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TONIGHT'S ANDREA SHEA KING SHOW IS ALL BUSINESS The Andrea Shea King Show--9 PM ET http://www.blogtalkradio.com/askshow/2011/05/28/the-andrea-shea-king-show Ann Barnhardt spent last weekend at the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute in Las Vegas Joining us again will be Ann Barnhardt of Barnhardt Capital Management, Inc.Tonight we'll be talking to Ann about economics, specifically the commodities markets. Ann posted this morning about an alarming trend in the cattle/corn markets, and since all commodities translate to the cost of everything we buy, we thought we should have Ann stop by and explain just what's going on in the trading pits of Chicago. As Ann...

Markets are ill-prepared for a high-speed trading disruption that might simultaneously affect stocks, commodities, bonds and other assets. Last year's Flash Crash was a hair-raising experience for stock and commodities investors—comparable to the sudden descent of a large airliner from 38,000 feet to tree-top level, followed by an equally sudden and steep ascent. A trillion dollars in equity vanished in minutes, as stock futures, exchange-traded funds and equities plunged. I've recently heard from a computer-trading expert warning of the very real possibility of a more widespread and catastrophic "splash crash," a dislocation by high-speed trading computers that could simultaneously splash...

If you haven't been paying attention, Goldman Sachs shares have been in freefall. They lost over 3% Friday amid a slew of headlines about imminent subpoenas related to Blankfein, the firm's activities during the crisis, and just generally for being the much-reviled Goldman Sachs. The stock has lost over 10% in just the last week since Matt Taibbi wrote his latest takedown, costing the firm over $8 billion in market cap. From its 52-week high made earlier this year, the stock is off 24%. At $134, it's only barely above its $129 book value, meaning that either A) people don't...

The table displayed immediately below is likely to surprise even our most-jaded readers. It shows the astronomical increase in cash prices for well-known food commodities over the past 12 months. With inarguable exactness, it contradicts the nearly constant prattle in the mainstream press that inflation is under control, or that it is peaking and likely to come under control sometime soon. Some items on the list have doubled -- even tripled -- in price over the past year. Others have risen at mere double-digit rates.

Why Corn Is Suddenly The Hottest Commodity In The World Joe Weisenthal May 18, 2011, 4:30 PM In case you don't watch such things, the price of corn has been soaring of late. It's the hottest commodity around. Here's a chart: What's behind the gigantic move? Basically, weather and the fact that corn plantings for the year are WAY slower than estimated, and way behind historical pace. As this chart from Morgan Stanley shows, the amount of available stocks to use has hit a record low. And here you can see how behind corn planting is this year. Image: Morgan...

THE GOOD OLD DAYS ARE BACK, EVERYTHING GOES UP: Here's What You Need To Know Joe Weisenthal May 18, 2011, 4:00 PM The wheel of fortune spins again! But first, the scoreboard Dow: +79.29 NASDAQ: +31.76 S&P 500: +11.46 And now, the top stories: * It was actually pretty quiet for most of the globe for most of the day. The rally really started yesterday afternoon, when the Dow cut a 150 point loss in half. That continued through the evening (helped in part by good earnings from Dell, perhaps) with solid gains overseas. * By the time early morning...

LAS VEGAS (MarketWatch) -- Silver has been manipulated down in recent weeks, Eric Sprott, head of Sprott Asset Management, said Thursday. Silver slumped by $6 in 13 minutes late on a recent Sunday, when the market was thinnest, Sprott noted during the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference in Las Vegas. That was followed by four margin increases, Sprott added. Sprott recently launched a silver fund and has been a gold bull for at least a decade. Despite the recent drop in precious metals, Sprott reckons they are a good way to protect against trouble in the banking system and a potential devaluation...

LONDON—Precious metals are under pressure in Europe amid another broad commodities sell-off as concerns over further Chinese monetary tightening, a weaker euro and further commodity-margin increases weighed on prices. Thursday morning, spot gold traded at $1,484.08 a troy ounce, compared with bids of $1500.90 late in New York on Wednesday, while spot silver was at $33.115 per ounce, from $35.07.

Is there anyone here who supplies commodities? If so, just tell me what you have to offer and how much you can supply a month.

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures declined in electronic trading on Tuesday as a hike to margin requirements dampened sentiment toward the commodity. Crude for June delivery dropped 94 cents to $101.61 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The losses came after CME Group said it will raise margin requirements for a wide variety of crude-oil contracts. LONDON (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures declined in electronic trading on Tuesday as a hike to margin requirements dampened sentiment toward the commodity. Crude for June delivery dropped 94 cents to $101.61 a barrel in electronic trading on the New...

The Collapse Of The American Standard Of Living, Inflationary Depression Economics / Great Depression II May 08, 2011 - 03:20 AM By: Bob Chapman As the economy stumbles the American standard of living recedes. 44 million people are using food stamps and in one year that figure will be 60 million. Washington and Wall Street say, what me worry? Of course not they are the masters of the universe. We are 24 months into an inflationary depression and it still goes undiscovered. Who cares that the issuance of food stamps is up 80%, as long as the bonuses on Wall...

Jim Rogers didn't buy or sell anything during last week's commodity sell-off. He says he isn't good at market timing. What he does believe is that we're in the middle of a commodity bull market where everything will go up for years. Rogers tells the Economic Times: "5% correction in gold is meaningless. These things correct 10-15-20-30% every year. Nothing unusual about that. That is the way the markets work. I do not see anything unusual. I expect there would be more correction during the course of the bull market. I hope that the bull market goes up, consolidates, goes...

Predictions Of The Gold-Silver Ratio By Addison Wiggin 05/06/11 Baltimore, Maryland – Today(Friday), traders are celebrating that the U.S. economy added the most jobs in nearly a year. Or so they’re led to believe. Let’s examine the payroll data first: The economy supposedly added 244,000 jobs in April. The private sector added 268,000 jobs; government cut 24,000 However, 175,000 of those new jobs can be attributed to the BLS’ “birth/death model” – in which the economists guess at the numbers based on the launch of new businesses and the demise of old ones. In other words, nearly three-quarters of these...

JIM ROGERS ON COMMODITIES: The Bull Market Will Go Up, Consolidate, Go Up, Consolidate, Go Up And Consolidate For Years Gus Lubin May 7, 2011, 8:56 AM Jim Rogers didn't buy or sell anything during last week's commodity sell-off. He says he isn't good at market timing. What he does believe is that we're in the middle of a commodity bull market where everything will go up for years. Rogers tells the Economic Times: "5% correction in gold is meaningless. These things correct 10-15-20-30% every year. Nothing unusual about that. That is the way the markets work. I do not...

A cascading crash in commodities beginning with silver a week ago spread to oil and copper as exchanges took steps to rein in speculation, economic data pointed to a global selloff and big name investors took profits.

Some Jawdropping Facts About Chinese Commodity Consumption Gus Lubin May 5, 2011, 6:37 AM The preeminent driver of the commodity bull market is China. Michael Pettis presents some incredible numbers in his latest newsletter. While China's GDP is only 9.4% of the global economy, and its population is 19% of the world population... Cement demand represents 53.2% of global demand * Iron ore = 47.7% * Coal = 46.9% * Pigs = 46.4% * Steel = 45.4% * Lead = 44.6% * Zinc = 41.3% * Aluminum = 40.6% * Copper = 38.9% * Eggs = 37.2% * Nickel =...

Soros Has Begun Dumping Gold And Silver, While John Paulson Says Gold Will Go To $4,000 Joe Weisenthal May 4, 2011, 5:07 AM John Paulson told a UK news show on Tuesday that gold is going to $4,000, reports WSJ. Despite some recent gyrations in the precious metals arena -- more so on the silver side of things -- the prominent investor remains super-bullish for the next 3-5 years. On the other hand, according to reporters Gregory Zuckman and Caroline Cui, Soros has been a seller of gold and silver lately. What what's interesting is why: Soros no longer sees...

Ben Bernanke’s Lone Positive Legacy: A Return To The Gold Standard Bill Frezza - Forbes.comMay 3, 2011 I’ll make two predictions with utter confidence. The first is that one day Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be ridden out of town on a rail, joining Arthur Burns in that special circle of hell reserved for monetary debauchers. The second is that in the aftermath of our pending inflationary disaster we will see the gold standard return. The Federal Reserve long ago lost control of inflation, now ravaging several sectors of our economy. This is obvious to every economist not a...

3 Weird Things About Tonight's Huge Silver Selloff Joe Weisenthal May 1, 2011, 7:49 PM After last week's manic action, silver is falling out of the bed to start the new week, declining by over 9%. A few quick thoughts on the weirdness: * Nobody really knows what's up. Querying around, nobody has any solid sense (yet) of what's driving the decline. There was no particular news that would seem to be feeding into this. Update: There's a little bit of chatter about the weak Chinese PMI report from this morning, but it doesn't seem that convincing or robust of...

An EXCELLENT piece on the Federal Reserve, the movie It's A Wonderful Life, and why Ben Bernanke is like Mr. Potter. Will Obama & The Bernank be able to turn America into Pottersville?: "Glenn Beck Show (April 21st, 2011): You Are Being Robbed" Short version - 7 minutes 40 seconds:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ekDYn9P-M "April 21st, 2011" Full version - 39 minutes 27 seconds:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J13EhFN0lDw