The Ministry Of Propaganda Declares Ron Paul "Unelectable"
The Status Quo's Ministry of Propaganda has a single political task for 2012: eliminate the sole threat to the Status Quo (Ron Paul) from the running, leaving voters with a "choice" of clueless stooges for the Power Elite. That roster includes President Obama and the daytime-TV/soap-opera field of Republicrat contenders. The Ministry of Propaganda has settled on a ludicrous strategy to eliminate Ron Paul: declare Paul "unelectable." As with all propaganda, the basic idea is that if it is repeated often enough on officially sanctioned stages, it will eventually be accepted as "true." Our Christmas-New Year's week of family visits took us to homes where the television is on all the time, and as a result I was exposed to the Ministry of Propaganda's preferred media, TV "news." Regardless of the channel or program, the message was the same: "The presidential race will between Obama and either Romney or Gingrich." Despite the polls that find Paul and Romney with equal levels of support in Iowa, Romney has been declared the front-runner and Paul written off as "unelectable." In other words, the voters don't even need to check in; the Ministry of Propaganda's army of toadies, lackeys and media apparatchiks have their marching orders: repeat that Ron Paul is unelectable at every opportunity, either explicitly or implicitly via leaving him off the list of "frontrunners."
Concerns about subversion grow after Republican strategist says GOP establishment will not allow Ron Paul to win
by Paul Joseph Watson, InfoWars.com:
Tonight’s
final vote tally for the Iowa caucuses will take place at a secret
undisclosed location, an announcement that has stoked fears of vote
fraud amongst Ron Paul supporters, concerns that were heightened
following a Republican insider’s claim that the GOP establishment will
not allow Paul to win.
The final Iowa vote count normally takes place at state party headquarters in Des Moines, but following dubious “security concerns” about Occupy protesters disrupting the tabulation process, the Republican Party of Iowa announced that it would be moving the final vote count to a secret undisclosed location.
The move occurred despite Occupy protest leaders confirming there were no plans to disrupt the caucuses themselves.
Read More @ InfoWars.com
by Paul Joseph Watson, InfoWars.com:
Tonight’s
final vote tally for the Iowa caucuses will take place at a secret
undisclosed location, an announcement that has stoked fears of vote
fraud amongst Ron Paul supporters, concerns that were heightened
following a Republican insider’s claim that the GOP establishment will
not allow Paul to win.The final Iowa vote count normally takes place at state party headquarters in Des Moines, but following dubious “security concerns” about Occupy protesters disrupting the tabulation process, the Republican Party of Iowa announced that it would be moving the final vote count to a secret undisclosed location.
The move occurred despite Occupy protest leaders confirming there were no plans to disrupt the caucuses themselves.
Read More @ InfoWars.com
Swiss Central Bank’s Attempts To Keep The Currency From Strengthening Will Ultimately Fail
In my experience in currency markets, the markets have more money than any central bank. - *in CNBC* *Jim Rogers is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The New York Times, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and is a regular guest on Bloomberg and CNBC.*
by Ryan McMaken, LewRockwell.com:
Like virtually every country on earth, the United States has a long and sordid history of persecuting minority groups in the name of national security, safety and cultural “preservation.” This can include racial minorities, religious minorities and even linguistic minorities.
The level of persecution varied from short-term hostility and small-scale mob violence, as with German-speaking Americans during the First World War, up to outright chattel slavery as with the Black Americans in many American states, and to a systematic attempt at extermination as with the plains Indians. And in between are those many groups such as Americans of Japanese descent, or Mexican descent, for example, who at various times in history were denied the protection of American law which led to forfeiture of property, income, privacy and freedom.
Read More @ LewRockwell.com
Like virtually every country on earth, the United States has a long and sordid history of persecuting minority groups in the name of national security, safety and cultural “preservation.” This can include racial minorities, religious minorities and even linguistic minorities.
The level of persecution varied from short-term hostility and small-scale mob violence, as with German-speaking Americans during the First World War, up to outright chattel slavery as with the Black Americans in many American states, and to a systematic attempt at extermination as with the plains Indians. And in between are those many groups such as Americans of Japanese descent, or Mexican descent, for example, who at various times in history were denied the protection of American law which led to forfeiture of property, income, privacy and freedom.
Read More @ LewRockwell.com
by Peter Cooper, Arabian Money via GoldSeek:
Sale prices for gold and silver brought out the bargain hunters with gold and silver both gaining more than two per cent in value, bringing to an end the sell-off that closed last year.
New Year cheer for bullion was predicted in the ArabianMoney newsletter with specific ideas for precious metal investments over the course of 2012 (sign-up here).
Prices Rebound
We see this far more as a rebound from oversold price levels with hedge funds keen to get back into this asset class than a response to some bellicose statements from Iran or for that matter the new leadership in North Korea.
Gold and silver’s fundamental appeal has not lost its shine. Indeed, the money printing by global central banks is lining precious metals up for some huge advances in the near future.
Read More @ GoldSeek.com
Sale prices for gold and silver brought out the bargain hunters with gold and silver both gaining more than two per cent in value, bringing to an end the sell-off that closed last year.
New Year cheer for bullion was predicted in the ArabianMoney newsletter with specific ideas for precious metal investments over the course of 2012 (sign-up here).
Prices Rebound
We see this far more as a rebound from oversold price levels with hedge funds keen to get back into this asset class than a response to some bellicose statements from Iran or for that matter the new leadership in North Korea.
Gold and silver’s fundamental appeal has not lost its shine. Indeed, the money printing by global central banks is lining precious metals up for some huge advances in the near future.
Read More @ GoldSeek.com
Gerald Celente on France 24 – 30.Dec.2011
by Jeffrey Tucker, Whiskey and Gun Powder:
Twenty
years ago, and much to the shock of just about everyone, the mighty
Soviet Union, the very embodiment of Hegel’s view of the state as the
divine on Earth, dissolved and disappeared. The malicious foe of the
U.S., the deadly grizzly that was said to wander the world seeking whom
it would devour, just rolled over. .
What’s more, the satellite states became independent nations. The empire on its borders devolved into a series of secessions. The map looked totally different one day to the next.
The central power — said to be ruthless and all controlling — lacked the will to fight it out and just gave up, completely unable to control events. The pretense of communism in all these places was dropped, industry was privatized, the countries adopted their old names and their populations were rolled into the global division of labor after 50-plus years of being shut out.
Read More @ WhiskeyAndGunPowder.com
Twenty
years ago, and much to the shock of just about everyone, the mighty
Soviet Union, the very embodiment of Hegel’s view of the state as the
divine on Earth, dissolved and disappeared. The malicious foe of the
U.S., the deadly grizzly that was said to wander the world seeking whom
it would devour, just rolled over. .What’s more, the satellite states became independent nations. The empire on its borders devolved into a series of secessions. The map looked totally different one day to the next.
The central power — said to be ruthless and all controlling — lacked the will to fight it out and just gave up, completely unable to control events. The pretense of communism in all these places was dropped, industry was privatized, the countries adopted their old names and their populations were rolled into the global division of labor after 50-plus years of being shut out.
Read More @ WhiskeyAndGunPowder.com
from The Daily Bell:
Foreign individuals, pension funds and trusts will be able to subscribe to public offers of an Indian company. “Qualified foreign investors will be able to invest in initial public offers or follow-on public offers as well,” a finance ministry official said. The issue of voting rights for QFIs is also under discussion with market regulator Sebi, which is expected to issue a detailed notification by January 15, the official said. India had on Sunday announced its decision to allow QFIs to directly invest in the Indian equity market. A QFI is an individual, group or association resident in a foreign country that is compliant with Financial Action Task Force standards. QFIs do not include FIIs or their sub-accounts. – Economic Times
Dominant Social Theme: A brave new world of investment opportunities beckons.
Free-Market Analysis: We reported the other day on how China has further opened up its “markets” to “investments.” And now India is doing the same thing (see article above). Coincidence? We try to look past that these days.
Read More @ TheDailyBell.com
Foreign individuals, pension funds and trusts will be able to subscribe to public offers of an Indian company. “Qualified foreign investors will be able to invest in initial public offers or follow-on public offers as well,” a finance ministry official said. The issue of voting rights for QFIs is also under discussion with market regulator Sebi, which is expected to issue a detailed notification by January 15, the official said. India had on Sunday announced its decision to allow QFIs to directly invest in the Indian equity market. A QFI is an individual, group or association resident in a foreign country that is compliant with Financial Action Task Force standards. QFIs do not include FIIs or their sub-accounts. – Economic Times
Dominant Social Theme: A brave new world of investment opportunities beckons.
Free-Market Analysis: We reported the other day on how China has further opened up its “markets” to “investments.” And now India is doing the same thing (see article above). Coincidence? We try to look past that these days.
Read More @ TheDailyBell.com
Iran Threatens Action If US Returns to Persian Gulf (with James Corbett)
from GoldMoney.com:
The
price of gold started the year on a positive note, rebounding from
support at $1,550 per troy ounce back towards $1,600 and extending its
decade long bull market. The future looks just as bright for the yellow
metal, as real interest rates remain negative around the world and, as Bloomberg reports
the world’s largest governments are facing the daunting task of
refinancing over 7 trillion dollars in 2012. As the markets’ appetite
for sovereign bonds dries up and the perception of fixed income as
“riskless assets” goes the way of the dodo, the easiest way out for the
debtors will be to print and inflate.
Improving macroeconomic numbers from the US are being seen by some economists as the first signs of accelerating inflation, especially given the rise in key energy and agricultural commodities, while others are playing the “green shoots” song again. Meanwhile the Chinese slowdown, exemplified by the Hang Seng Index’s 9 month and 25% drop, has sparked increasing concern over whether the Asian giant will see a soft or hard landing, and how that will affect the world economy. Both Japan and China will be less enthusiastic buyers of US sovereign debt, unless of course it is done with newly printed money and for currency manipulation purposes.
Read More @ GoldMoney.com
The
price of gold started the year on a positive note, rebounding from
support at $1,550 per troy ounce back towards $1,600 and extending its
decade long bull market. The future looks just as bright for the yellow
metal, as real interest rates remain negative around the world and, as Bloomberg reports
the world’s largest governments are facing the daunting task of
refinancing over 7 trillion dollars in 2012. As the markets’ appetite
for sovereign bonds dries up and the perception of fixed income as
“riskless assets” goes the way of the dodo, the easiest way out for the
debtors will be to print and inflate.Improving macroeconomic numbers from the US are being seen by some economists as the first signs of accelerating inflation, especially given the rise in key energy and agricultural commodities, while others are playing the “green shoots” song again. Meanwhile the Chinese slowdown, exemplified by the Hang Seng Index’s 9 month and 25% drop, has sparked increasing concern over whether the Asian giant will see a soft or hard landing, and how that will affect the world economy. Both Japan and China will be less enthusiastic buyers of US sovereign debt, unless of course it is done with newly printed money and for currency manipulation purposes.
Read More @ GoldMoney.com
America is an Insecure Empire: Catherine Austin Fitts
Ellis Martin Report with Dudley Baker “Bottom’s Up in 2012″
In
1983 over 60 percent of American workers had some kind of
defined-benefit plan. Today less than 20 percent have access to a plan
and the majority of retired Americans largely rely on Social Security as
their de facto retirement plan.
from mybudget360.com:
As many Americans enter into retirement they are realizing one unfortunate thing. The new retirement plan is no retirement at all. Over the last few decades Americans
were promised the idea of a comfortable retirement yet none of this has
materialized because of financial swindling and a real estate bubble
that will go down in the record books. On the flip side, many Americans
went into massive debt and consumed their future nest egg today with
big purchases outside of their budgets. So what are we left with
today? We are left with over 75,000,000 baby boomers entering into
retirement with very little saved. One out of three Americans
has absolutely no money saved to their name. In 1983 over 60 percent
of working Americans had some sort of defined-benefit pension plan.
Today that number is below 20 percent. With the average worker making $25,000 a year the media designed idea of retirement is largely just another fantasy.
Read More @ myBudget360.com
from mybudget360.com:
As many Americans enter into retirement they are realizing one unfortunate thing. The new retirement plan is no retirement at all. Over the last few decades Americans
were promised the idea of a comfortable retirement yet none of this has
materialized because of financial swindling and a real estate bubble
that will go down in the record books. On the flip side, many Americans
went into massive debt and consumed their future nest egg today with
big purchases outside of their budgets. So what are we left with
today? We are left with over 75,000,000 baby boomers entering into
retirement with very little saved. One out of three Americans
has absolutely no money saved to their name. In 1983 over 60 percent
of working Americans had some sort of defined-benefit pension plan.
Today that number is below 20 percent. With the average worker making $25,000 a year the media designed idea of retirement is largely just another fantasy.Read More @ myBudget360.com
U.S. Debt Reduction Top Concern for Iowa Voters
from End of The American Dream:
Once
again, the Republican Party is being tempted to vote for “the lesser of
two evils”. A lot of Republicans are actually considering voting for
Mitt Romney because they have bought the lie that he has “the best
chance” of defeating Barack Obama in 2012. But just because he is the
Republican candidate that is most like Barack Obama does not mean that
he has the best chance of defeating him. The truth is that no
self-respecting Republican should ever vote for Mitt Romney. A vote for
Mitt Romney is a vote for the New World Order. Romney comes from the
financial establishment, he is being showered with money from the
financial establishment and he supports all of the goals of the
financial establishment. This year, millions upon millions of dollars
are being funneled into Romney’s campaign and into pro-Romney
organizations. The New World Order is literally trying to buy the 2012
election for their dream candidate. Romney would be the ultimate Wall
Street puppet, and if you cast a vote for Mitt Romney you are playing
right into the hands of the financial elite.
If you do not believe that a vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for the New World Order, just consider Mitt Romney’s positions on the issues….
Read More @ EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Once
again, the Republican Party is being tempted to vote for “the lesser of
two evils”. A lot of Republicans are actually considering voting for
Mitt Romney because they have bought the lie that he has “the best
chance” of defeating Barack Obama in 2012. But just because he is the
Republican candidate that is most like Barack Obama does not mean that
he has the best chance of defeating him. The truth is that no
self-respecting Republican should ever vote for Mitt Romney. A vote for
Mitt Romney is a vote for the New World Order. Romney comes from the
financial establishment, he is being showered with money from the
financial establishment and he supports all of the goals of the
financial establishment. This year, millions upon millions of dollars
are being funneled into Romney’s campaign and into pro-Romney
organizations. The New World Order is literally trying to buy the 2012
election for their dream candidate. Romney would be the ultimate Wall
Street puppet, and if you cast a vote for Mitt Romney you are playing
right into the hands of the financial elite.If you do not believe that a vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for the New World Order, just consider Mitt Romney’s positions on the issues….
Read More @ EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Presented
with little comment - Silver - having (like Gold) retraced all of last
week's losses is seeing a record-breaking move today. This jump of 6.6% is the largest since 11/24/08 - over three years ago.
European
credit and equity markets rallied today but there was considerable
relative underperformance by the former (especially in financials). Sovereign spreads leaked wider all day
and started to lose it more rapidly into the close. It looks like
Senior versus Subordinated decompression trades were placed in the
European afternoon (a bearish trade ion financials) and even with the
ECB in the market, BTPs closed above 500bps over Bunds (just shy of 7% all-in yields). Broad risk assets also lost ground as Europe's bid eased off
as Oil eased back off its best levels and FX carry came off its highs
of the day. US Treasuries are rallying after trying to converge earlier
and 2s10s30s is also dragging risk lower for now.
We are 30 minutes into the day session. Do you know where your sanity is? Silver and Oil (over $102) are up 3.5% from last week's close, Copper and Gold up 1.5-2%
and the USD down 0.7%. The USD weakness, along with Treasury selling,
is enough to juice stocks up nicely as they catch up to yesterday's
European extravaganza. European sovereigns are giving back a lot of
their gains from yesterday so far but ECB buying chatter is supporting
BTPs at the moment. US financials are up 2.8% as the Treasury-Stock disconnect of last week converges rapidly.
With
trading commencing for 2012, today Michael Pento, of Pento Portfolio
Strategies, writes for King World News to explain that as currencies
continue to crash, the only reserve shoot left will be gold: “With gold
selling off about 20 percent in the last few weeks, there appears to be
much confusion as to what, if anything, has changed for the bullish
scenario. But the truth is not much. Gold is now and always has been a
hedge against a falling dollar, which is the result of an inflationary
monetary policy.”
As
EURUSD leaks very gently lower into the new year (but stocks popped
excitedly across quiet European markets that lacked a bond market
supervisor to keep them honest), we thought it might be interesting to
look at the relative strength of the Euro against six different measures.
From FX option risk-reversals to ECB's European Bank Lending
statistics, QE and sovereign risk relationships to Fed/ECB balance sheet
dynamics, and finally from futures commitment of traders data to
EUR-USD swap spread frameworks, the results are unsurprisingly mixed
with a bias towards EUR weakness. Between the European auctions (and
redemptions) of the next two weeks, and the FOMC meeting on the 24-25th
January, we face quite a rude awakening from the low volume holiday week
malaise.
Click Here to Listen to the Interview
Do
you believe that 2012 will be more difficult for the global economy
than 2011 was? Well, that is what German Chancellor Angela Merkel
believes. The woman that has become the most important politician in
Europe 
As
US markets remain in hibernation for a few more hours, Goldman picks
out the five critical questions that need to be considered in the
context of 2012's economic outlook. Jan Hatzius and his team ask and
answer a veritable chart-fest of crucial items from whether US growth
will pick up to above-trend (and remain 'decoupled' from Europe's
downside drag), whether inflation will find its Goldilocks moment this
year and if the US housing market will bottom in 2012 (this one is a
stretch). Summarizing all of these in a final question, whether the Fed
will ease further, the erudite economist continues to expect an
expansion of LSAP (focused on Agency MBS) and an official re-adjustment
to an inflation targeting environment. Their view remains that a
nominal GDP target combined with more (larger) QE improves the chances
of the Fed meeting its dual mandates (unemployment target?) over time
but expectations for this radical shift remain predicated on
considerably worse economic performance in the economy first (as they
expect growth to disappoint). We feel the same way (worse is needed) and recall our 
With
minimal media coverage, at a time when Americans are celebrating the
New Year with their loved ones, the “National Defense Authorization Act
” H.R. 1540 is signed into law by President Obama. The actual signing
took place on the 31st of December.
When
it comes to the fabled President's Working Group on Capital Markets,
also known as the Plunge Protection Team, the myths about the subject
are certainly far greater than any underlying reality. To be sure, vast
amounts of popular folkflore has been expounded into the public arena,
with most of it being shot down simply due to it assuming conspiracy
theories of such vast scale that the human mind is unable to grasp the
complexity, and ultimately the inverse Gordian Knot makes an appearance
with the claim that vast conspiracies are largely untenable simply
because it is impossible to keep a secret from so many people for so
long. Yet what if the secret is not a secret at all but is fully out in
the open, and is only a matter of interpretation, and contextualizing?
Why just 3 years ago it would appear preposterous to allege the
capital markets are a ponzi and that the Fed does everything in its
power to keep stocks higher. Well, what a difference three years make:
now the Chairman himself in a Washington Post OpEd has admitted that
the sole gauge of Fed success is the loftiness of the Russell 2000,
neither unemployment nor inflation really matter now that the Fed's
third mandate has been fully whipped out. Furthermore, Keynesian
economics, and the entire top echelon of the educational system have
also been represented as a paradigm which merely perpetuates the status
quo as the alternative is the realization that the whole system is a
house of cards. As for the global capital markets being nothing short of
a ponzi, we merely point you to the general direction of Europe, the
ECB and its bank, where the monetary interplay is nothing short of the
world's biggest pyramid scheme. Yet the PPT, or whatever it is
informally called, does not exist? Consider further that only recently
did it become known that the former SecTres Hank Paulson
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel said she expects turbulence in 2012 as she
does “everything” to save the euro and end Europe´s sovereign debt
crisis.
The Daily Bell is pleased to publish an interview with financial advisor Catherine Austin Fitts (left).
We
all understand that the future is unknowable. Events yet to come cannot
be predicted. Nevertheless, the outlook for 2012 is probably set in
stone, and the reason is simple. The financial crisis imperiling the
globe for the past several years has not been solved. Until it is, we
can expect more of the same – specifically, serial bailouts of
governments and banks that, if not already insolvent are bordering on
insolvency. It is a distressing prospect.![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tIkBSm51tl4HrEpu7SrSlpAlVrOqZsDdiGWy0gowKE0onj0bvnUX5QWOFEyuhgdVJ1ZM2bA0DeHQ3NFe4j70qm_hz8xLuAYWqNo4iFepsUCwr4KhUSzmx1w6foiAEIK_ZiFw=s0-d)
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