Podcast

Irene: Pop Quiz in Preparedness

Ready or not, if you live along the US east coast, Mother Nature has just announced a pop quiz. Subject: personal and community resiliency.

By all accounts, Hurricane Irene is a big storm. The latest projections have it making landfall at North Carolina tomorrow around mid-day. From there it's expected to march northward up the east coast, impacting a long stretch of the country inhabited by 65 million – 1 in 5 of the people in the country. Mandatory evacuations in several states have already been announced, including the lower-lying boroughs of Manhattan.

Our thoughts are with our with our readers, staff, and family living in Irene's path. We hope you're all able to take appropriate steps to ensure your safety as the storm passes over (and if you haven't, we certainly recommend doing so before Irene arrives).

And we're setting up this thread for folks to use – for sharing preparation guidance, reporting developments, asking advice, and providing emotional support – in advance of and during the storm.

Irene: Pop Quiz in Preparedness

by Adam Taggart

Ready or not, if you live along the US east coast, Mother Nature has just announced a pop quiz. Subject: personal and community resiliency.

And we're setting up this thread for folks to use – for sharing preparation guidance, reporting developments, asking advice, and providing emotional support – in advance of and during the storm.

Steady As She Goes

PREVIEW

by Chris Martenson

The recent pullback in gold and silver have not fazed me in the least. I consider the pullback to be a buying opportunity for those who got caught watching the meteoric rise in gold (and to a lesser extent silver) over the past month and a half. I would not advise selling any of your physical holdings into this engineered decline.

As I predicted, (not really a prediction; more of an observation over time), both metals are performing especially poorly in the US Comex paper markets, but do reasonably well in all the other world markets. So far that pattern has held true. I firmly believe that if gold did not trade in the US markets, it would already be well north of $2,000 an ounce.

Steady As She Goes

PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Off The Cuff: We’re Likely Entering A Financial Crisis That Will Spawn A Monetary Crisis

PREVIEW

by Chris Martenson

In this week’s Off the Cuff with Mish & Chris podcast, Chris and Mish tackle:

Gold: with today’s sharp pullback after an amazing run upwards in the previous two weeks, how concerned should precious metal investors be? Are its fundamentals still strong?
Banks: are we staring at another, and possibily larger, 2008-style bank insolvency crisis?
Europe: will the PIIGS pull the Euro apart?
China: what impact would economic weakness in China (and signs of stress there are mounting) introduce into the equation?

At this point, confidence is high both a fiscal crisis and susequent monetary crisis are inevitable – and neither is far away. The debate now is: what is going to be the trigger that sets them off?

Off The Cuff: We’re Likely Entering A Financial Crisis That Will Spawn A Monetary Crisis

PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

In this week’s Off the Cuff with Mish & Chris podcast, Chris and Mish tackle:

Gold: with today’s sharp pullback after an amazing run upwards in the previous two weeks, how concerned should precious metal investors be? Are its fundamentals still strong?
Banks: are we staring at another, and possibily larger, 2008-style bank insolvency crisis?
Europe: will the PIIGS pull the Euro apart?
China: what impact would economic weakness in China (and signs of stress there are mounting) introduce into the equation?

At this point, confidence is high both a fiscal crisis and susequent monetary crisis are inevitable – and neither is far away. The debate now is: what is going to be the trigger that sets them off?

Charles Hugh Smith: Why Local Enterprise Is The Solution

by Chris Martenson

A growing number of individuals believe our economic and societal status quo is defined by unsustainable addiction to cheap oil and ever increasing debt. With that viewpoint, it's hard not to see a hard takedown of our national standard of living in the future. Even harder to answer is: what do you do about it?

Charles Hugh Smith, proprietor of the esteemed weblog OfTwoMinds.com, sees the path to future prosperity in removing capital from the Wall Street machine and investing it into local enterprise within the community in which you live.

"Enterprise is completely possible in an era of declining resource consumption. In other words, just because we have to use less, doesn’t mean that there is no opportunity for investing in enterprise. I think enterprise and investing in fact, are the solution. And if we withdraw our money from Wall Street and put it to use in our own communities, to the benefit of our own income streams, then I think that things happen."

Charles Hugh Smith: Why Local Enterprise Is The Solution

by Chris Martenson

Happy 40th Birthday, Fiat Dollar!

by Chris Martenson

Exactly 40 years ago today, on August 15^th 1971, the US dollar was released from the cruel tethers of an international gold standard. Today, we find notable monetary authorities seeking its return.

In the middle of a lengthy ~2,500 word speech in which Nixon sought to stabilize prices by implementing price controls and stabilize foreign trade by imposing tariffs, he slipped in these 100 words that sought to stabilize the dollar by going off the gold standard:

In recent weeks, the speculators have been waging an all-out war on the American dollar. The strength of a nation’s currency is based on the strength of that nation’s economy – and the American economy is by far the strongest in the world. Accordingly, I have directed the Secretary of the Treasury to take the action necessary to defend the dollar against the speculators.

I have directed Secretary Connally to suspend temporarily the convertibility of the American dollar except in amounts and conditions determined to be in the interest of monetary stability and in the best interests of the United States.

It turns out that such intervention was actually counterproductive to the stated aims, so we are tempted to suspect that a different set of aims was met instead.

Happy 40th Birthday, Fiat Dollar!

by Chris Martenson

Exactly 40 years ago today, on August 15^th 1971, the US dollar was released from the cruel tethers of an international gold standard. Today, we find notable monetary authorities seeking its return.

In recent weeks, the speculators have been waging an all-out war on the American dollar. The strength of a nation’s currency is based on the strength of that nation’s economy – and the American economy is by far the strongest in the world. Accordingly, I have directed the Secretary of the Treasury to take the action necessary to defend the dollar against the speculators.

I have directed Secretary Connally to suspend temporarily the convertibility of the American dollar except in amounts and conditions determined to be in the interest of monetary stability and in the best interests of the United States.

It turns out that such intervention was actually counterproductive to the stated aims, so we are tempted to suspect that a different set of aims was met instead.

Eye of The Storm

PREVIEW

by Chris Martenson

If the behavior in the financial markets have not scared off all of the average, normal investors, it’s only because some of them have not been paying close enough attention or have failed to appreciate what they were seeing.

These are markets without a clue, forced into unnatural positions by too much thin-air money for so long that all sense of equilibrium has been lost. Tottering about, seeking the occasional nearby lamp-post, the stock markets are close to setting records for consecutive high-percentage whipsaws.

Even with Thursday’s 400+ point gain in the Dow, allegedly on the basis of improving initial claims statistics (yeah, right), we saw poor market internals such as only five new highs in the NYSE along with 121 new lows. Reverse those numbers and we’re in business for a rally, but instead, with the data we’re seeing, it’s not terribly likely that we’re ready to trot off into a new future of rising markets and economic growth.

Eye of The Storm

PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Gold Surging: Buy Mining Stocks? Not So Fast, Says Frank Barbera

by Chris Martenson

With the astonishing recent price rise in gold, many investors are asking themselves: Is now the time to move capital into mining stocks?

Frank Barbera, respected precious metal mining stock expert and editor of the Gold Stock Technician newsletter, has a viewpoint that will likely surprise many. While extremely bullish in the longer term, Frank sees too many risks in the near term and advises smart money to wait.

He cautions:

"I’ve been watching the mining stocks since 1983, so a fair amount of time that I spent watching the group. I have a wide variety of unique technical indicators on the sector, and as I started to see the stock market topping out over the last two to three weeks, I wrote my readers a note to say the mining stocks are also very overbought. Mid-July we saw one of the second most overbought readings on the XAU in five years. And that kind of reading is a big warning, and so I’m not surprised to see them going down. The last letter I put out, I told subscribers that I thought the mining stocks could get cut in half in here, and I’m going to stick with that. I think we’re looking at a 30 to 50 percent decline over the next six months.

Gold Surging: Buy Mining Stocks? Not So Fast, Says Frank Barbera

by Chris Martenson

With the astonishing recent price rise in gold, many investors are asking themselves: Is now the time to move capital into mining stocks?

He cautions:

"I’ve been watching the mining stocks since 1983, so a fair amount of time that I spent watching the group. I have a wide variety of unique technical indicators on the sector, and as I started to see the stock market topping out over the last two to three weeks, I wrote my readers a note to say the mining stocks are also very overbought. Mid-July we saw one of the second most overbought readings on the XAU in five years. And that kind of reading is a big warning, and so I’m not surprised to see them going down. The last letter I put out, I told subscribers that I thought the mining stocks could get cut in half in here, and I’m going to stick with that. I think we’re looking at a 30 to 50 percent decline over the next six months.

STRIPPED: What the Credit Downgrade Means

PREVIEW

by Chris Martenson

I wrote about a possible credit downgrade on July 28th and split the probable reactions and consequences into what should happen and what (most likely) will happen. Lately, and with good reason, we’ve all become conditioned to the idea that what actually happens in the financial markets is not what should be happening.

Take this latest move. Nothing that the S&P has done by downgrading US long-term debt obligations from AAA to AA+ has done anything to change the fundamental math of the equation. The US is just as insolvent after the downgrade as it was before the downgrade.

But in a fiat money system, faith is very important, and what just took a big hit was the perception of safety that surrounds US Treasury debt. Further, the downgrade came at a rather awkward time for the financial markets. I suppose there’s never a great time, but some times are a little worse than others, and the financial markets are already highly unsettled after a few weeks of piss-poor economic data signaling the arrival of another downturn and a rising debt crisis in Europe that is still devolving rather than healing.

Here’s a good reader observation and question to which I’d like to respond:

STRIPPED: What the Credit Downgrade Means

PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Here’s a good reader observation and question to which I’d like to respond:

The Rout Is On!

PREVIEW

by Chris Martenson

On Thursday, August 4th, the stock and commodity markets took a turn for the worse, the dollar and US bonds went up, and gold held firm.

This pattern is exactly what we have been expecting around here since early March. It still has quite a ways to run, and I remain convinced that it will result in a third round of quantitative easing (QE III).

I laid out this general thesis for what is now occurring in my report, The Coming Rout:

The Rout Is On!

PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

On Thursday, August 4th, the stock and commodity markets took a turn for the worse, the dollar and US bonds went up, and gold held firm.

I laid out this general thesis for what is now occurring in my report, The Coming Rout:

Off The Cuff: The Message of Rising Gold; Time To Get Defensive

PREVIEW

by Chris Martenson

The latest Off the Cuff with Mish & Chris is out!

In this week’s podcast, Chris and Mish tackle:

Gold: The yellow metal is up $180/oz since July 1, fueled in part by expectations of quantitative easing around the world. While likely not imminent in the US, speculation of a future announcement by the Fed is growing as the swoon in the financial marktes deepens. And news like that from the Swiss National Bank – which has announced it will take steps to ease in order to weaken the fast-appreciating Swiss franc – are signaling to investors that there are no paper options for those looking for “safe” currencies. Add to this the negative real rates offered by traditional ‘safe havens’ like T-bills, and gold is increasingly becoming the only option for the risk-averse crowd
Market risk: Crash risks go up when the market is oversold. Mix in weakening economic data in the US and Europe. Add increasingly reckless and poorly-conceived intervention by central planners. At some point, market participants may decide their self-preservation outweighs their faith in the status quo. If they do, it will happen under conditions like we’re seeing now – and fast.

Off The Cuff: The Message of Rising Gold; Time To Get Defensive

PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

The latest Off the Cuff with Mish & Chris is out!

In this week’s podcast, Chris and Mish tackle:

Gold: The yellow metal is up $180/oz since July 1, fueled in part by expectations of quantitative easing around the world. While likely not imminent in the US, speculation of a future announcement by the Fed is growing as the swoon in the financial marktes deepens. And news like that from the Swiss National Bank – which has announced it will take steps to ease in order to weaken the fast-appreciating Swiss franc – are signaling to investors that there are no paper options for those looking for “safe” currencies. Add to this the negative real rates offered by traditional ‘safe havens’ like T-bills, and gold is increasingly becoming the only option for the risk-averse crowd
Market risk: Crash risks go up when the market is oversold. Mix in weakening economic data in the US and Europe. Add increasingly reckless and poorly-conceived intervention by central planners. At some point, market participants may decide their self-preservation outweighs their faith in the status quo. If they do, it will happen under conditions like we’re seeing now – and fast.

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