<< <i>Do you think 2 months off to read Story's stories will be enough? Think I rather watch Curling on TV!
Seriously, I'll check out the archive. >>
I don't know, I've only been able to go back about 8 months but I'd like to read everything in the archive (not to mention get a copy of all the Currency Reviews for the past 4 decades....)
Enjoy!
.....GOD
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
I wonder how this is all going to be resolved? Better stock up on gold and silver!
.....GOD
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
Question - if Obamacare passes this week, do you think there will be any reaction in the price of gold?
(The plan, as designed, will almost certainly increase deficits above those projected. It is hard to see how it will be funded, except, initially, by monetization.
“if Obamacare passes this week, do you think there will be any reaction in the price of gold?”
Regardless of what most of us think obout the Obamacare issu, it will be necessary to pass National health insurance sooner or later in order to continue the current ponzi scheme. In the long run this will of course affect the price of Gold but the plan here is just to get the legislation in place so that like the original IRS bill it can be amended.
Like all of these ponzi schemes the socialists have put in place, our current give away plans are now bankrupt and must be funded from somewhere.
The only way to continue the American medical ponzi scheme is to control every part, this means single payer national care eventually.
If the Gov. can control the doctors, hospitals, drug manufactures, etc. then the scheme can go on for many years. Without this the current ponzi scheme will go bankrupt in the next few years.
If the congress discontinues all give away medical coverage this will once again produce riots in the streets.
"If the congress discontinues all give away medical coverage this will once again produce riots in the streets."
Yep, after Katrina there were many people being interviewed that totally believed that they had a right to housing...they took to the streets till the fed dumped a bunch of money on 'em. Then recently with the California schools shutting down some degree programs and reducing the course offerings and upping the cost of credit hours so people took to the streets yelling that they had a right to education...then it got quiet all of the sudden (maybe spring break?). With medical care, there have been a number of people, including congressmen stating that people had a right to medical care. If it doesn't pass, then some folks will probably take to the streets. If the govt sponsored great love ponzi between the hospital conglomerates, big pharma, insurance companies, and the frauds of medicare/aid (oh, don't forget the armies of attorneys that make a living here) somehow gets disrupted then sure, the disenfranchised will go to the streets. If people need to go to the streets, then go ahead and get it over with.
The government now wants to farm out the auditing of Medicare fraud to private companies. As an incentive they get a percentage of what fraud they uncover. They just thought of this now after 40 years of Medicare Fraud..........It always seems when the Feds are cornered like they are now they begin to take their responsibilities a little more serious. The Animal Farm Bureaucrats just don't care because its other peoples money(taxes) and now that the spigot of revenue has slowed to a trickle........... I bet if you took away Congress's Cadillac Plans paid by the taxpayer and let them fend for themselves, starting fresh with all their preexisting conditions to find health insurance, you would just see how fast they pass Universal Health Care.
If the Gov. can control the doctors, hospitals, drug manufactures, etc. then the scheme can go on for many years. Without this the current ponzi scheme will go bankrupt in the next few years. Which is the lesser evil, Corporate America controlling our heatlhcare or the Government. Either way, we as ciitizens will get screxxxxd.
<< <i>“if Obamacare passes this week, do you think there will be any reaction in the price of gold?”
Healthcare will not pass this week or next month, it's going to get scraped. Thank the good lord. Some reform is needed and will happen at some point in time.
The price of gold will continue to rise to great levels as unemployment and this recession won't improve for 3 years. Bottom line, this administration will continue to try and spend our way out and raise taxes!!!!
Conclusion: No tax income from healthcare, out of control govn. spending and increase of other taxes= gold going balistic.
<< <i>“if Obamacare passes this week, do you think there will be any reaction in the price of gold?”
Healthcare will not pass this week or next month, it's going to get scraped. Thank the good lord. Some reform is needed and will happen at some point in time.
The price of gold will continue to rise to great levels as unemployment and this recession won't improve for 3 years. Bottom line, this administration will continue to try and spend our way out and raise taxes!!!!
Conclusion: No tax income from healthcare, out of control govn. spending and increase of other taxes= gold going balistic. >>
I WILL EDIT THIS POST...... Healthcare will pass, but not by a vote, they will deemed to have it passed!
...and now on to immigration reform to recoup votes lost.
Let's see what the "Progressives" have wrought onto the public, 1) Federal Reserve-the central bank, 2) IRS-money redistribution 3) Prohibition-repealed 4) Social Security-I'll never see any of it even though I've paid for decades, 5) Medicare/Medicaid-tens of trillions in debt, 6) Gov't education-keep the dumb masses dumb, 8) NAFTA-ship jobs overseas, 9) Sub-prime No Doc home loans, 10) Health Care-eventually full gov't controlled health care. So what's left for them to take or control....retirement funds and property. Don't think they can't take it. Tell that to the Argentines and Germans.
A late night trip to the local A&P to buy some junk food - a multi-faceted economic short story
Introduction:
For some reason tonight while watching the end of the Kentucky - West Virginia game I got the urge for some brownies and ice cream. Considering that I've avoided the local A&P for over a year without raiding the junk aisles....I was overdue for some self-indulgence. And as much as I'm a Big East and UConn fan (last team to beat WV), I think I will miss seeing Kentucky not in the finals. But I digress. Our small town only has a single supermarket so in a way it has a monopoly, especially for the upper crust of the town who would rather shop here at any price than to travel an additional 2-5 miles or more to the nearest Stop & Shop or Warehouse store.
The Heist
During the 5 minute trip in the car my son and I were discussing govt pensions since one of our neighbors is retired from the IRS following 30 yrs service and pretty much living on that as well as Soc. Sec. He asked who paid for this? When I told him the govt is currently printing money out of thin air to pay for it he asked what about the gold in Fort Knox.....doesn't that pay for it? I then explained to him that the $300 BILL in gold (at current prices), even if still owned by us would only pay about 30 days worth of the budget deficit/short term debt roll over due this year (about $3.5 TRILL). I don't think he quite understood the impact between BILLIONs to TRILLIONs and was surprised to even hear that the gold in Fort Knox could possibly be compromised in any way. I guess in the end he'll be paying for the neighbor's pension payment for years to come...along with all the other boomer retirees yet to come.
The Hunt
As far as the junk food goes I left that for my son to pick out. When he returned I was floored that a "half gallon" of Breyers ice cream is now 1.5 qts (or 3/8 gall). I guess even Ice Cream is now going the way of the tuna fish can which has downsized from around 8 oz to today's 5 oz can. To add insult to injury the price for 3/8 gallon was $6+ or around $8/half gallon. The last time I was in the store the full half gallon was around $5-$6. Even the Friendly's brand actual half gallon is $7+. I know these can often be bought on sale at Stop & Shop and other places for 2/$6 or 2/$5. But A&P is no convenience story. He got a 4 oz Hershey bar for himself and that was $1.89. Last I was in the store that's what a 1/2 lb. bar went for with the 4 oz bars down around $1.29 to $1.59. Things have certainly changed in a year. Shoppers have to be more vigilent than ever. While maybe the prices in the peripherals of the supermarkets are staying somewhat reasonable (milk, juice, eggs, veggies, etc.) the stuff in the center aisles (junk, processed, packaged and canned goods) is still soaring....and shrinking. There's supposedly only deflationary forces in the economy so I hope someone gets the word to A&P, not that it would matter. At some point in time they too will be swallowed up a larger conglomerate.
The Dough
On another tangent, I hadn't closely checked the St. Louis FED reported money supplies in 9 months and was surprised to see that while M1 is up around $200 BILL, and M2 (and estimated M3) have been declining, good ole M0 (money base) has been given another shot of +$400 BILL. Since M0 is not really followed as closely as M1 that's the place to hide monetary increases. This first occured back in 4th qtr of 2008 when the FED dumped $800 BILL into M0 and for the first time ever it actually exceeded M0, and has ever since by a substantial margin. But since only M1 generally gets tracked who cares? So after a M0 117% yoy increase in 2008, it received another 30% jump in the past year. Note that prior to these 2 years the only time M0 or M1 received an increase >15% yoy was back in the middle 1980's...and that lead to a brief inflationary bout. Besides the increase in FED bank reserves, M0 has shown these large increases because of the retail sweep factor on checkable demand deposits (CDD). Approx 50% of CDD are temporarily removed from M1 into M0 by relabeling them as time deposits (even though they aren't). The FED came up with this trick around 1994-1995 to enable banks to carry even smaller reserves (ie boost leverage). And by keeping those extra hundreds of billions in CDD semi-hidden in M0, most analysts see a much more stable M1 (while M0 has increased massively from 0.8 TRILL to 2.15 TRILL over the past 1-1/2 years). One could then say that M1 is effectively understated by $1.4 TRILL (about 70%). Of course arguing which money aggregate truly defines potential inflation is a discussion for another time. The FED has various ways to hide money injections, some of which are state secrets. For instance in the past year they increased their Agency "slush" Fund by around $450 BILL (to $2.9 TRILL) and who knows what that covered. But it certainly didn't show up in M0, M1, or M2.
Epilogue
......but the Ice Cream and brownies were good even if price inflated. A long bike ride tomorrow to burn some of it off. But we have bigger problems with the govt needing $10 BILL per day to cover the current year's budget/debt payments. The twice a month bond auctions will need to be held every week to keep up with that pace.
Interesting perspective RR, and I've also noticed similar shenanigans with prices/package sizes. In the news a few days they were reporting that movie ticket prices are jumping 20% in some places. Link. Interesting development considering the economic situation. On the other hand, I have seen some rollback in prices in the main-line supermarkets. With much fanfare our local Safeway owned chain dropped some prices for non-perishables back to where they were a year or two ago. But things like seafood have gone up and keep going up. I now regularly see salmon for $9.99/pound regular price. That's doubled in the last five years.
"Men who had never shown any ability to make or increase fortunes for themselves abounded in brilliant plans for creating and increasing wealth for the country at large." Fiat Money Inflation in France, Andrew Dickson White (1912)
I think its good that package sizes are smaller. Maybe it will get people to eat less and reduce the extreme obesity in this country. That will reduce health care costs. I say raise ice cream to $10 a pint!!
Actually NY is trying to pass a "soda tax". It basically amounts to a 1c per ounce tax. So a 2 litre bottle of soda would cost 67c more. I think this is a GREAT idea. Raising taxes on cigarettes has led to fewer smokers. Those that havent quit pay more. Superb.
I have a feeling that the shrinkage of food packaging size has not been taken into account in the CPI. This has sort of lulled J6P into sleep over the actual cost increases even though he knows the package has shrunk. Maybe the next step for the CPI is to lower the net price as junk food packages shrink (ice cream, cereals, cookies, etc.) because this is an actual health improvement for the consumer. He's paying more for the same amount of product but getting less nasty junk food flowing through his veins. Cut the ice cream size in half, increase the price by 50%, and call that a net cost reduction to the consumer due the health quality factor improvements.
During the 5 minute trip in the car my son and I were discussing govt pensions since one of our neighbors is retired from the IRS following 30 yrs service and pretty much living on that as well as Soc. Sec. He asked who paid for this? When I told him the govt is currently printing money out of thin air to pay for it he asked what about the gold in Fort Knox.....doesn't that pay for it? I then explained to him that the $300 BILL in gold (at current prices), even if still owned by us would only pay about 30 days worth of the budget deficit/short term debt roll over due this year (about $3.5 TRILL). I don't think he quite understood the impact between BILLIONs to TRILLIONs and was surprised to even hear that the gold in Fort Knox could possibly be compromised in any way. I guess in the end he'll be paying for the neighbor's pension payment for years to come...along with all the other boomer retirees yet to come.
Road to Serfdom We are working for the government, essentially we all working til May or later of each year to pay our taxes. These huge federal, local and state pensions, some up to $500,000 a year have to be paid somehow.
Agreed, smaller packaging is good cause there's many over weight people in this country. But if prices don't decrease for that smaller amount, it's a form of inflation.
I'm going over weight in gold and silver this week. Waiting for a check and will be investing. Stock market is doing well today.
As far as gold or silver going up, I'm not too concerned with the dollar, but what happens when interest rates start to rise? Then investors will stop their precious metals hedge and go to other investments. Opinions?
.... but what happens when interest rates start to rise? Then investors will stop their precious metals hedge and go to other investments. Opinions?
Interest rates will rise until they offer a fair real return. The nominal posted rate is not as important as the net or real rate. Even the govt's CPI is now showing about 2.5% inflation. The shadowstats alt. SGS CPI index (linked below) shows today's inflation rate at over 9%...that's using the same govt methods as utilized in 1980. No wonder they massaged those methods since then! If people want to make comparisons to the gold price in 1980 let's make sure we also use the same calculational methods used for CPI, unemployment, money supply, etc. so that we're comparing apples to apples.
Interest rates in the later 1970's soared until 1981 before successfully killing the price of gold. It will be no different this time around if rates rise. Initially though investors are skittish to any rate rises and would be tempted to dump gold because they think the dollar is strengthening. But they'll get over it as soon as they see the dollar continuing to be printed into infinity and prices of goods and services around them going up. In the event of currencies losing the confidence of the people, rates would rise and everyone would start looking for ways to dump their FRN's.
<< <i>.... but what happens when interest rates start to rise? Then investors will stop their precious metals hedge and go to other investments. Opinions?
Interest rates will rise until they offer a fair real return. The nominal posted rate is not as important as the net or real rate. Even the govt's CPI is now showing about 2.5% inflation. The shadowstats alt. SGS CPI index (linked below) shows today's inflation rate at over 9%...that's using the same govt methods as utilized in 1980. No wonder they massaged those methods since then! If people want to make comparisons to the gold price in 1980 let's make sure we also use the same calculational methods used for CPI, unemployment, money supply, etc. so that we're comparing apples to apples.
Interest rates in the later 1970's soared until 1981 before successfully killing the price of gold. It will be no different this time around if rates rise. Initially though investors are skittish to any rate rises and would be tempted to dump gold because they think the dollar is strengthening. But they'll get over it as soon as they see the dollar continuing to be printed into infinity and prices of goods and services around them going up. In the event of currencies losing the confidence of the people, rates would rise and everyone would start looking for ways to dump their FRN's.
<< <i>I think its good that package sizes are smaller. Maybe it will get people to eat less and reduce the extreme obesity in this country. That will reduce health care costs.
. >>
I wonder if the addition of chemicals and huge amounts of water to fish, pork, and poultry will be reflected in the cost of living. Perhaps the chemicals will make people suck up more water, too.
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
Manufacturers are willing to even destroy their brands in order to fool customers intro overpaying so the CEO can take all the profits. Reduc- tion of package sizes meansd all thos recipes they've sent out for decades don't work any longer so people change their food choices. They appear to simply be trying to drive away customers.
Now days good customer service means their computer only plays with you for ten minutes before you can get an operator.
I listened to a RE show over the weekend. The S&P Case-Schiller year-over-year index on the top 20 markets came out and San Diego did well. The Bay Area was up 9%, Denver about 2%, Detroit was down 9%.
I also see on my iphone calendar for April 15 there's a note: Goldsaint says buy cheap RE. I don't remember when he posted that.
I have been pondering all weekend just what it means when the majority of U.S. citizens believe in electronic money, and the Fed can make all it wants?
O.K. we all know that only 3% of all dollars are actually printed. So 97% is just electronic entries in a computer.
If the Fed wants to increase the size of its balance sheet by a few trillion and buy mortgages, or loan money to the big banks to buy gov. debt. All it has to do is change a few numbers on its computer.
I mean, nearly all of our money, debt, bonds, notes, brokerage accounts, bank accounts etc. do not really exist in a physical sense, they are all just computer entries.
I suppose this is just fine and dandy as long as everyone believes in these computer entries, and nothing changes in that regard.
So the reason we do not have inflation is that you cannot have too much money chasing to few goods when the Fed is managing the COMPUTER ENTRIES!
You also cannot have a depression! You can have symptoms of a depression i.e. 20% real unemployment, but you see the numbers ALWAYS crunch when all the Fed has to do is manage its computer system.
Even though RE prices are down, it is still not a good time to buy RE, IMO. I'm in Phoenix, one of the RE epicenters so things might be worse here than other places. The crux of the problem is the high end jumbo market where almost NO real estate is selling, particularly if it requires a jumbo loan. The low end is very active but you have to have some balance between high end and low end real estate. Until then, the high end will continue to put downward pressure on prices. RE prices are low, but IMO they are not headed up significantly any time soon and there may be more downside. The good news is that you can buy RE as an investment and have good cash flow from day 1 which can minimize risk for a long term investment.
Regarding your other comments - the fact that they can create more dollars overnight is the reason to own as few as possible! The people of Venezuela learned this recently. They only thing you can have faith in is the PM's and other hard assets under your control. And these currency devals are always surprise moves too... I don't think anyone saw the Venezuela move coming. These things happen literally overnight. There will be no warning if or when the US decides to devalue the dollar.
<< <i>So the reason we do not have inflation is that you cannot have too much money chasing to few goods when the Fed is managing the COMPUTER ENTRIES!
You also cannot have a depression! You can have symptoms of a depression i.e. 20% real unemployment, but you see the numbers ALWAYS crunch when all the Fed has to do is manage its computer system. >>
This is where I think your are wrong. It's easy for the fed to create dollars, but difficult and unlikely for them to destroy dollars. For the fed to destroy dollars, congress has to approve. While congress doesn't have any real power in this regard, it is still all about politics. The fed had planned to destroy all of the dollars from the big big bailout, but now that those dollars exist our politicians are doing everything they can to spend them and make them permanent. Destroying dollars would also make the dollar stronger, which would hurt the stock market and hurt exports. How is Obama going to double exports with a strong dollar? Destroying dollars sounds good on paper but it is difficult to do.
Secondly, there actually is inflation, it just depends on how you measure it or where you look. The dollars that were created have yet to really enter the economy, although congress is working on it. The seriously-decreased lending activity has also managed to counter-act all of the dollar creation. Eventually it will hit the economy and the inflation will be felt. The question is not if but when.
Secondly, there actually is inflation, it just depends on how you measure it or where you look. The dollars that were created have yet to really enter the economy, although congress is working on it. The seriously-decreased lending activity has also managed to counter-act all of the dollar creation. Eventually it will hit the economy and the inflation will be felt. The question is not if but when.
The only place I know where money was created and is sitting idle is in M0 (base money supply) where $1.2 TRILLION was plopped into position over the past 18 months. Of course the banks have used those reserves to continue performing their heavily leveraged operations as if nothing changed. The FED says that this will eventually be withdrawn.....we'll see considering sizable injections into the money supplies have never been pulled out in recent times. Money showing up in other nebulous areas is not so well "tracked." The FED's foreign custodial account has increased almost $500 BILL in the past year. Hundreds of Billions were spent at Treasury Auctions this past year as well as in currency swaps. There's no record of how much cash left out the back door. Also, the FED has increased its balance sheet to basically $2 TRILL....most of that now being illiquid junk. I see a lot of liquidity here and we're not even including the hundreds of Billions from TARP and all the other FED alphabet soup programs.
They can say M2 is basically stalled and that M3 is dropping, but there's no doubt money is flowing through lots of nooks and crannies into a rapidly flooding basement.
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
I wonder what effect this will have on the price of gold and silver. Poland's second Katyn. I vividly remember the myriad official and public threats made by Russia following Poland's withdrawing from the Soviet bloc in the past 20 years. They couldn't have come up with a better opportunity to take out all of Poland's top leaders.
.....GOD
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
<< <i>I wonder what effect this will have on the price of gold and silver. Poland's second Katyn. I vividly remember the myriad official and public threats made by Russia following Poland's withdrawing from the Soviet bloc in the past 20 years. They couldn't have come up with a better opportunity to take out all of Poland's top leaders.
>>
Stunning and it would not be surprising if true. Russia is at a point in their history where they must make a move soon or become irrelavant. They are an aging nation and will be declining in population. ( they will go from 150 mil to 110 mil this century). They can not become a world power but they must become a regional power or fade. Russia must push their borders westward. They have huge borders to defend and don't have the manpower to do so. They lost most of their geographical buffer zone when the Soviet Union collapsed. Their only real option is to disrupt Poland, Urkraine, Belarus, Hungary, Romania, Georgia, the Stan's and try to get as many of them back into the fold thus re-establishing their former border/buffer zone to Asia and Europe. This would also boost the population Russia would have under their thumb which they need. Without fail they must control the Caucasus.
Russia's greatest weapon is natural gas and Europes thirst and addiction for it. The irony is that natural gas is Russia's greatest weakness. Russia has borders it can not defend and a path through the Baltic's always been Europes ticket into Russia if they get desperate enough. Natural gas could be the lynchpin. Russia must push the border westward and Europe can not let them. How antsy do you think Germany is at this very moment? Europe and Germany need Poland as a friendly. Germany needs Poland as a necessary part of its national security. Russia needs Poland back in it's camp or at least in turmoil. It is almost inevitable that Russia and Europe/NATO will clash in some way. St. Petersburg and Moscow are only a stones throw away from NATO in post 1991 USSR. It is too close for comfort for Russia and the old borders must be taken back.
This Polish tradegy in combination with the Kyrgyzstan situation has my antlers up. Way up......
Could this effect gold? Most definately.................MJ
edited for spelling
Walker Proof Digital Album Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Comments
<< <i>Do you think 2 months off to read Story's stories will be enough? Think I rather watch Curling on TV!
Seriously, I'll check out the archive.
I don't know, I've only been able to go back about 8 months but I'd like to read everything in the archive (not to mention get a copy of all the Currency Reviews for the past 4 decades....)
Enjoy!
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
Texthttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/12/60minutes/main6292458.shtml?tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel
I wonder how this is all going to be resolved? Better stock up on gold and silver!
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
(The plan, as designed, will almost certainly increase deficits above those projected. It is hard to see how it will be funded, except, initially, by monetization.
<< <i>Would be thieves caught red-handed in another attempt to steal $6.2 billion.
I wonder how this is all going to be resolved? Better stock up on gold and silver!
Thanks for the post, This story is mind blowing. Keep us current.
“if Obamacare passes this week, do you think there will be any reaction in the price of gold?”
Regardless of what most of us think obout the Obamacare issu, it will be necessary to pass National health insurance sooner or later in order to continue the current ponzi scheme. In the long run this will of course affect the price of Gold but the plan here is just to get the legislation in place so that like the original IRS bill it can be amended.
Like all of these ponzi schemes the socialists have put in place, our current give away plans are now bankrupt and must be funded from somewhere.
The only way to continue the American medical ponzi scheme is to control every part, this means single payer national care eventually.
If the Gov. can control the doctors, hospitals, drug manufactures, etc. then the scheme can go on for many years. Without this the current ponzi scheme will go bankrupt in the next few years.
If the congress discontinues all give away medical coverage this will once again produce riots in the streets.
75 years of funny money
Yep, after Katrina there were many people being interviewed that totally believed that they had a right to housing...they took to the streets till the fed dumped a bunch of money on 'em. Then recently with the California schools shutting down some degree programs and reducing the course offerings and upping the cost of credit hours so people took to the streets yelling that they had a right to education...then it got quiet all of the sudden (maybe spring break?). With medical care, there have been a number of people, including congressmen stating that people had a right to medical care. If it doesn't pass, then some folks will probably take to the streets. If the govt sponsored great love ponzi between the hospital conglomerates, big pharma, insurance companies, and the frauds of medicare/aid (oh, don't forget the armies of attorneys that make a living here) somehow gets disrupted then sure, the disenfranchised will go to the streets. If people need to go to the streets, then go ahead and get it over with.
Here are your rights:
United States Bill of Rights
If the Gov. can control the doctors, hospitals, drug manufactures, etc. then the scheme can go on for many years. Without this the current ponzi scheme will go bankrupt in the next few years.
Which is the lesser evil, Corporate America controlling our heatlhcare or the Government. Either way, we as ciitizens will get screxxxxd.
Box of 20
<< <i>“if Obamacare passes this week, do you think there will be any reaction in the price of gold?”
Healthcare will not pass this week or next month, it's going to get scraped. Thank the good lord. Some reform is needed and will happen at some point in time.
The price of gold will continue to rise to great levels as unemployment and this recession won't improve for 3 years. Bottom line, this administration will continue to try and spend our way out and raise taxes!!!!
Conclusion: No tax income from healthcare, out of control govn. spending and increase of other taxes= gold going balistic.
How and why America chose the route to Pottersville
roadrunner
<< <i>
<< <i>“if Obamacare passes this week, do you think there will be any reaction in the price of gold?”
Healthcare will not pass this week or next month, it's going to get scraped. Thank the good lord. Some reform is needed and will happen at some point in time.
The price of gold will continue to rise to great levels as unemployment and this recession won't improve for 3 years. Bottom line, this administration will continue to try and spend our way out and raise taxes!!!!
Conclusion: No tax income from healthcare, out of control govn. spending and increase of other taxes= gold going balistic. >>
I WILL EDIT THIS POST...... Healthcare will pass, but not by a vote, they will deemed to have it passed!
Regards, Commrade Kuch
New Jersey Cuts Workers' Benefits
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
Let's see what the "Progressives" have wrought onto the public, 1) Federal Reserve-the central bank, 2) IRS-money redistribution 3) Prohibition-repealed 4) Social Security-I'll never see any of it even though I've paid for decades, 5) Medicare/Medicaid-tens of trillions in debt, 6) Gov't education-keep the dumb masses dumb, 8) NAFTA-ship jobs overseas, 9) Sub-prime No Doc home loans, 10) Health Care-eventually full gov't controlled health care. So what's left for them to take or control....retirement funds and property. Don't think they can't take it. Tell that to the Argentines and Germans.
True
and
Tax Man Is Coming after Your Pensions, oops
Back to Precious Metals .......... Considering first purchase in Palladium.
Introduction:
For some reason tonight while watching the end of the Kentucky - West Virginia game I got the urge for some brownies and ice cream. Considering that I've avoided the local A&P for over a year without raiding the junk aisles....I was overdue for some self-indulgence. And as much as I'm a Big East and UConn fan (last team to beat WV), I think I will miss seeing Kentucky not in the finals. But I digress. Our small town only has a single supermarket so in a way it has a monopoly, especially for the upper crust of the town who would rather shop here at any price than to travel an additional 2-5 miles or more to the nearest Stop & Shop or Warehouse store.
The Heist
During the 5 minute trip in the car my son and I were discussing govt pensions since one of our neighbors is retired from the IRS following 30 yrs service and pretty much living on that as well as Soc. Sec. He asked who paid for this? When I told him the govt is currently printing money out of thin air to pay for it he asked what about the gold in Fort Knox.....doesn't that pay for it? I then explained to him that the $300 BILL in gold (at current prices), even if still owned by us would only pay about 30 days worth of the budget deficit/short term debt roll over due this year (about $3.5 TRILL). I don't think he quite understood the impact between BILLIONs to TRILLIONs and was surprised to even hear that the gold in Fort Knox could possibly be compromised in any way. I guess in the end he'll be paying for the neighbor's pension payment for years to come...along with all the other boomer retirees yet to come.
The Hunt
As far as the junk food goes I left that for my son to pick out. When he returned I was floored that a "half gallon" of Breyers ice cream is now 1.5 qts (or 3/8 gall). I guess even Ice Cream is now going the way of the tuna fish can which has downsized from around 8 oz to today's 5 oz can. To add insult to injury the price for 3/8 gallon was $6+ or around $8/half gallon. The last time I was in the store the full half gallon was around $5-$6. Even the Friendly's brand actual half gallon is $7+. I know these can often be bought on sale at Stop & Shop and other places for 2/$6 or 2/$5. But A&P is no convenience story. He got a 4 oz Hershey bar for himself and that was $1.89. Last I was in the store that's what a 1/2 lb. bar went for with the 4 oz bars down around $1.29 to $1.59. Things have certainly changed in a year. Shoppers have to be more vigilent than ever. While maybe the prices in the peripherals of the supermarkets are staying somewhat reasonable (milk, juice, eggs, veggies, etc.) the stuff in the center aisles (junk, processed, packaged and canned goods) is still soaring....and shrinking. There's supposedly only deflationary forces in the economy so I hope someone gets the word to A&P, not that it would matter. At some point in time they too will be swallowed up a larger conglomerate.
The Dough
On another tangent, I hadn't closely checked the St. Louis FED reported money supplies in 9 months and was surprised to see that while M1 is up around $200 BILL, and M2 (and estimated M3) have been declining, good ole M0 (money base) has been given another shot of +$400 BILL. Since M0 is not really followed as closely as M1 that's the place to hide monetary increases. This first occured back in 4th qtr of 2008 when the FED dumped $800 BILL into M0 and for the first time ever it actually exceeded M0, and has ever since by a substantial margin. But since only M1 generally gets tracked who cares? So after a M0 117% yoy increase in 2008, it received another 30% jump in the past year. Note that prior to these 2 years the only time M0 or M1 received an increase >15% yoy was back in the middle 1980's...and that lead to a brief inflationary bout. Besides the increase in FED bank reserves, M0 has shown these large increases because of the retail sweep factor on checkable demand deposits (CDD). Approx 50% of CDD are temporarily removed from M1 into M0 by relabeling them as time deposits (even though they aren't). The FED came up with this trick around 1994-1995 to enable banks to carry even smaller reserves (ie boost leverage). And by keeping those extra hundreds of billions in CDD semi-hidden in M0, most analysts see a much more stable M1 (while M0 has increased massively from 0.8 TRILL to 2.15 TRILL over the past 1-1/2 years). One could then say that M1 is effectively understated by $1.4 TRILL (about 70%). Of course arguing which money aggregate truly defines potential inflation is a discussion for another time. The FED has various ways to hide money injections, some of which are state secrets. For instance in the past year they increased their Agency "slush" Fund by around $450 BILL (to $2.9 TRILL) and who knows what that covered. But it certainly didn't show up in M0, M1, or M2.
Epilogue
......but the Ice Cream and brownies were good even if price inflated. A long bike ride tomorrow to burn some of it off. But we have bigger problems with the govt needing $10 BILL per day to cover the current year's budget/debt payments. The twice a month bond auctions will need to be held every week to keep up with that pace.
roadrunner
Actually NY is trying to pass a "soda tax". It basically amounts to a 1c per ounce tax. So a 2 litre bottle of soda would cost 67c more. I think this is a GREAT idea. Raising taxes on cigarettes has led to fewer smokers. Those that havent quit pay more. Superb.
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
roadrunner
Road to Serfdom We are working for the government, essentially we all working til May or later of each year to pay our taxes. These huge federal, local and state pensions, some up to $500,000 a year have to be paid somehow.
This was on Stossel this weekend. Stossel Road to Serdom
Box of 20
I knew it would happen.
I'm going over weight in gold and silver this week. Waiting for a check and will be investing. Stock market is doing well today.
As far as gold or silver going up, I'm not too concerned with the dollar, but what happens when interest rates start to rise? Then investors will stop their precious metals hedge and go to other investments. Opinions?
Interest rates will rise until they offer a fair real return. The nominal posted rate is not as important as the net or real rate. Even the govt's CPI is now showing about 2.5% inflation. The shadowstats alt. SGS CPI index (linked below) shows today's inflation rate at over 9%...that's using the same govt methods as utilized in 1980. No wonder they massaged those methods since then! If people want to make comparisons to the gold price in 1980 let's make sure we also use the same calculational methods used for CPI, unemployment, money supply, etc. so that we're comparing apples to apples.
Interest rates in the later 1970's soared until 1981 before successfully killing the price of gold. It will be no different this time around if rates rise. Initially though investors are skittish to any rate rises and would be tempted to dump gold because they think the dollar is strengthening. But they'll get over it as soon as they see the dollar continuing to be printed into infinity and prices of goods and services around them going up. In the event of currencies losing the confidence of the people, rates would rise and everyone would start looking for ways to dump their FRN's.
roadrunner
<< <i>.... but what happens when interest rates start to rise? Then investors will stop their precious metals hedge and go to other investments. Opinions?
Interest rates will rise until they offer a fair real return. The nominal posted rate is not as important as the net or real rate. Even the govt's CPI is now showing about 2.5% inflation. The shadowstats alt. SGS CPI index (linked below) shows today's inflation rate at over 9%...that's using the same govt methods as utilized in 1980. No wonder they massaged those methods since then! If people want to make comparisons to the gold price in 1980 let's make sure we also use the same calculational methods used for CPI, unemployment, money supply, etc. so that we're comparing apples to apples.
Interest rates in the later 1970's soared until 1981 before successfully killing the price of gold. It will be no different this time around if rates rise. Initially though investors are skittish to any rate rises and would be tempted to dump gold because they think the dollar is strengthening. But they'll get over it as soon as they see the dollar continuing to be printed into infinity and prices of goods and services around them going up. In the event of currencies losing the confidence of the people, rates would rise and everyone would start looking for ways to dump their FRN's.
roadrunner >>
RR, insightful and true as always.
could indicate euphoria is coming to an end.....
<< <i>I think its good that package sizes are smaller. Maybe it will get people to eat less and reduce the extreme obesity in this country. That will reduce health care costs.
. >>
I wonder if the addition of chemicals and huge amounts of water to fish, pork, and poultry
will be reflected in the cost of living. Perhaps the chemicals will make people suck up more
water, too.
I guess it's not illegal if no one cares.
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
Then
I noticed the Reese's Peanut Butter cups were smaller!!!!!!
THIS MUST STOP!
customers intro overpaying so the CEO can take all the profits. Reduc-
tion of package sizes meansd all thos recipes they've sent out for decades
don't work any longer so people change their food choices. They appear
to simply be trying to drive away customers.
Now days good customer service means their computer only plays with you
for ten minutes before you can get an operator.
I also see on my iphone calendar for April 15 there's a note: Goldsaint says buy cheap RE. I don't remember when he posted that.
O.K. I will bite, what does that mean?
I have been pondering all weekend just what it means when the majority of U.S. citizens believe in electronic money, and the Fed can make all it wants?
O.K. we all know that only 3% of all dollars are actually printed. So 97% is just electronic entries in a computer.
If the Fed wants to increase the size of its balance sheet by a few trillion and buy mortgages, or loan money to the big banks to buy gov. debt. All it has to do is change a few numbers on its computer.
I mean, nearly all of our money, debt, bonds, notes, brokerage accounts, bank accounts etc. do not really exist in a physical sense, they are all just computer entries.
I suppose this is just fine and dandy as long as everyone believes in these computer entries, and nothing changes in that regard.
So the reason we do not have inflation is that you cannot have too much money chasing to few goods when the Fed is managing the COMPUTER ENTRIES!
You also cannot have a depression! You can have symptoms of a depression i.e. 20% real unemployment, but you see the numbers ALWAYS crunch when all the Fed has to do is manage its computer system.
What say you?
Box of 20
Regarding your other comments - the fact that they can create more dollars overnight is the reason to own as few as possible! The people of Venezuela learned this recently. They only thing you can have faith in is the PM's and other hard assets under your control. And these currency devals are always surprise moves too... I don't think anyone saw the Venezuela move coming. These things happen literally overnight. There will be no warning if or when the US decides to devalue the dollar.
<< <i>So the reason we do not have inflation is that you cannot have too much money chasing to few goods when the Fed is managing the COMPUTER ENTRIES!
You also cannot have a depression! You can have symptoms of a depression i.e. 20% real unemployment, but you see the numbers ALWAYS crunch when all the Fed has to do is manage its computer system. >>
This is where I think your are wrong. It's easy for the fed to create dollars, but difficult and unlikely for them to destroy dollars. For the fed to destroy dollars, congress has to approve. While congress doesn't have any real power in this regard, it is still all about politics. The fed had planned to destroy all of the dollars from the big big bailout, but now that those dollars exist our politicians are doing everything they can to spend them and make them permanent. Destroying dollars would also make the dollar stronger, which would hurt the stock market and hurt exports. How is Obama going to double exports with a strong dollar? Destroying dollars sounds good on paper but it is difficult to do.
Secondly, there actually is inflation, it just depends on how you measure it or where you look. The dollars that were created have yet to really enter the economy, although congress is working on it. The seriously-decreased lending activity has also managed to counter-act all of the dollar creation. Eventually it will hit the economy and the inflation will be felt. The question is not if but when.
The only place I know where money was created and is sitting idle is in M0 (base money supply) where $1.2 TRILLION was plopped into position over the past 18 months. Of course the banks have used those reserves to continue performing their heavily leveraged operations as if nothing changed. The FED says that this will eventually be withdrawn.....we'll see considering sizable injections into the money supplies have never been pulled out in recent times. Money showing up in other nebulous areas is not so well "tracked." The FED's foreign custodial account has increased almost $500 BILL in the past year. Hundreds of Billions were spent at Treasury Auctions this past year as well as in currency swaps. There's no record of how much cash left out the back door. Also, the FED has increased its balance sheet to basically $2 TRILL....most of that now being illiquid junk. I see a lot of liquidity here and we're not even including the hundreds of Billions from TARP and all the other FED alphabet soup programs.
They can say M2 is basically stalled and that M3 is dropping, but there's no doubt money is flowing through lots of nooks and crannies into a rapidly flooding basement.
roadrunner
While important, there are other places to discuss that stuff.
Random Collector
www.marksmedals.com
Will PM's see a big jump after all the returns are accounted for?
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
<< <i>Interesting news
Wow!
99% conviction rate.
I like seeing them get huge piles of money.
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
<< <i>I wonder what effect this will have on the price of gold and silver. Poland's second Katyn. I vividly remember the myriad official and public threats made by Russia following Poland's withdrawing from the Soviet bloc in the past 20 years. They couldn't have come up with a better opportunity to take out all of Poland's top leaders.
Stunning and it would not be surprising if true. Russia is at a point in their history where they must make a move soon or become irrelavant. They are an aging nation and will be declining in population. ( they will go from 150 mil to 110 mil this century). They can not become a world power but they must become a regional power or fade. Russia must push their borders westward. They have huge borders to defend and don't have the manpower to do so. They lost most of their geographical buffer zone when the Soviet Union collapsed. Their only real option is to disrupt Poland, Urkraine, Belarus, Hungary, Romania, Georgia, the Stan's and try to get as many of them back into the fold thus re-establishing their former border/buffer zone to Asia and Europe. This would also boost the population Russia would have under their thumb which they need. Without fail they must control the Caucasus.
Russia's greatest weapon is natural gas and Europes thirst and addiction for it. The irony is that natural gas is Russia's greatest weakness. Russia has borders it can not defend and a path through the Baltic's always been Europes ticket into Russia if they get desperate enough. Natural gas could be the lynchpin. Russia must push the border westward and Europe can not let them. How antsy do you think Germany is at this very moment? Europe and Germany need Poland as a friendly. Germany needs Poland as a necessary part of its national security. Russia needs Poland back in it's camp or at least in turmoil. It is almost inevitable that Russia and Europe/NATO will clash in some way. St. Petersburg and Moscow are only a stones throw away from NATO in post 1991 USSR. It is too close for comfort for Russia and the old borders must be taken back.
This Polish tradegy in combination with the Kyrgyzstan situation has my antlers up. Way up......
Could this effect gold? Most definately.................MJ
edited for spelling
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......