Free Republic

  Free Republic moderators---  please do not excerpt.--Zero hedge does not mind        "Everything will collapse" is the consequence Gloom, Boom, & Doom's Marc Faber sees from the Fed's latest 'stimulus' (and the fallacy and misconception of how money-printing can help employment). In a wondrously clarifying interview on Bloomberg TV this morning, Faber explained why he was 'happy', since "the asset values of his holdings will go up" but as a responsible citizen he is worried because "the monetary policies of the US will destroy the world." It truly is class warfare under a veil of 'its good for you' as...

Central bankers are “counterfeit money printers” and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke should resign for messing up the U.S. economy so badly, Marc Faber, author of the Gloom, Doom and Boom, told CNBC on Friday. He said Bernanke was one of the main proponents of an ultra-expansionist economic monetary policy that was to blame for the latest financial crisis. “If I had messed up as badly as Bernanke I would for sure resign. The mandate of the Fed to boost asset prices and thereby create wealth is ludicrous — it doesn’t work that way. It’s a temporary boost followed by...

The Printing Press Is Running Hot, But Where Is Inflation And How Will It Affect Gold? Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012Sep 06, 2012 - 02:48 AM By: GoldSilverWorlds The key to understanding inflation lies in the implications of an increasing money supply. Here at Global Gold, we rely on the “True Money Supply” which is provided by the Mises Institute. The “True Money Supply” was originated by Murray Rothbard and represents the amount of money in the US economy that is available for immediate use in exchange. On the chart below you see that the True Money Supply has...

The Quadrillion Dollar Deflationary Debt Raft Interest-Rates / US DebtSep 05, 2012 - 02:03 AM By: Raul I Meijer Our Down Under roving reporter Skip came up with a few interesting questions when watching an interview that Russia Today recently ran with economist Richard Duncan. Where doth debt take us going forward, and, for that matter, where has it - really - taken us so far? If and when Japan implodes, does that force the US out of the possibility of moving - or already being - into the Japanese deflationary scenario and into something more sinister? Will it be...

The Day Of Economic Reckoning Is Near Economics / Great Depression II Aug 25, 2012 - 01:23 PM By: The Gold Report It is a deal with the devil: Governments churn out more and more cash for the promise of continued prosperity. But the day of reckoning is near, according to Doug Casey, chairman of Casey Research and an expert on crisis investing. As the epic battle between inflation and deflation continues on, Casey discusses his predictions for the new world market in this exclusive interview with The Gold Report. The Gold Report: There will be a Casey Research Summit...

In Chairman Bernanake's doctoral thesis, he "focused on the role of monetary policy in affecting economic activity, and on the historical analysis of the causes of the Great Depression." His thesis and resulting understanding of the negative impact that uncertainty has on business cycles should provide insight on the actions needed by government to resolve our current economic difficulties. In short, Dr. Bernanake understood that "[i]t is shown that increased uncertainty provides an incentive to defer such investments in order to wait for new information" (page 2 of the dissertation). In the same paper, he wrote, "Uncertainty is seen to...

Silver, Gold And The Coming Deflation Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012 Jul 05, 2012 - 02:03 PM By: Hubert Moolman Historically gold has made its significant gains, relative to other assets (as well as nominally), not during inflation, but during deflation (Note: I am using the terms inflation and deflation very loosely in this case). These significant gold rallies historically occur when value flees instruments such as stocks and certain commodities. Since the 1920s there have been three major gold rallies (1930s, 1970s and the current rally). All three major gold rallies came after a significant top in the...

Zero Hedge, citing a Federal Reserve Bank of New York report on Shadow Banking, makes (without even realizing it) a sure-fire case for deflation. I encourage you to visit the link shown above, but also take a look at On The Verge Of A Historic Inversion In Shadow Banking by Zero Hedge. Here is the introduction by ZH. While everyone's attention was focused on details surrounding the household sector in the recently released Q1 Flow of Funds report (ours included), something much more important happened in the US economy from a flow perspective, something which, in fact, has not happened...

The Black Hole Of Deflation Economics / Deflation Jun 26, 2012 - 11:42 AM By: Julian DW Phillips The Global Picture and Where We Are Now For the last few years we've watched as the Credit Crunch morphed into the Sovereign Debt crisis in Europe, which may re-cross the Atlantic to hit the U.S. Treasury market. During that time, we have watched a series of patch-up jobs on the crisis that have only succeeded in prolonging the crisis without any real structural remedies. We've also watched how central bankers have seen the 'buck' passed to them, when their role is...

The Dow sinking.Gold sinking.Oil sinking.Copper sinking.Yields sinking.  We struggled with this, Dear Reader. We meditated. We prayed. We drank heavily.And finally…we overcame the rank desire to say: “We told you so!”As you know, Martin Wolf, of The Financial Times, is the voice of The Economics Establishment. All that is great and good in the field — which isn’t very much — is given voice by Wolf. Then, it is acceptable for policymakers, Treasury ministers, and central bankers, not to mention the people you talk to at cocktail parties.And lo! Here cometh the neo-Keynesian economist. What saith he?He says the world...

Inflation Is Part Of The Plan Economics / Inflation Jan 31, 2012 By: Money Morning Martin Hutchinson writes: Forget about lost decades. Forecasts that we'll be turning Japanese couldn't be further from the truth. Here's why. It's simple, really. Deflation is not in the interest of anybody in power, so it's very unlikely to happen. The U.S. Federal Reserve's policy move to target inflation last week just re-emphasizes this point. That's not to say deflation is a bad thing for everybody. For savers and those living on fixed incomes, deflation would be a very good thing indeed. Their income would...

Keeping interest rates low may have the APPEARANCE of stimulation, but that effect is NOT being passed on by the banks. Interest Rates on loans, even credit cards, have not declined in proportion to the drop in interest rates at the Fed. Therefore, the deflation aspect is shifting profits to banks further bailing them out to make up for their losses in the speculation of mortgages. NOTHING is being done to help the people or the economy whatsoever! They are NOT lowering borrowing costs of consumers or business so the Fed can pretend it is helping the economy, but it...

Mike "Mish" Shedlock finally made it on to FSN's distinguished guest list. While Mish is often controversial and frequently derided by other members of the prognostication class, he has a unique perspective, which is entitled to some respect. As he explains it, the massive destruction of assets, such as real estate and debt backed securities has actually led to a shrinking of the money in circulation. Even though the Monetary Base M0 has greatly expanded in recent years, none of these newly created dollars have found their way in to the money supply. The reason is simple, banks aren't lending...

OUR ultimate risk is that we will lose all our freedoms before there would be hyperinflation. The borders are closing silently. Tax havens are being attacked and every wire coming into the US is being traced to check who owns that account. Government is desperate to cling to power. It is naive to presume that our economic troubles will cause government to see the light and accept gold as the new money supply. The bankers, who really control government like the financial crack dealers, would never allow it. The attempt to manipulate gold during the Panic of 1869 and force...

New York 28/12/2011 - Gold on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange moved sharply lower Wednesday after the euro plummeted on concerns that Europe is creeping closer to a deflationary recession. Gold futures for February delivery were last down $30.50, or about two percent, at $1,565.00 an ounce. Trade has ranged from $1,563.90 to $1,595.00. The markets have been under pressure ever since the euro smashed through the $1.30 level, Sterling Smith, an analyst with Country Hedging, said. “The bulls are really nervous. They aren't comfortable getting long - especially considering this is a funny time of...

China Economy May Drag World Down Economics / China Economy Dec 17, 2011 - 07:39 AM By: Barry Elias My column of June 24, 2011 ("China Yield Inversion May Portend Economic Slowdown") opened with the following sentence: “The yield on Chinese bonds are inverting at an accelerating rate. This does not portend well for the Chinese economy, and this may have negative implications globally.” China’s contribution to global economic growth this year is nearly 40%.The reason: property construction in China boomed significantly during the previous decade. The Chinese government controls all the allocation of land. Beginning in 1998, Chinese authorities...

(Kitco News) - Comex February gold futures prices careened lower and hit a fresh nearly three-month low on follow-through selling pressure from the strong losses posted in afternoon trading Tuesday. It was a “risk-off” trading day in the market place Wednesday, and that was very bearish for the precious metals. A stronger U.S. dollar and sharply lower crude oil prices were also major bearish factors for gold Wednesday. Fresh, serious near-term technical damage has been inflicted in gold this week. February gold last traded down $76.80 at $1,586.60 an ounce. Spot gold last traded down $47.00 an ounce at $1,584.50....

What you are about to read should absolutely astound you. During the last financial crisis, the Federal Reserve secretly conducted the biggest bailout in the history of the world, and the Fed fought in court for several years to keep it a secret. Do you remember the TARP bailout? The American people were absolutely outraged that the federal government spent 700 billion dollars bailing out the "too big to fail" banks. Well, that bailout was pocket change compared to what the Federal Reserve did. As you will see documented below, the Federal Reserve actually handed more than 16 trillion dollars...

This is the worst-case scenario from Europe, and it just might come true: Italy defaults on its debts. Every major Italian bank collapses. Recession grips the eurozone. Sovereign defaults and bank failures ripple across the Continent. Saddled with bad loans to nations and lenders in Europe, American banks hemorrhage cash. Credit freezes in the United States. Multinational companies, unable to raise money, curb U.S. investment and hiring. Wall Street demands, but fails to get, new bailouts. The entire developed world plummets into recession and, quite possibly, depression. This, in contrast, is the placid warning that President Obama gave Americans about...

George Soros: The Global Financial System Is In A 'SELF-REINFORCING PROCESS OF DISINTEGRATION' Simone Foxman Dec. 1, 2011, 4:58 PM Investor George Soros foretold doom in a recent speech in front of the International Senior Lawyers Project, according to the WSJ. The financial system is collapsing, and the developed world is fast falling into a "deflationary debt trap.""The consequences could be quite disastrous," he said. "You have to do what you can to stop it developing in that direction." Soros has been an outspoken advocate of taking more radical action to stem the European debt crisis, endorsing intervention by the...