Free Republic

On Thursday, September 7, the Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, Lawrence J. Laurenzi, announced the federal sentences given to Larry Bates and three other members of his family for their convictions in a gold and silver Ponzi scheme that defrauded customers from around the country of over $26 million USD in unfulfilled orders. Sentencing had been delayed due to legal motions filed by the defense. After a five-week-long trial in May of this year, former Tennessee state representative and Christian talk radio host Larry Bates was convicted of the 46 counts of mail and wire...

Before Bear Stearns and Lehman collapsed, the market for physical gold was limited to a relatively small group of investors who understood the havoc inflation was wreaking on our savings and the US markets. As the financial crisis took hold, a flood of new and inexperienced buyers entered the market, creating an opportunity for unscrupulous metals dealers to swindle their way to massive profits. This is what drove me to launch my very own gold dealer, Euro Pacific Precious Metals, to provide a safe alternative for those who were taking my advice to diversify into sound money. In our first...

This is an abbreviated Bulletin. The liquidity and speculation-driven U.S. stock market came to life again. For the week, the Dow and S&P500 added about 2%. The Utilities and Morgan Stanley Consumer indices also gained about 2%. Economically sensitive issues outperformed, with the Transports gaining 3% and the Morgan Stanley Cyclical index increasing 4% (up 38% y-t-d). The S&P Homebuilding index jumped 5% this week, increasing y-t-d gains to 98%. The S&P Retail Stores index added 3% this week, with 2003 gains of 44%. The broader market caught fire. The small cap Russell 2000 jumped almost 4%, increasing year-to-date gains...