Economics and Investing:

Have you noticed that the spot price of platinum is now about $90 below the spot price of gold? This is a sign of major economic turmoil and is predictive of a very weak manufacturing sector in the year to come. This price inversion doesn’t happen very often, so when it does, take advantage of it, just as I did. I was recently able to pick up some 1/10th-ounce and 1/4-ounce slabbed U.S. Mint Liberty bullion platinum coins for just under the spot price of gold! But beware of fake Chinese platinum and gold coins that are now becoming commonplace! When you buy platinum coins, buy only coins that are in PCGS or NGC encapsulated (“slabbed”) holders. You don’t need to be a genius economist to see the wisdom of exploiting this price inversion.

James Hall: Derivative Meltdown and Dollar Collapse

26 things to get done before the global debt collapse

How to Play a Comex Default

Art Cashin: We’re Certainly At A Flashing Yellow Alert On Hyperinflation

Items from The Economatrix:

Been There, Done That Department: Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe report draws comparison between their hyperinflationary period and US QE3. (“These interventions which were exactly in the mould of bail out packages and quantitative easing measures currently instituted in the US and the EU, were geared at evoking a positive supply response and arrest further economic decline.”) The report also documents the ongoing collapse of the Zimbabwean economy under the spectacularly bad leadership of Comrade Mugabe and his ZANU-PF cronies. Their systematic looting of the country makes America’s corrupt big city mayors look like rank amateurs, by comparison.