Economics and Investing:

Along The Watchtower reports on the COMEX‘s severe shortage of physical silver for delivery, amid strong open interest (OI) for March contracts: Wow! If a higher than normal percentage of buyers demand delivery, then the market will implode. There is already short squeeze in progress. The COMEX governors are likely to resort to drastically raising margin requirements to near 100% in an attempt to cool the market. (As precedent, they did this back during the Hunt Brothers silver short squeeze, three decades ago. Silver was then approaching $50 per ounce, and the COMEX hit the brakes hard.) A repeat of that sort of draconian manipulation could briefly slam the price of silver down to around $22 per ounce. (If that occurs, look at it as a great buying opportunity.) They might also at some time restrict delivery, forcing buyers to accept cash instead of the physical silver commitment that they bought. The latter move will surely create pandemonium in the spot market, with silver likely to then spike above $55 per ounce.

A recent piece in The Daily Bell: Jay Taylor on Inflation Versus Deflation, the Possibility of a Gold Standard and Why the West is Failing.

Loyal news link contributor Sue C. flagged this: States That Ignored Warnings on Unemployment Insurance Face Reckoning.

Items from The Economatrix:

Forget Gold: Why Investors are Targeting Guns. [JWR Adds: Here in the U.S. my two most-strongly recommended modern guns for investment are the Steyr AUG-A3 (production just ceased after only a short run of a few thousand guns by Steyr USA), and the Saiga 12 gauge semi-auto shotgun (a strong candidate for a pending importation ban). The law of supply and demand is inescapable, so buy them soon!]

Lost Dollars (The Mogambo Guru)  

Many Riots in Arab Countries; Silver Explodes  

Inflation Makes a Comeback as Prices Rise for Food, Fuel 

Short Squeeze In Silver!  Could Be the Big One:  John Rubino  

Philly Fed Index Hits Seven-Year High as Inflation Builds   

Bill Changes Florida’s Unemployment Benefit System