Category: Economics & Investing

Reader C.C.V. sent this: U.S. Payrolls Grew 244,000 in April; Unemployment at 9%. JWR Adds: “the recovery is cooling” they claim. I ask: What recovery? All that I’ve seen is a brief blip, caused by a massive infusion of Funny Money. (The monetization dubbed “Quantitative Easing”.) Chris Martenson interviews Addison Wiggin: We Can’t Afford the Solutions Needed To Reverse Our Decline I noticed an interesting article over at Fierce Finance: Goldman Sachs prodigy quits KAF sent this: Fannie Mae has asked the government Friday for an additional $8.5 billion in aid. (It lost $8.7 billion in the first three months …

Reader Fred Z. sent this: No Accounting for Benefits: Our taxes barely cover our social-welfare programs; everything else is on credit. KAF suggested this piece over at Zero Hedge: CME Margin Hike Is 4th AND 5th – Charting The Parabolic Rise In CME Silver Margin Hikes How the Fed triggered the Arab Spring uprisings in two easy graphs. (SurvivalBlog’s Poet Laureate G.G. sent the link.) Troy H. recommended a recent newsletter, wherein Jeremy Grantham gets downright Malthusian. Items from The Economatrix: China Said May Buy $1 Trillion in Gold US Service Sector Expanded at Much Slower Pace Economic Stress Drops …

I found this article linked at The Drudge Report: Food Prices Rise to Near-Record as Inflation Accelerates John R. recommended a piece by Martin A. Armstrong: The Next Wave B.B. sent this: Mexican Central Bank Quietly Buys 100 Tons of Gold Jim Rogers: Oil Price Will Keep Rising; Silver to Fall Debt-Ceiling Brinksmanship: Treasury Will Hit Legal Limit When It Borrows $13.86 Billion More Items from The Economatrix: Any Chance of Gold Confiscation? Precious Metals vs. The USD 10 States Where Pensions are Running Out of Money US Dollar Crash Warned May Be Underway Fresh US Dollar Slide Rekindles Pre-Crisis …

Here it comes, just as I predicted: Silver Investors Dump Futures as Comex Boosts Speculator Trading Costs 84%. But even if the COMEX governors kill the futures market, they won’t be able to destroy the physical silver market. The demand for physical silver is just too great. Expect lots of volatility with some huge price swings, in coming months. But in the long run, as the Western economies go into stagflation, physical silver will rightly be seen as a safe haven, gaining against the rapidly-inflating fiat currencies. (Or rather, I should say the currencies will be losing value, whilst silver …

[UPDATED] Silver investors: Here is one of those dips that I mentioned! Silver at under $35 per ounce is a definite buying opportunity. $35 per ounce equates to around 25 times face value (wholesale), for pre-1965 “junk” silver coins. They were a whopping 37 times face just six days ago. Buy now! C.D.V. send this: Underwater Mortgages a Threat to Recovery; Expect No More Than 3% Growth Until Housing Recovers Portugal becomes third euro country to get bailout. (Thanks to G.P. for the link.) Also from G.P.: About 1 in 7 in U.S. Receive Food Stamps Former Comptroller David Walker: …

I called this one right: Silver struggles again after futures market raises margin requirements. (Back on April 21st, I had written: “Also, be forewarned: The COMEX Governors are soon likely to slam on the brakes on the precious metals markets by changing their trading rules. (Most likely by raising margin requirements.) Prices will get very volatile. Be ready to take advantage of any steep sell-offs.”) D.B. in Seattle suggested this piece by Niall Ferguson: Sticker Shock. It begins: “The Fed may deny it, but Americans know that prices are rising. In this week’s Newsweek, Niall Ferguson takes a look at …

Housing Crash 2.0 Is Accelerating Jim Willie: Currency Dead End Paradoxes Banksters Covered 26 Million Silver Oz Short Position. (Thanks to Chris D. for the link.) Tyrone W. wrote to mention a Glenn Beck interview with G. Edward Griffin about the history of the Federal Reserve. Items from The Economatrix: Economy Slowed By High Gas Prices, Bad Weather More People Applied For Unemployment Benefits Currency Dead-end Paradoxes, The Besieged US Dollar

J.B.G. suggested this piece in The Washington Times by Arnaud de Borchgrave: Geneva Gnome’s Global Dread George S. mentioned some interesting news: North Dakota does today what no other state is able to do — cut taxes G.G. sent this inevitable bit of news: Thefts rise as price of gas goes up Items from The Economatrix: Critics Say Fed Policies Devalue The US Dollar Thanks to Obama, Gas Jumps in a Flash Will Silver Go Above $50 and Stay There? Bernanke Holds First Press Conference in Fed History

Jeff Reeves: The nine places where inflation is crushing us. (Thanks to Paul B. for the link.) G.G. flagged a piece at Zero Hedge: More Americans Believe The Country Is In A Depression Than Growing The World’s Last Typewriter Factory Closes in India. (A hat tip to RBS for the link.) Spotted at Fierce Finance: Goldman Sachs: Too big to prosecute Items from The Economatrix: Massive Raid on Silver / Open Interest in Silver Remains High Everything’s OK with Economy, Go Back to Sleep S&P Cuts Japan’s Rating Outlook to Negative US House Prices Fall Close to 2009 Lows With …

Ron D. suggested this article over at the Accept The Challenge blog: Precious Metals Security. Reader Bill J. liked this piece by Peter Schiff: Bernanke is Lying; Bet Against the Fed and the Dollar. Bill’s comment: “I’m in the insurance/financial services business so I can attest to the impartiality of [Martin] Weiss’s rating systems.  Their approach is different from that of S&P, Moody’s, etc. in that they do not receive compensation from the very entities they are rating. Weiss doesn’t have the inherent conflict of interest the others do.” Items from The Economatrix: China’s Central Banker:  We Own Too Much US …

Frequent contributor KAF sent this: Fed says $600B bond program to end in June. JWR’s Comment: Any bets on whether The Fed can break itself from their new-found addiction to creating money out of thin air? I’m betting that they’ll find an excuse to continue Monetization (aka “Quantitative Easing”), indefinitely. In essence, monetization is the crack cocaine cooking of the currency world. B.T.D. sent this: Treasury quietly plans for failure to raise debt ceiling, Regular content contributor B.B. forwarded this: Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are ‘running out of money’ Several readers sent the link to this entertaining “rap music video”: Fight …