Category: Economics & Investing

Reader “Swampfox” recommended a lecture by hedge fund manager (and fellow nickel coin hoarder) Kyle Bass. We Are Witnessing The Death Of Small Business In America The Real Reasons the Fed Announced QE 4 Demand For Gold “Combiners” Soaring Items from the Economatrix: The Last Christmas In America? New York Stock Exchange Sold To Derivatives Company In $8 Billion Takeover Jobless Claims Fall:  A Bright Spot In The Fiscal Cliff Gloom IMF Chief Warns US On Worldwide Effects Of Fiscal Cliff

H.L. sent: Brazil Doubles Gold Reserves as Central Banks Buy Bullion American Gun Store: Before And After Sandy Hook Massacre Items from The Economatrix: Housing Poised To Bolster US Growth As Sales Rise US States Gain In Economic Health As Manufacturing Grows Silver To Gain 29% In 2013

Sound familiar? Cash Is King: Printing of $100 Bills Soars With Farm Bill Stalled, Consumers May Face Soaring Milk Prices. (Thanks to Michael W. for the link.) K.A.F. sent: Hungary bars foreigners from buying farmland Items from The Economatrix: 20 Signs That The US Poverty Explosion Is Hitting Children And Young People The Hardest, etc. The End Of US Dominance In 2013 Federal Spending, Rising Inventories Mask Much Weaker Economy The Current “Fiscal Cliff” Situation Is A “Worst Case Scenario”

Diving into the fiscal economic mess – Fiscal cliff a reckoning for decades of poor financial management and massive debt based spending. Looting Breaks Out In Argentina Items from The Economatrix: Will Gold Break $2,000 In 2013? John Williams:  We’re Going To Be In A New Recession Global Economic Slowdown Signals Sad New Year What Happens If The Payroll Tax Cut Expires?

ICE to Buy NYSE for $8.2 Billion, Ending Era of Independence Jim W. sent: Putting It In Perspective: In 2013 The Fed Will Conjure Enough Paper Money To Buy 11% Of All Existing Gold Top 10 Things To Worry About In 2013 Items from The Economatrix: The Real Killer Will Be The Next Recession And There Will Be One Chart Of The Day:  The Death of America’s Middle Class Fed Asset Buying Won’t Speed Growth Above 2% What Inflation Means For You:  Inside The Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Guns Out of Stock at Wal-Mart as Magazine Prices Surge on Teacher sole heir of $7.4 Million gold coin fortune Why Reported Inflation Seems Different Than Reality Items from The Economatrix: Silver dip! (Buy on the dips.) We’re Going To Have A World Class Currency Crisis And Global Growth Will Never Return To Its Glory Days Please Prepare Well In Advance:  What’s Coming Next Year Will Be Worse Than 2008 Saxo Bank’s 10 Outrageous Predictions For 2013

This does not bode well: SEC Ruling: Active ETFs Now Allowed To Use Derivatives Jim W. recommended this “must read” piece: The Fiscal Cliff Is A Diversion: The Derivatives Tsunami and the Dollar Bubble (Paul Craig Roberts) Items from The Economatrix: The Most Critical 48 Hours In The Fiscal Cliff Melodrama Have Begun Without Deal, Unemployment Checks Stop December 29th US Secret Service Bans Sale Of Silver And Gold Liberty Dollars On Ebay Silver Prices About To Implode: Chinese Demand For Silver Has Exploded

From Chris P.: Food and fuel shortages in war-torn Syria.  Regime targeting bakeries and farmers. “Twist” Redux: Fed to Launch New Bond Buying Program to Ease Fiscal Cliff Fears B.B. liked this Peter Schiff interview: Majority Doesn’t “Have A Right To Steal My Money Just Because They Voted For It” Why The Fiscal Cliff Is Set To Crush The Middle Class With 50% Tax Rates FEMA trailers to the rescue! (a month or two late): U.S. Rep. Pallone: post-Sandy temporary housing plans in N.J. to start following talk with FEMA director Items from The Economatrix: New Fed Metrics, QE4 Won’t …

Okay, the Fed’s recent decision to boost its monetary stimulus (a.k.a. “money printing,” “quantitative easing,” or simply “QE“) by another $45 billion a month to a combined $85 billion per month demonstrates an almost complete departure from what a normal person might consider sensible. To borrow a phrase from Joel Salatin: Folks, this ain’t normal.  To this I will add …and it will end badly. If you had stopped me on the street a few years ago and asked me what I thought would have happened in the stock, bond, foreign currency, and commodity markets on the day the Fed …

B.B. suggested some recent commentary from Peter Schiff: No Way Out More socialist buffoonery: France’s Jean-Marc Ayrault slams flight of the ‘greedy rich’ (JWR’s Comment: Gee, and they wonder why they are leaving. I suppose that wife-beaters wonder the same thing.) 55 Reasons Why California Is The Worst State In America And The Entire State Is Rapidly Becoming A Bright, Shining Example Of Everything That Is Wrong With America Items from The Economatrix: Job Openings in US Rose in October to Four-Month High Detroit “Bankruptcy is a Possibility” Jobless Claims Fall to Pre-Sandy Levels

Denninger: The Real Problem With America: Morality M.E.W. sent: How Fed’s next trick will hurt bonds: Another bond-buying program seems likely as the Federal Reserve tries to boost the economy. But long term, it will lead to higher interest rates, inflation and bond market turmoil. Baltic Dry Plunges By Over 8% Overnight, Most Since 2008. (Thanks to Stephen M. for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Massive Bank Cyberattack Planned Silver Outlook For 2013 Retail Sales Bounce Back

Roubini: Bernanke Just Launched QE5 Will the Real Federal Deficit Please Stand Up? $222 Trillion! KAF sent: 526,421 family farms threatened by new death tax Items from The Economatrix: Gold is a Leading Indicator of Monetary Distress Sales of American Gold Eagles Soar 15 Signs That The Economy Is Rapidly Getting Worse As We Head Into 2013

Over at Zero Hedge: Art Cashin Previews Our $202 Trillion Destiny Reader Andre D. recommended this essay: The West is signing its own death sentence Pam C. wrote mention: “In most banks, the bulk teller is the person in charge of the ordering of currency and the vault. The bulk teller is normally stationed nearest the vault and handles the commercial deposits. This is the bank employee that you should contact about bulk ordering nickels.” Items from The Economatrix: US Stocks Rise With Metals On China; Italy Bond Plunge The Coming Derivatives Panic That Will Destroy Global Financial Markets Will …

Bernanke’s Eternal ZIRP of Bliss: Fed Says It Will Keep Key Interest Rate Near Zero Until Jobs Come Back. [JWR’s Comment: That may be the goal, but if Uncle Sugar keeps on prodigiously buying its own bonds, then the global market may have other ideas about the direction of American interest rates.] And QE-4-Ever: The Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced that it will launch a fourth round of quantitative easing (“QE4”) Foodstamps Soar By Most In 16 Months: Over 1 Million Americans Enter Poverty In Last Two Months Items from The Economatrix: Startling Look At US Job Demographics By Age …