Free Republic

There’s something sad about a man so carelessly revealing himself as entirely inadequate to the moment. Government spending is an existential threat to the United States. Whether or not anyone at the White House knows this, the viziers decided to shove the sultan out on stage with a pitifully unserious speech retreating to all his lamest tropes – the usual whiny, petty and unpresidential partisan snippiness, and the ponderous demolition of straw men even he barely bothered to pretend he believed in: Politicians are often eager to feed the impression that solving the problem is just a matter of eliminating...

In case you're not paying attention, the silver market has gone nuts today, surging until near $50, before collapsing to around $46. It's the most controversial, hotly-followed asset class in the world. So what's the real story. Earlier this month, Philip Klapwijk of GFMS presented a very through, complete look at the silver market: from its demand, its production, and where the current market stands in history. It's definitely a great, complete lesson. CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST

These government-issued coupons are good for one gallon of gas at most retailers...  I myself recall seeing them, but until recently never realized their actual worth... You may yourself have a couple laying around-- just a heads-up, now is the time to use them before they lose their value: Just as you were warned back in January...  except instead of four bucks a gallon it's FIVE- and we could be looking at six this summer. Obama's all upset about it -here- ___________________________________________________ More at Reaganite Republican

The US Labor Department said that consumer prices climbed a higher-than-expected 2.7pc in March from a year before. Almost three quarters of the rise was due to surging food and petrol prices, with petrol costs climbing 5.6pc, the ninth straight month of increases. Food rose 0.8pc in March, the largest gain since July 2008. A survey of 41 economists by Bloomberg had on average expected annual inflation to hit 2.6pc. David Wyss, the New York-based chief economist at Standard & Poors, said the inflation was largely as expected, adding: "The Fed is not going to see inflation as a threat...

Have Drivers Finally Thrown in Their Keys? Mass Transit Sees Uptick in Ridership Gas prices are now the highest they have ever been during the month of April and at its fourteenth highest nominal price according to data from the Energy Department going back to 1990. The average gas price is $3.79 per gallon of regular, according to the Energy Department's weekly figures released today, an increase of 11 cents from last week and 93 cents from a year ago. As the average price of gasoline edges closer to $4 a gallon -- with at least one gas station in...

Every now and then, I like to run a comparative screen on my list of over 800 ETFs/ETNs to find those areas of the investable universe which are at extremes relative to the broader stock market, or relative to themselves. Given recent market actions and the incredible resilience risk assets have had as of late, I thought it might be worth identifying those ETFs/ETNs furthest away from their respective 50-day moving averages. The purpose of doing this is to see where the crowd has been putting money to work the most, and perhaps identify contrarian trades. Silver by far and...

FAIRLESS Hills, PA At an event at a Spanish windmill firm in Pennsylvania, President Obama suggested Americans consider selling their gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient cars. The president chided one questioner, saying: "If you're complaining about the price of gas and you're only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know,you might want to think about a trade-in." The Associated Press reported that Mr. Obama made the comment "laughingly." However, the quote has been scrubbed from the original linked page. Fortunately, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit captured a screenshot:

"If you're complaining about the price of gas and you're only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know," Obama said laughingly. "You might want to think about a trade-in."

U.S. gasoline prices soared nearly 9 cents over the last week to $3.68 a gallon, the highest pump price on record for April, the Energy Department said on Monday.The national price for regular unleaded gasoline is up 86 cents from a year ago, based on the department’s weekly survey of fuel prices at service stations. Cleveland and Chicago had the biggest weekly gasoline price increases, rising 19 and 18 cents a gallon, respectively.Drivers paid more for gasoline as rising crude oil costs were passed along at the pump.

Sell first, ask questions later. That appears to be what gold traders did earlier this week, when their actions caused bullion to suffer a huge decline — falling more than $30 alone on Tuesday. Consider whether or not there are good fundamental reasons for gold to have fallen so much. The default explanation, of course, is that bullion’s decline somehow traces back to the Japanese earthquake and the ensuing crisis. But I’m not so sure why. Consider what is perhaps the most-invoked rationale for investing in gold: It’s ability to hedge against worsening inflation. Isn’t that rationale even more compelling...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Oil above $100! Gold hitting new records! Don't fear the headlines. Most market experts think oil and gold prices will settle down as the unrest in North Africa and the Middle East region subsides. In fact, a majority of investment strategists and money managers are leaving their year-end forecasts unchanged, according to an exclusive CNNMoney survey. On average, experts expect gold and oil prices to edge up about 4% by the end of 2011. That would put oil at around $95 a barrel and gold just under $1,500 an ounce by the end of the year....

High pump prices rattle drivers and businessesBy JONATHAN FAHEY and SANDY SHORE The Associated Press Monday, February 28, 2011; 9:12 AM NEW YORK -- High fuel prices are putting the squeeze on drivers' wallets just as they are starting to feel better about the economy. They're also forcing tough choices on small-business owners who are loathe to charge more for fear of losing cost-conscious customers. Gasoline prices rose 4 percent last week to a national average of $3.29 per gallon. That's the highest level ever for this time of year, when prices are typically low. And with unrest in the...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve would react to higher oil prices only if the increases spilled over into broader areas, officials of the U.S. central bank said on Friday, with one policy maker calling the risks "manageable." In a similar vein, an official of the European Central Bank said policy makers should be wary of responding too soon to the recent jump in oil prices as it may be fleeting. Oil prices have risen as political tensions in the Middle East and North Africa have raised fears that the unrest could spread to other major oil-producing countries, stoking...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The prices that American consumers pay for goods and services rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in January, mainly because of higher gas and grocery expenses, according to the latest government data. More than two-thirds of the increase in consumer prices last month stemmed from food and energy, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Yet “core” consumer prices rose a lesser 0.2%. The core data strips out volatile food and energy costs that can make overall inflationary pressure in the economy to seem higher or lower than it actually is. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast the consumer price...

Get ready to pay double or even triple the price for fresh produce in the coming weeks after the worst freeze in 60 years damaged and wiped out entire crops in northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S. The problem started less than a week ago, when our nation was focusing on the Superbowl and sheets of ice falling from Texas Stadium. Farmers throughout northern Mexico and the Southwest experienced unprecedented crop losses. Now devastation that seemed so far away, is hitting us in the pocketbooks. "We've had to double and triple some prices and consumers come in and it's quite...

US Politicians Duped By The Brotherhood In the United States, one individual maintained a pretense of "moderation" which would later embarrass the left and the right. According to the testimony of Dr. Michael Waller to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Abdurahman Alamoudi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. A man born in Eritrea in 1951, he arrived in the US in 1979 and became a naturalized US citizen on May 23, 1996. From 1985 onwards he became involved in many Muslim groups. In 1990 he founded the Washington DC-based American Muslim Council (AMC), which Waller states "has...

After providing a more thorough analysis of the precious metals market Monday morning, given silver's activity yesterday, we felt compelled to continue the discussion. The silver market has been extremely volatile as of late, and the day's action has proven no different. After peaking at 27.95 overnight, silver hovered around unchanged before dropping precipitously for no reason, ending Monday down almost 2%.(Click charts to expand)The large intraday price drop is certainly cause for concern among investors, but digging into Monday's volume action may be a bit more revealing.Both silver futures and the SLV displayed average to light volume. The...

Fuel price rises by 0.76p per litreSat Jan 1, 2011 3:26PM On 1 January, the British government announced an increase in the price of petrol, a condition which led to another 0.76p rise in the price of both petrol and diesel. This is while VAT will rise by 2.5 percent on 4 January. It is also said that another £1,200 is to be added to annual fuel bills due to the rises announced on 1 January, according to the state-run BBC. The AA suggested that these increases would push the cost of a litre of both diesel and petrol up...

It may be the happiest season of the year,but higher oil prices that have translated into gas prices topping $3 a gallon have many motorists frowning.

Gold recently logged a 25% gain so far this year, and many people think it's time to bank gains and head for the benches. While I'm never opposed to grabbing nice gains, I think there are much NICER gains to come in gold. I can give you a list of forces I've told you about before — lack of new supply, new and surging demand from gold ETFs, the world's central banks switching from net sellers to net buyers, and more.But today, I want to tell you about six more forces that will keep the heat on gold at...