Best Of The Best Share Discussion Threads

[traderabc] 23/12/2012 10:00

Friday, December 21, 2012
Jim Rogers, What to Expect for 2013 in Investments & the Economy

[traderabc] 23/12/2012 09:58

Jim Rogers on China: Keep the Faith

[traderabc] 23/12/2012 09:55

Sadly not 049balt, the chart is just too steep to even consider it presently. Have they actually found a cure for Alzheimer's?



Max Keiser talks to Peter Schiff about bonds, dollars and governments buying their own debt.

[049balt] 21/12/2012 19:00

Trader, did you ever buy into PRM?

[traderabc] 19/12/2012 17:08

Investing Tips From Jim Rogers
17 December 2012

[traderabc] 19/12/2012 12:47

One day they may regret this policy.


Reserve Bank of Australia Admits 99.9% of Australia's Gold Reserves are held at the Bank of England

[waldron] 17/12/2012 15:25

Insurers May Face $11 Billion More in Asbestos Claims -A.M. Best
PrintAlert
Hartford (NYSE:HIG)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Monday 17 December 2012
By Erik Holm
U.S. insurers may face $11 billion more in asbestos-related costs than they were anticipating, according to a new study that warns claims on decades-old insurance policies show no signs of abating.
The insurance industry has already paid out about $51 billion in claims tied to asbestos over the past quarter century, and has $23 billion set aside for future expenses. But the report from ratings firm A.M. Best concludes the ultimate cost of such claims will eventually hit an estimated $85 billion. That's up from $75 billion in its previous estimate, published last year.
The increasing cost of each claim, the recent successes of plaintiffs' attorneys, and the long latency periods for some of the more serious illnesses caused by the once widely used mineral mean "sizable losses are likely to continue for years," A.M. Best said in the report, due to be released this week.
Insurers with significant exposure to asbestos claims include Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG), Travelers Cos. (TRV) and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA, BRKB), which has taken on billions in asbestos liabilities in recent years through reinsurance deals with American International Group Inc. (AIG), CNA Financial Corp. (CNA) and Lloyd's of London.
While it hasn't been widely used since the late 1970s, asbestos was once common in a variety of building materials and other products, and valued as a fireproofing and insulation material until it became clear that it presented a significant health hazard.
The diseases it can cause--asbestosis, mesothelioma and others--can take decades to present themselves, so new cases continue to emerge many years after people were exposed. Therefore, insurers are still paying out on the coverage they sold in the decades when asbestos was in wide use.
An extra $11 billion in unexpected costs over the course of several years wouldn't be enough to cripple the insurance industry, but investors have reacted poorly in the past when companies have announced major additions to reserves on longstanding liabilities like asbestos.
At $11 billion, the asbestos shortfall would equal about half the estimated cost of Sandy, the massive storm that struck the Northeast in late October.
Insurers are posting nearly $2 billion in losses each year and the "loss trend remains worrisome," according to an advance copy of the report.
"The plaintiff's bar has experienced success in eroding some reforms, as well as focusing on obtaining higher judgments for the more serious cases involving mesothelioma," wrote A.M. Best analyst Gerard Altonji. "Given the long latency period between exposure to asbestos and the manifestation of mesothelioma, as well as the very large number of people exposed over a great many years...it is likely that asbestos losses will continue to develop for many years to come."
Write to Erik Holm at [e-mail]
Subscribe to WSJ:

[traderabc] 17/12/2012 10:49

The Global Food Crisis & Bernanke's Recipe for Disaster

[traderabc] 17/12/2012 10:18

Dear Mr Cameron: Please explain why bankers are now considered above the law
December 15th, 2012
An open letter to David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, from Mrs N Turner


"I am writing to ask you, as Prime Minister, for some clarification.
Does your government endorse the notion that banks and bankers should be given a licence to commit criminal acts without any fear of prosecution? Is this now official government policy? Are the British public now being asked to accept that, despite incontrovertible evidence of multiple criminal acts by banks, including money-laundering, drug-money-laundering, Libor rigging, multiple frauds and assorted Ponzi schemes, bankers are considered to be immune from prosecution? And if so, can I ask on what grounds your government, or indeed the government of any democratic country, can justify such a policy?"

[traderabc] 17/12/2012 10:03

Queen gives the Bank of England a lesson in economics
The Queen discusses the financial crisis with Bank of England staff and asks whether people "got a bit lax".

[traderabc] 17/12/2012 09:18

2013 than the US
Jim Rogers - United States vs Canada Outlook 2013 : Jim Rogers says that Canada is a sounder place than the US despite a huge real estate bubble in Canada that is about to burst , but Canada has a lot of resources and is more open to immigration than the US , Jim Rogers is all for immigration

[traderabc] 17/12/2012 09:03

This guy heading up the conservatives, and Farrage taking over the liberal coalition position could be the best this country can hope for.


Give us an EU referendum before 2015 election, urges Boris as he says it would not be 'the end of the world' if Britain left

London Mayor says public pressure on referendum has become unstoppable
He has acknowledged is unlikely to see one before 2015

Three opinion polls have revealed UKIP as the country's third political party

[traderabc] 11/12/2012 20:07

Jim Rogers Global Economic 2013 Outlook


min 14 the UK

[traderabc] 11/12/2012 14:25

USA Will Lose Economic War - Jim Rogers

[traderabc] 10/12/2012 19:13

Global Trends 2030 Predicts Water Struggles And Climate Change Challenges


WASHINGTON - The United States could see its standing as a superpower eroded and Asian economies will outstrip those of North America and Europe combined by 2030, according to the best guess of the U.S. intelligence community in its latest forecast.

"The spectacular rise of Asian economies is dramatically altering ... U.S. influence," said Christopher Kojm, chairman of the National Intelligence Council, as it released the report Global Trends 2030 on Monday.

The report is the intelligence community's analysis of where current trends will take the world in the next 15 to 20 years. Its release was timed for the start of a new presidential administration and it is aimed at helping U.S. policymakers plan for the future.

The report also predicted the U.S. will be energy independent.

[traderabc] 10/12/2012 17:57

Foodstamps Soar By Most In 16 Months: Over 1 Million Americans Enter Poverty In Last Two Months


And we thought last month's delayed foodstamp data was bad. The just reported foodstamp number for September was a doozy, with 607,544 new Americans becoming eligible for foodstamps, as a record 47.7 million Americans are now living in poverty at least according to the USDA. The monthly increase was the highest since May 2011, and with August's 421K new impoverished America, over 1 million Americans made the EBT card their new best friend. It is unclear just which atmospheric phenomenon will get the blame for this unprecedented surge in poverty, which comes at a time when the pre-election economic data euphoria was adamant that the US economy was on an escape velocity to utopia. Instead what we do know is that in August and September, over three times as many foodstamp recipients were add to the economy as jobs (324,000). We also know that with the imminent impact of Sandy, which will send foodstamp recipients soaring, it is now looking quite possible that the US may end 2012 with just over a mindboggling 50 million Americans living in absolute poverty and collecting the $134.29 average monthly benefit per person, instead of working. Welcome to the recovery indeed.

[traderabc] 07/12/2012 11:10

Reflections on the effects of War as compared to the effects of Fiat Money

[traderabc] 07/12/2012 11:10

Reflections on the effects of War as compared to the effects of Fiat Money

[traderabc] 06/12/2012 22:28

Nigel Farage: We are now living in a German dominated Europe

[traderabc] 06/12/2012 22:20

Gallup Finds Unemployment Rate Soars Follwing Presidential Election


Two months ago, there were various prominent pundits who were furiously mocked and ridiculed by those whose job in the media it is to mock and ridicule, for suggesting what most know: that economic data is widely nuanced, massaged, adjusted, goalseeked and outright manipulated by various political interests. That someone would feign outrage by this allegation is laughable at best (and sorry, the "too many people were involved to keep it a secret" excuse is now absolute rubbish following the confirmation of Liborgate, yet another conspiracy theory until it became a conspiracy fact), yet all the "serious" outlets of insight did just that. Now that the election is over, for one reason or another "unnuanced" normalcy is about to strike back with a vengeance, as soon as tomorrow with the official release of November jobs data.

[traderabc] 05/12/2012 12:10

It's hard to believe that the two Korea's could reunify one day.



North Korean prisoner escaped after 23 brutal years
December 2, 2012 4:42 PM
Born in a prison camp, Shin Dong-hyuk describes how three generations of a family are incarcerated if one family member is considered disloyal. Anderson Cooper reports.

[traderabc] 05/12/2012 11:21

The world's commodity supercycle is far from dead
Great resource booms usually end abruptly, catching almost everybody by surprise.


By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International business editor7:46PM GMT 02 Dec 2012


Studies by the World Bank covering two centuries of data sketch a pattern of 10-year supercycles, followed by a slide for the next 20 years or so as excess investment leads to a flood of supply. The long bear market can be cruel for those hanging onto to resource stocks, convinced that the rebound must be nigh.

[traderabc] 04/12/2012 19:44

Jim Rogers: Short US Bonds, Likes Russia


Jim Rogers takes no prisoners in the way he makes the case for commodities. The author of "Hot Commodities" is so bullish-particularly on agriculture these days-that hearing what he has to say can leave you a bit unsettled. When IndexUniverse.com Managing Editor Olly Ludwig caught up with Rogers recently, he said new RBS' lineup of commodity ETNs that have his name on them are so far superior to the competition.

Surveying the world of agriculture, Rogers talked about the growing shortage of farmers around the world at a time of tight food supplies. He also reaffirmed his bullishness on gold-and his bearishness on bonds-both of which are closely tied to his skepticism that the U.S. and the rest of the industrialized world will ever get out from under all its indebtedness without some additional crisis.

His most surprising revelation? After dismissing Russia for years as a dangerous investment destination, where losing money was almost guaranteed, he said Russian President Vladimir Putin has changed his approach to foreign investment. That means Rogers is poking around the commodities-rich country looking for ways to profit.

[traderabc] 04/12/2012 19:41

Strikers Have Shut Down Two Of The Most Important Economic Gateways In The World-And It's Costing The US Billions


Strikes in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach that began last Tuesday are delivering a blow to the U.S. economy.


Clerical workers from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 63 have been without a contract for 2.5 years, and negotiations between them and the ports broke down last Monday.

The ILWU has accused management of trying to outsource clerical jobs to overseas workers that are paid far less and receive fewer benefits.

[traderabc] 04/12/2012 12:26

'This is as bad as a world war': Bank of England boss's grim view of financial crisis which has left a debt 'that will be paid by our grandchildren'


Andrew Haldane: People 'had every reason' to feel 'deeply upset and angry'
George Osborne to admit bringing public finances back to order will take longer than expected
He has to find more than £23bn through further cuts and tax rises by 2017
Institute of Fiscal Studies said era of austerity could last until 2018