permanently in order to sustain/protect The Great Ponzi. Again, review this if necessary: http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/4112/murmurs-10-year-note. However, nearly everyone should review that post because the CoT comments contained therein are also important for this current thread.
Anyway, from RanSquawk at ZH, here are three of the main headlines:

• FOMC says many FOMC members supported extending the Fed late 2014 interest rate guidance, but agreed to defer decision to September meeting
• FOMC says many FOMC members favored easing soon if no sustained growth pickup
• FOMC says many FOMC participants saw new QE as bolstering US recovery

As you can see, these headlines speak for themselves. More QE is on the way, it’s simply a matter of time. The only exception would be renewed, vigorous “growth”. Does anyone rally see that happening anytime soon??
Read More @ TF Metals Report.com

1st Amendment Violated as Facebook Assists Police in Pre-Crime Investigations

by Susanne Posel, Occupy Corporatism:
On August 16th former US Marine Brandon Raub was arrested for posting his opinion about the US government on his Facebook page . Raub is currently being held in a psychiatric ward. In a statement by Raub, he explains : “I’m currently in John Randolph in the psychiatric ward being held against my will. They were concerned about me calling for the arrest of government officials.”
Raub’s lawyers say that he will be held for “up to 30 days’ further confinement in a VA psych ward” after “government officials again pointed to Raub’s Facebook posts as the sole reason for their concern and for his continued incarceration.”
While Raub was taken forcefully, put into handcuffs and taken by the FBI to be questioned, both the FBI and Secret Service deny that Raub was arrested or detained by them.
Facebook comments were recently cited as evidence in a court case concerning cyber bullying where comments on a personal page were ruled by a US Federal court as information that can be lawfully obtained by the police to be used against a defendant.
William Pauley, US District Court Judge, stated that because the defendant made violent threats in his posts which are deemed public information that they are allowable as evidence against him by prosecutors.
On April 24th, District Judge Raymond Jackson ruled that by clicking a “like” button on Facebook, that this affiliation is public domain and not protected by the 1st Amendment. Jackson wrote : “Simply liking a Facebook page is insufficient. It is not the kind of substantive statement that has previously warranted constitutional protection,” and continues to say that, “Facebook posts can be a matter of public concern; however the Court does not believe Plaintiffs Carter and McCoy have alleged sufficient speech to garner First Amendment protection.”
Read More @ OccupyCorporatism.com

Stacking Therapy

by Andrew Hoffman, MilesFranklin.com:

Last week, I saw the below article regarding the relationship between “stacking” bullion and one’s sense of well-being.  The writer appears to be dealing with more significant personal demons than the average person, but it certainly got me thinking… Is Stacking Therapeutic?
From 2002 through 2008, I held my ENTIRE NET WORTH in mining stocks.  Until early 2007, they were the best investments I ever made; however, once the TSX-Venture (a/k/a Vancouver) Stock Exchange peaked in April 2007 – at 3,350 – my “well-being” was decidedly NOT well…
However, the stress was manageable until Global Meltdown I hit in mid-2008, decimating not only junior mining stocks – CARE OF THE GOLD CARTEL – but ALL markets, and the financial condition of my employer.  Not only was I being hit on ALL FRONTS, but for the first time, I realized my long-forecast of FINANCIAL ARMAGEDDON was on the horizon.  Thus, I started “stacking” PHYSICAL gold and silver – first slowly (a few silver rounds at a time); and then, significantly faster.
I’ve always said the most important hurdle in the road from fiat currency to REAL MONEY is holding a bullion coin in one hands.  Not just to sense its immense weight, but the scarcity, value, and back-breaking work that went into mining, refining, and minting it – particularly for gold, as it seems difficult to believe a coin not much bigger than a $0.50 piece can be worth $1,700.  In other words, feeling the coins give one a sense of security; that NO MATTER WHAT, it will ALWAYS be valuable.
Read more @ MilesFranklin.com

Will the Jobless Masses Storm the Barricades?

by Douglas French, LFB:
Many political pundits doubt that an incumbent president can win re-election with an unemployment rate over 8% After all, we are told, no American president has been re-elected in the last 50 years when unemployment was above 7.2%.
Is that predictive or not? I say: not.
Unemployment is the focus of the government policy from the president down to the Federal Reserve chairman. An employed populace is a happy populace. Full employment means a Navigator in every driveway and big screens streaming a zillion channels in each living room. As long as the payments are affordable, life doesn’t get any better. It’s a land of Keynesian milk and honey.
The headline unemployment rate — which was 7.8% when Obama took office — remains stubbornly high at 8.3%. Just over 12 million people were unemployed when the president was sworn in. Now the number is closer to 13 million. [Ed. Note: And those are just the "official" numbers]
Read More @ LFB.org

P.I. Susan Daniels Discusses Lawsuit About Obama’s Connecticut Social Security Number

from BirtherReportDotCom :

Euro Optimism Surges, A Greek Tax Revolt Flares Up: It’s Decision Time, Again

by Wolf Richter, Testosterone Pit.com:
Euro optimism is once again gushing through the system on the hope that the debt crisis could be wished away with a nod by German Chancellor Angela Merkel or with a wink by the Bundesbank in direction of the European Central Bank, which is dying to print unlimited amounts of moolah to buy sovereign bonds—and old bicycles, if it has to—in order to force yields down for debt-sinner countries like the US Spain and Italy.
There is even hope that sudden German “flexibility” might solve the Greek debacle when Prime Minister Antonis Samaras heads to Berlin for his session with Merkel, based on indications in Germany that those with the power to say “no” are getting cold feet. But there was an incident in Greece that they should bear in mind.
It started Friday on the island of Hydra, a tourist spot of 2,700 souls. Officers of the financial police checked taverns, bars, and souvenir shops for tax violations. At a seafood tavern, an inspector discovered that patrons weren’t given Value Added Tax receipts, though required by law. An old trick: cash income remains undeclared and disappears; the VAT, though collected from customers, also disappears rather than being turned over to the state.
Read More @ TestosteronePit.com

US Adopts Nazi Policy Of Indefinite Psychiatric Detention For Political Views

The US has adopted Hitler’s policy of indefinitely detaining citizens in psychiatric wards without due process of law because of their political views.
by Alexander Higgins:

Many psychologists and psychiatrists are good people, who are only trying to help their patients.
But the Nazi government substantially supported psychologists … many of whom, in turn, espoused extermination of the people they considered to be “racially and cognitively compromised”.
Soviet psychiatrists famously aided Stalin in applying fake insanity diagnoses to political dissenters.  The official explanation was that no sane person would declaim the Soviet government and Communism.
American psychologists created the American program of torture which was specially-crafted to produce false confessions to justify U.S. military policy. And see this.
And authoritarian American psychologists are eager to label anyone “taking a cynical stance toward politics, mistrusting authority, endorsing democratic practices, … and displaying an inquisitive, imaginative outlook” as worthy of a trip to the insane asylum. (Those traits may also get one labeled as a potential terrorist.)
Read More @ AlexanderHiggins.com

Greece Fulfills Its BoomBustBlog Derived Destiny – Shows This Time Really Isn’t All That Different After All!!!

by Reggie Middleton, BoomBustBlog.com:
I believe I was one of the very few to declare Greece a foregone default in February 2010 (I Think It’s Confirmed, Greece Will Be the First Domino to Fall and then with with more specificity a month later As I Explicitly Forewarned, Greece Is Well On Its Way To Default, and Previously Published Numbers Were Waaaayyy Too Optimistic!). By the 2nd quarter of 2010 I was one of the very few to clearly and articulately detail exactly how Greece would default with specific structures in play- What is the Most Likely Scenario in the Greek Debt Fiasco? Restructuring Via Extension of Maturity Dates. Due to a few institutions who were skeptical, I attempted to make it a bit more real - A Comparison of Our Greek Bond Restructuring Analysis to that of Argentina.
Well, Greece defaulted according to plan, despite all of the “people in the know” saying otherwise – Greek Crisis Is Over, Region Safe”, Prodi Says – I say Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire! - from government officials tothe EC and IMF – Lies, Damn Lies, and Sovereign Truths: Why the Euro is Destined to Collapse! Even after the default, I made clear that this wasn’t over for Greece, for the default actually left Greece worse off fundamentally, not better. Go wonder… I know I did, reference the warning from 5 months ago:
Read More @ BoomBustBlog.com

We The Sheeplez... is intended to reflect excellence in effort and content. Donations will help maintain this goal and defray the operational costs. Paypal, a leading provider of secure online money transfers, will handle the donations. Thank you for your contribution.

I'm PayPal Verified