Best Of The Best Share Discussion Threads

[traderabc] 11/6/2009 12:59

Fed Would Be Shut Down If It Were Audited, Expert Says


CNBC
Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet is so out of whack that the central bank would be shut down if subjected to a conventional audit, Jim Grant, editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, told CNBC.

With $45 billion in capital and $2.1 trillion in assets, the central bank would not withstand the scrutiny normally afforded other institutions, Grant said in a live interview.

[traderabc] 11/6/2009 12:57

Russia May Swap Some U.S. Treasuries for IMF Debt


Alex Nicholson and Dakin Campbell
Bloomberg
Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Russia may switch some of its reserves from U.S. Treasuries to International Monetary Fund bonds, the central bank said today. The comment drove Treasuries and the dollar lower.

[traderabc] 11/6/2009 12:41

Ron Paul on The Alex Jones Show 1/2:Their Time Has Come"Audit The FED!"

Part 1


Part 2

[traderabc] 11/6/2009 12:36

Hanging By a Thread
Is Hyper-Inflation Around the Corner?

By MIKE WHITNEY

The Republicans are convinced that hyperinflation is just around the corner, but don't believe it. The real enemy is deflation, which is why Fed chief Bernanke has taken such extraordinary steps to pump liquidity into the system. The economy is flat on its back and hemorrhaging a half a million jobs per month. The housing market is crashing, retail sales are in a funk, manufacturing is down, exports are falling, and consumers have started saving for the first time in decades. There's excess capacity everywhere and aggregate demand has dropped off a cliff. If it wasn't for the Fed's monetary stimulus and myriad lending facilities, the economy would be stretched out on a marble slab right now. So, where's the inflation? Here's Paul Krugman with part of the answer:

[traderabc] 11/6/2009 12:24

GM, Amtrak and an Increasingly Fascist America

Rep. Ron Paul
Texas Straight Talk
Jun 8, 2009

Last week, General Motors finally declared bankruptcy. Many in government thought $20 billion in taxpayer dollars would save the company, but as predicted, it only postponed the inevitable. The government will dump another $30 billion into GM and take a 60 percent controlling interest for it. Public officials are now involving themselves in tactical business decisions such as where GM's headquarters should move and what kind of cars it will build.

The promise that this is temporary and will eventually be profitable is supposed to ease the American people into accepting this arrangement, but it is of little comfort to those who remember similar promises when the American taxpayers bought Amtrak. After three years, government was supposed to be out of the passenger rail business. 40 years and billions of dollars later, the government is still operating Amtrak at a loss, despite the fact that they have created a monopoly by making it illegal to compete with Amtrak. Imagine what they can now do to what is left of the great American auto industry!

In a truly free market, GM would get your money one way and one way only - by selling you a car you want, at a price you are willing to pay. Instead, the government is giving public money to a private company in spite of the market signals it has been sending. Throwing money at GM does not stop it from being an engine of wealth destruction; on the contrary, it simply gives it more wealth to destroy.

Had it been allowed to fail naturally, the profitable pieces of GM would have been bought up and put to good use by now. The laid off employees would likely have found new jobs and all that capital would be in private hands, reinvested in companies that produce products demanded by consumers. Instead, we are all poorer now.

Political pressure, rather than the rule of law, is deciding how to divide up the remains of GM. The bondholders had billions in retirement savings invested in the company, and though they were entitled to nearly three times as much as the United Auto Workers, the bondholders were left with just a 10 percent stake compared to the union's 17.5 percent stake. For their 60 percent stake, taxpayers have a future of constant bailouts to look forward to.

Comingling public control of private business is known as fascism. While today's politicians may feel emboldened with all their new power, history will only repeat itself as all this collapses on itself. It is the height of hubris for bureaucrats and politicians to attempt to control the market and the freewill of the American people. In the end, the market always wins out. Maybe one day future generations will wise up and allow free markets to function and thrive without the albatross of government around its neck. For now, it looks like those in charge have not learned the lessons of the past, and have doomed us to repeat those mistakes once again.

Jun 8, 2009
Rep. Ron Paul

[traderabc] 10/6/2009 13:15

'The worst is over'.

I_Hopi June 10 2009.



Yep, a hyper-inflationary depression is gonna be a breeze.....
...not.

[i_hopi] 10/6/2009 12:43

He's starting to sound about as 'correct' as Gordon Brown.

'The worst is over'.

I_Hopi June 10 2009.

[traderabc] 10/6/2009 10:53

The worse is not over says Jim Rogers

[grupo guitarlumber] 10/6/2009 08:15

Asbestos victims denied insurance payout
Wednesday, 10 Jun 2009 07:53
Victims of asbestos exposure are being denied access to compensation because they cannot trace their former employers' insurance companies.

It is estimated up to 4,000 people die each year because of exposure to asbestos, making it the largest cause of occupational death.

However, many victims and their families are unable to get compensation as they cannot trace the insurance companies of their former employers, many of which have now gone out of business.

Today, the Asbestos Victims Support Groups met with representatives of the Association of British Insurers (ABI), at the body's biennial conference.

The support groups are demanding the establishment of a body similar to that of the Motor Insurers' Bureau funded by the whole industry to pay out when the insurance company cannot be found, as suggested by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Health.

A meeting between the groups was described as "robust".

Tony Whitston of the Asbestos Victims Support Groups said: "I cannot say they met with us on our points in any sense."

He hit out at the "arrogance" of those in the insurance industry who seemed to "put their arms around our shoulders but offer nothing".

He said hosts of people have died unable to trace the insurance company because of an institutional failure.

He explained after 1972 it was compulsory for all companies to have employers liability insurance, so all victims would have been covered by the insurance industry, even if they cannot trace the exact insurance company.

However, the ABI maintains the industry cannot be certain that all those claiming were covered.

Malcolm Tarling of the ABI explained the establishment of body akin to the Motor Insurance Bureau for employers liability insurance would end pushing up insurance premiums.

The ABI also promised to revamp its insurance tracing scheme, which the Asbestos Victims Support Groups claim only have a success rate of 39 per cent of post 1972 cases and 41 per cent for post 1999 cases.

The problem of asbestos is also not going away as victims can become aware they have been affected decades later, and further claims are expected by the industry in coming years.

Ronald Tetlow, who is seriously ill with mesolthelioma, a fatal tumour caused by asbestos, said: "I worked for an established engineering company which was taken over in 1988.

"I cannot accept that my company did not have insurance when I worked for them until 1970. A court order £111,000 in compensation, which I had hoped to provide for my children, but the insurers cannot be traced.

"The compensation scheme is nothing but a lottery. It is a disgrace."

David Trigg, from Derby Asbestos Support Group and Unite East Midlands, said the treatment of asbestos victims by insurance companies was diabolical.

"They collect the premiums but when it comes to a claim they do not want to know."

The resolution to the problem may now rest with the government and the Asbestos Victims Support Groups have promised to keep on pushing MPs and campaign at insurance industry events.

Daniel Barnes

© 2009 www.MyFinances.co.uk .

[traderabc] 09/6/2009 19:39

Peter Schiff takes on Rockefeller, CFR, Rothschild frontman shill for NWO 6/8/09

[traderabc] 09/6/2009 19:29

June 2009 Volume 6 Issue 1
US Treasuries=Sub-Prime Debt
Gold at $2,000

Acamar Journal
Posted Jun 4, 2009



US Treasuries=Sub-Prime Debt

I began writing the Acamar Journal in 2004, warning that debt levels in the US were at record levels and unsustainable. Much of what has happened was predicted in previous issues of the Journal.

I warned of a financial crisis and a coming recession in November 2006, well before the financial crisis first began in July 2007. In June 2008, I highlighted an RBS report which warned that a stock market crash would occur by September, which it duly did.

Now that the crisis has happened, what next?

[traderabc] 09/6/2009 12:47

Jim Rogers with his 2 little daughters in Singapore

[traderabc] 09/6/2009 11:01

What Commodity Is About To Explode Next:
Gold, Silver, Oil Or Nat Gas?
by Chris Vermeulen, GoldAndOilGuy.com | June 8, 2009

[traderabc] 08/6/2009 18:30

Top Chinese banker Guo Shuqing calls for wider use of yuan


Malcolm Moore
London Telegraph
Monday, June 8, 2009

The head of China’s second-largest bank has said the United States government should start issuing bonds in yuan, rather than dollars, in the latest indication of the increasing importance of the Chinese currency.

Guo Shuqing, the chairman of state-controlled China Construction Bank (CCB), also said he is exploring the possibility of issuing loans to trading companies in yuan, allowing Chinese and foreign companies to settle their bills in yuan rather than in dollars.

[traderabc] 08/6/2009 18:07

This guy calls silver very well, note the date, we are seeing 'the usual resolution' now. Like clockwork. This pullback represents one big thing, a buying oppertunity when it hits the 'bottom', and it will...soon.


"But eventually someone must blink and move to close out positions. If the dealers are able to rip the rug out from the speculators and force them to sell at lower prices, that will be the usual resolution"

"The concentrated short position in silver is larger than any other commodity in history. Four COMEX traders hold a short position of more than 235 million ounces. That’s equal to 35% of world mine production. It’s equal to 43% of all the visible silver bullion in the world. It’s also equal to 70% of the entire COMEX futures market, once all spreads are removed from open interest. This concentrated short position represents a clear and present danger to market stability"

They are crooks, they need to be brought to account, this is an ideal time to complain (again). If enough of us did, silver would be trading at $50+ , and it will, it's just a matter of time.

"That investigation would not exist if so many of you hadn‘t taken the time to write in originally"




TED BUTLER COMMENTARY

June 2, 2009

Showdown Time?

(This essay was written by silver analyst Theodore Butler, an independent consultant. Investment Rarities does not necessarily endorse these views, which may or may not prove to be correct.)

The spirited price rally in silver and gold carried further in the past week. In silver, the rally in May was the best in 22 years, and the price has reached its highest level in ten months, as foretold by the nice market structure set up back in April. From the price depths of last fall, to the recent highs, silver has climbed 75%. Relative to gold, silver is at its best price ratio since September. This means that anyone who did buy silver, instead of gold over the past ten months has had a better return.

[traderabc] 06/6/2009 19:29

The Charm Offensive

Peter Schiff
Jun 8, 2009

Last week Team Obama took their dog and pony show on the road. Treasury Secretary Geithner went to China, Fed Chairman Bernanke to Capitol Hill, and the President himself began a Mideast tour in Saudi Arabia. This full-court press is not coincidental, and comes just as the federal government has begun unloading trillions of dollars in new Treasury obligations. The coordinated charm offensive is meant to assure the world-at-large that the United States can repay these obligations without destroying the dollar.


Given the renewed weakness in the dollar and the recent expressions of concern from China, our largest creditor, about the safety of its current holdings, this is no easy sell. Not only must our leaders convince holders of our debt not to sell what they already own, but to back up the truck and buy a whole lot more. The hope is that a dream team consisting of a charismatic politician, a skilled Wall Street banker with longstanding ties to China, and a respected Fed Chairman, can close the deal. However, no matter how slick the sales pitch, no amount of lipstick can dress up this pig.

[traderabc] 06/6/2009 14:57

Enami - 25 Feb'07 - 12:36 - 16 of 1226

[traderabc] 06/6/2009 14:35

AGRI-FOOD THOUGHTS
by Ned W. Schmidt, CFA, CEBS
Schmidt Management Company
June 1, 2009

[traderabc] 06/6/2009 14:20

Bulls vs Bears on CNBC




4 Parts

[traderabc] 06/6/2009 14:01

the commercial real estate bubble is about to burst

[traderabc] 06/6/2009 13:47

commodities vs US treasury bonds ?!?!

[traderabc] 06/6/2009 11:49

there will be a currency crisis says Jim Rogers

[traderabc] 06/6/2009 11:45

Jim Rogers Abn Amro Interview