Free Republic

As markets continue to yo-yo and commentators deliver mixed forecasts, investors are faced with some tough decisions and have a number of important questions that need answering. On a daily basis we are asked what’s happening with oil prices alongside questions on China’s slowdown, which commodities or instruments will provide safety in the current environment, will the Euro-zone split in the future and what impact the presidential election is going to have on the economy and markets? To help Oilprice.com look into these issues and more we were fortunate enough to speak with the award winning economic commentator Mike “Mish”...

But that perception of safety in US government based debt assets will be short lived. As we noted in Predictions of a Mad Tin Foiler, and as Future Money Trends outlines above, confidence in the US dollar will quickly be replaced with panic as the United States itself is unable to service its debt and meet the social obligations of an evermore dependent and dilapidated citizenry. Confidence will be lost. Then, all hell breaks loose and we enter what we can only described as the ‘Event Horizon,’ a scenario which is totally unpredictable as our existing paradigm of spending and...

There are reports of food and medicine shortages in Greece, crime and suicides are on the rise and people have been rapidly pulling their money out of the banks. Hopefully this article will give you some ideas that you can use as you prepare for the economic chaos that will soon be unfolding all over the globe. The following are 10 things that we can learn about shortages and preparation from the economic collapse in Greece....

The List: A to Z Survival for the Abysmal Times Ahead Be Informed June 2nd, 2012 SHTF Plan In a follow-up to his wildly popular article discussing How Horrific It Will Be For The Non-Prepper, contributor ‘Be Informed’ provides SHTFplan readers with an extensive list of preparedness and survival keywords and concepts for beginners and seasoned preppers alike. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It seems like no matter how well someone prepares, they inevitably find out they have forgotten something. That all important item or items that aren’t “remembered”, that merely only have to be mentioned by name to remind a person of what...

It has been said many times in recent months that we aren’t Greece. Now it will start to be said that we aren’t Spain. Both propositions are certainly true. (For one thing, Spain elected its socialist government in 2004, thus getting a head start on us.) But if we compare America’s debt crisis to Europe’s as a whole, how do we stack up? The Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee did the math and produced this graphic, which shows that the U.S. is now deeper in debt than the entire Eurozone, plus the United Kingdom. UPDATE: Mark Steyn thinks I...

As the title suggests, please name the latest bubble: (see picture - answer below)

There are those in America who have absolutely no clue as to what is going on behind closed doors. They are ignorant to the fact that over 22% of Americans are unemployed, nearly 50 million depend on nutritional assistance to put food on the table, 100 million are living in or on the edge of poverty, and that as a nation we have borrowed more money than we can ever hope to pay back to our creditors. These people, with their heads buried in the sand, whether by habit or choice, go about their day as if nothing has changed....

Bix Weir of www.RoadtoRoota.com fame was with us yesterday and explained that Ron Paul is actually ahead in the delegate account for the Republican Presidential Nomination. It seems that his supporters have been working the system and getting Ron Paul delegates installed even when others have won the popular count! If this is true, it could be a major election game changer. Time will tell if Dr. Paul has the winning electoral special sauce. Bix is expecting major market gyrations in March. He believes that a global financial realignment will be rearing its ugly head and that this will further...

Michael Snyder joins us today to discuss the impending global economic collapse and what you and your family can do to survive it. The statistics are bleak, but you shouldn’t allow yourself to become a statistic. We are obviously near a new inflection point in the ongoing collapse saga. Most people refuse to even entertain the possibility, that life as they know it is going to change dramatically in the months and years ahead. Easy credit and the ability to shift vast amounts of debt around the globe is rapidly coming to an end. Those who recognize the new reality...

David Knox Barker in an article Two Roads out of the Global Financial Crisishttp://www.marketoracle.co.uk/article32045.htm believes that if only the politicians will behave just a little bit and make some of the right decisions, the world can escape the current crisis and enter a period of unequaled prosperity. He quotes Robert Frost’s epic poem, The Road Not Takenas some kind of model for governmental action around the world. However, Mr. Barker fails to understand that there were many opportunities to travel down the road of economic salvation and that the United States and the World blew by them like Jeremy Clarkson...

Millionaire taxes wind up costing everyone more. Jay Hancock of the Baltimore Sun cannot understand why the State of Maryland is rapidly becoming devoid of the dreaded Millionaire. He can't fathom why a little thing like a 25% increase in Millionaire income taxes could possibly encourage wealthy citizens to flee the State for more Millionaire friendly climes. And Hancock is part of the problem. He, like his state's leadership, doesn't understand that self-employed high networth citizens are fleeing high tax jurisdictions all over the country. California, New York, New Jersey, Massachussets, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Illinois are all seeing these people...

Bix Weir of RoadtoRoota.com joins us today to talk about gold and silver manipulation and the impending collapse of the world fiat money system. Bix has been studying economic history and the markets for a long time and has arrived at the conclusion that once the collapse occurs, it will be the largest debtors who fare the best. And of all the debtor nations, the United States stands head and shoulders above the rest. According to Bix gold and silver are still screaming bargains who's time will soon come. He believes that eventually the gold to silver ratio will go...

As the U.S. economy tanks and the Mid-East appears poised for war, a chain of survival gear stores in Missouri has reported a jump in sales due to people getting ready for the possible ‘collapse’ of society. Steve Dorsey, a manager at one of the Uncle Sam’s Safari Outfitters stores in Webster Groves told KMOX-Radio that: “We had to order fifty cases of the meals ready to eat to keep up with the demand in the past three months. That’s not normal. Usually we sell 20 to 30 cases in a whole year.” When local stores start running out of...

As I write this, I can’t avoid feeling two very clear sensations. The first one I can only explain by saying that it’s like stepping out of a boat just as it finishes its slow, decadent sinking and finally goes under the surface. The second one is genuine sadness. Of all the posts I’ve written, this is without a doubt the saddest one I’ve written. I’m not talking about the loss of culture, standards of living or the death of a friend. Its not about the starvation of children of violence towards people close to me. It’s about all that...

Denial. Denial is safe. Comforting. Religiously and relentlessly abused by politicians who don't want nor can face reality. A word synonymous with "muddle through." Ah yes, that "muddle through" which so many C-grade economists and pundits believe is the long-term status quo for the US and the world just because it worked for Japan for the past three decades, or, said otherwise, "just because." Well, too bad. As the following absolutely must read report, which comes not from some trader of dubious credibility interviewed by BBC, nor even from an impassioned executive from a doomed Italian bank, but from consultancy...

Remember the mantra that "consumers have delevered" which has been run over the last two years as an incessant bark from the media, attempting to goad you, the consumer, into more spending and more consumption to "lift the economy." This claim has been a lie and a fraud upon the public and the new Fed Z1 makes this clear. The peak household credit liability was $13.92 trillion. It currently stands at $13.30 trillion, a reduction of a mere 4.6%. This all came from home mortgages going ka-boom; $10.6 trillion to $9.9 trillion, a reduction of $700 billion. Total net reduction...

Even Goldman Sachs Secretly Believes That An Economic Collapse Is ComingSeptember 1, 2011 Even Goldman Sachs is doing it again. Goldman is telling the public that everything is going to be just fine, but meanwhile they are advising their top clients to bet on a huge financial collapse. On August 16th, a 54 page report authored by Goldman strategist Alan Brazil was distributed to institutional clients. The general public was not intended to see this report. Fortunately, some folks over at the Wall Street Journal got their hands on a copy and they have filled us in on some of...

If Sarah Palin were Vice President of the United States does anyone think she would have ever said anything even remotely deferrential about China's one-child policy? Palin is the mother of five, including three girls and yet she's supposedly the one who would have been a horrible embarrassment to America instead of our current Veep Joe Biden, who incidentally, was the one who declared that he wouldn't "second guess" the Chinese policy of forced streilization, forced abortions and coerced abortions. Biden's attempt at fixing the problem, by having his spoekwoman issue a statement wasn't helpful either. "The Obama Administration strongly...

Last Sunday, legislators and the president, convinced that the United States was facing an imminent risk of default and their sound decisions were needed to wrest global well-being from the jaws of collapse, purportedly scrambled to announce a deal on the debt ceiling hours before the Asian markets opened. Instead of cheering the deal, however, global markets thumbed their nose and turned down within hours of the announcement. Indeed, the most striking response to the “successful” conclusion of the United States debt ceiling cacophony on Sunday was the sharp fall in global stock markets the next day. Then, on Thursday,...

As part of its most recent issue the New Yorker has released a must read interview with Ray Dalio - head of the world's biggest hedge fund, Bridgewater. Dalio's fund, which according to some may now be as large as $80 billion, continues to outperform even in this problematic environment, indicating that unlike various other managers who shall remain nameless, and whose wealth is built up almost exclusively on one trade (and that belonging to someone else in the first place), Dalio, despite rumors that he is preparing to leave his current position and is actively seeking a replacement, is...