Best Of The Best Share Discussion Threads

[traderabc] 09/1/2010 19:22

It's Not Our Fault

Peter Schiff
Jan 8, 2010

It seems that the primary qualification needed by any chairman of the Federal Reserve is the ability to never admit error, no matter how damning the evidence. During his tenure on the job, Alan Greenspan set the standard for implausible deniability. But in a speech last weekend in Atlanta, current chairman Ben Bernanke did the Maestro one better. In a tortured academic dissertation, Bernanke explicitly denied any Fed culpability for inflating the housing bubble and for the financial crisis that began when it burst. Despite his best efforts, no one seemed particularly convinced. By taking such an absurd stand, he has destroyed any credibility he may have had left.

[traderabc] 09/1/2010 16:08

Looks like they haven't got rid of their central bankster chief after all..



Judge reinstates Argentina central bank chief



Mrs Fernandez de Kirchner said Mr Redrado had "failed to fulfil his duties


A judge has ordered the reinstatement of Argentina's central bank governor and blocked the president's plan to use currency reserves to pay public debt.

The court said Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's emergency decree on Thursday dismissing Martin Redrado should be suspended until Congress voted on it.

In an earlier decision, it ruled the government could not move $6.6bn from the central bank to a special fund.

Mr Redrado angered the president after he refused to transfer the reserves.

He had said he would wait for Congress to ratify the measure when its recess ended in March.

Argentina has $13bn of international debt that matures this year, and a hole in its budget of between $2bn and $7bn.

[i_hopi] 09/1/2010 15:06

AAL : Company Description : Mining operations to extract gold, platinum, diamonds, coal, copper nickle, zinc, lead, and mineral sands; Construction materials operations including, pot ash and salt, phosphate, soda ash, crushed rock, sand, gravel, asphalt, concrete, mortar, lime and cement; Production of metals, ores, alloys, steel; vanadium products, ferroalloys, iron, high carbon sand, steel wire ropes and niobium; Manufacture of pulp, graphic and packaging papers, converted packaging and solid wood products; Financial services.

[selfservice] 09/1/2010 14:55

latest update from MiningMaven. There is no such thing as bad weather – only the wrong clothes... gold and metals update

[volsung] 09/1/2010 14:37

Interesting stuff from Max Keiser

[i_hopi] 09/1/2010 14:20

traderabc - 9 Jan'10 - 14:03 - 1094 of 1094

This is quite long but worth the read
==================

LOL

[traderabc] 09/1/2010 14:03

This is quite long but worth the read, again another alarmist take on the present situation, a stance most contrarians seem to be taking nowadays.

The Year Ahead: 2010

I wrote the first of these "Year Ahead" columns two years ago because I expected the coming collapse (described earlier in Destruction by Paradigm, March 2007) to begin in earnest during 2008. I saw epic debt levels, massive monetary inflation (not just in the U.S. but on a global scale for the first time in history), resource depletion (especially for oil, metals, and fresh water), government encroachment into almost every area of life, growing levels of corruption in and out of government, pollution of both freshwater sources and the oceans, and a host of other problems coalescing into an unprecedented storm – a dark tipping point poised to bring poverty, tyranny, hunger, and homelessness to millions of formerly middle class families. Just saying that out loud sounds extreme – things couldn't get that bad, could they? – but in fact that much has already happened and the storm has just begun.

Both the mainstream media (including their favored "experts" and commentators) and the general public saw things differently two years ago – and still do. Businessweek ran a story on December 29, 2009 titled U.S. Economy: Confidence Rises as Consumers See Brighter Future, which suggests (to me) that the combination of reinflation by the Fed (i.e., massive monetary creation) and its immediate effects – partial reinflation of stock prices and a slowing (in some places, a slight reversal) of the ongoing real estate crash – plus the constant assertion in the media that the worst is over – have worked their magic. Americans don't see the job picture improving much anytime soon (and they're right), but they have more confidence than they did a few months ago.

The Frankenstein Economy

That will change in the coming year, as the Frankenstein economy – long-dead but artificially reanimated using bizarre, harmful, and unsustainable means – goes into cardiac arrest. Propaganda, denial, and fiat money creation can only do so much, and as the old world crumbles, it will become ever-harder to sustain the illusion of normalcy.

[notanewmember2] 09/1/2010 09:11

Jim rogers - could he benefit from investing in salt? Hot [or cold!] commodity. UK is facing stark shortages due to the deep FREEZE

A man is worth his salt - salary comes from word salt from Roman times. Salt was one time used as money.

- largest UK salt mine. Not directly publicly listed unfortunately.

[traderabc] 09/1/2010 00:03

On the Edge w/ Max Keiser - 08 January 2010









Peter Schiff on CNBC 04 January 2010

[whizzy1] 08/1/2010 22:29

This thread is for the company BEST PLC

[traderabc] 08/1/2010 17:12

Argentina Central Bank Mutiny Costs Local Bernanke Equivalent His Job, Criminal Charges


Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Friday, January 8th, 2010

A surreal harbinger of what may well transpire in the US some day was today’s firing of the president of Argentina’s Central Bank Martin Redrado by president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. The action followed his refusal to release reserves to the government to be used for debt service payments, as well as his refusal to resign. At least in Argentina the Central Bank is answerable to the president, instead of the other way around. The odd development follows Kirchner’s enactment of a “Bicentennial Fund” which was to be funded with $6.6 billion of the $17 billion reserves, in order to make debt payments this year: the Argentine government has $13 billion in debt service payments due in 2010. One can imagine their jealously of the US, where such a situation would be met with merely a little more cash printing and a few more $40 billion 3 year auctions.

Market News also reports:

Fernandez de Kirchner called on Redrado to resign, but when he refused she called an emergency cabinet meeting to sign a decree removing him from his post “for misconduct and failure to execute the responsibilities of a public functionary, according to press reports.

And the La Nacion daily reported that the president also ordered Attorney General Esteban Righi to file criminal charges against the Harvard-educated economist.

Ah, to see the day when various other Central Bankers see criminal charges filed against them for insubordination.

[bluebelle] 08/1/2010 15:46

traderabc - 8 Jan'10 - 12:37 - 1087 of 1089

trader
There's no point in even discussing it with him. Anyone who thinks the pog will fall JUST because interest rates are rising is not even at first base. If rates have to be hiked because of a crisis of confidence in paper currencies (and in my view that's a question of when not if) the pog will easily reach the levels Rogers (and I happen to use him as an example because of this thread, but he's by no means alone in his view) is forecasting.

gcom
Quite agree. I listen to his commentaries but do my own calculations !!!

[contrarian2investor] 08/1/2010 15:30

Hi all,

With the reversal that happened today on PHPD I have sold 75% of my holding.

Yes it could only be a tree shake, but who knows.

c2i

[traderabc] 08/1/2010 12:39

The economic 'experts' who stopped making sense
Why, despite the financial crisis, do we still put our faith in economists, asks Edmund Conway.


By Edmund Conway
Published: 6:16AM GMT 31 Dec 2009



We still pay attention to the economists who failed to predict the financial crisis Photo: AFP

After a night at the orgy, the ancient Romans would cure their hangovers by stuffing themselves with deep-fried canaries. The Greeks favoured frying up sheep's lungs. For decades, we Britons have relied on bacon sandwiches to soak away the headache and nausea after a night out. But it was not until earlier this year that scientists at Newcastle University claimed to have pinpointed how fried meats cure hangovers by boosting the metabolism and creating amines which clear the head.

In much the same way, economics is a science which employs some of the world's most intelligent people and most powerful computers in order to prove the bleeding obvious. When I first started writing about the subject, one excited academic told me to look into behavioural economics, which he described as the most "exciting and radical" of all the fields of economic research. Its most edgy, controversial finding? That people occasionally behave irrationally, driven by emotion rather than reason. Well, duh.

[washbrook] 07/1/2010 21:50

careful.
I have done a graph & % gains since 31.12.2008( note the index linked stock is the top performing gilt over that period.
CYN up 146.96%
BRWM up 129.7%
GOLD(LBM)£ up 20.22%
2.5%Index linked Treasury 2013 up 8.92%
-------------------------------
Since 6.3.2009
----------------
CYN up 112.36%
BRWM up 109.92%
GOLD(LBM)£ up 8.3%
2.5%Index linked Treasury 2013 up 6.89%
----------------------------------
CLICK GRAPH TO ENLARGE
------------------

[gcom2] 07/1/2010 21:36

jim rogers spots a trend fair do's
but he is always way way out on his numbers, history has proved

[chestnuts] 07/1/2010 21:34

carefull

Interst rates were 10% in 1977 and went on to 17%, its what happens to inflation which is more important as if inflation is 5% and interst rates are 1% you will lose 4% of your money where as gold price most likely rise 10%

[bluebelle] 07/1/2010 21:11

careful - 7 Jan'10 - 20:56 - 1080 of 1080
you all seem to buy in to this theory that gold is a hedge against inflation.


My motivation for buying gold is two fold. First, the two fastest growing economies in the next 10 years - India and China - love the stuff so intrinsic demand is likely to grow and I never buy anything unless there is real market associated with it. Second, there is an increasing distrust of paper currencies as stores of value, as opposed to transactional media, which is already resulting investors looking for things which are potentially better options. In that context, gold is at or near the top of most peoples' shopping list.

Again, in that context, gold is a hedge against inflation but coincidentally rather than causally.

[careful] 07/1/2010 20:56

you all seem to buy in to this theory that gold is a hedge against inflation.
i have never been so sure about this.
the gold price is rampant and yet indexed linked government bonds are lowly priced.
2016, 2120 issues assume very low inflation.

why is this so.?
my theory is that gold is just another dot com type ramp.
why are indexed linked treasuries so low.?

[bluebelle] 07/1/2010 20:45

traderabc - 7 Jan'10 - 13:21 - 1077 of 1078
"The great masses don't quite understand it yet, but they will. There will be no escape from the cold, hard slap in the face citizens will receive when a high level of inflation arrives. And when it does, it will make a mockery of any opposing viewpoint.

I quite agree with this. The current consensus - which of course suits the Government - that we are in for a long period of low interest rates and low inflation is, IMHO, rubbish : I've certainly taken a contrarian position with my investments.

I also agree with the content of your next post and would add that the same thing and more will happen to sterling and gilts.

Your friend Mr Rogers will be proved right on gold - and China !

[traderabc] 07/1/2010 13:40

Willem Buiter warns of massive dollar collapse


Edmund Conway
London Telegraph
Thursday, January 7th, 2010

The long-held assumption that US assets – particularly government bonds – are a safe haven will soon be overturned as investors lose their patience with the world’s biggest economy, according to Willem Buiter.

Professor Buiter, a former Monetary Policy Committee member who is now at the London School of Economics, said this increasing disenchantment would result in an exodus of foreign cash from the US.

The warning comes despite the dollar having strengthened significantly against other major currencies, including sterling and the euro, after hitting historic lows last year. It will reignite fears about the currency’s prospects, as well as sparking fears about the sustainability of President-Elect Barack Obama’s mooted plans for a Keynesian-style increase in public spending to pull the US out of recession.

Writing on his blog , Prof Buiter said: “There will, before long (my best guess is between two and five years from now) be a global dumping of US dollar assets, including US government assets. Old habits die hard. The US dollar and US Treasury bills and bonds are still viewed as a safe haven by many. But learning takes place