20MillionDinar

When markets are down it is because people are scared of what is to come... So they find "safety' in the US Dollar, the US Dollar is actually up, almost to 2 year highs! You will start to see some movements up again in the stock market, gold, and silver, but it won't be for long. Next month Greece has elections and that will determine whether or not we see another HUGE downfall in stock markets and precious metals. People are worried about the "contagion" affect, so they run for "safety." This just means that you can start looking for good deals whether it be in stocks, commodities, precious metals, etc... I think the dust will settle in another 4-6 months or so...that should be a good time to buy gold and silver. Just remember, gold / silver are not really income producing investments, they are a way to hedge yourself against inflation. If you don't have any income producing investments then Gold is not really the way to go. Because after all is said and done, when you cash out your gold and silver, it will end up buying the same amount of goods as it buys today. Keep in mind, this is not "unusual" and I doubt anything is "going on behind the scenes" as some people like to promote all over this forum. This is how markets work, there are ups and downs...

You are right about the US Dollar being one of the most valuable currencies on the planet. People fail to realize that when the $h!t hits the fan, people run to the US Dollar. People even dump Gold when things get bad, the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen are the 2 safe haven currencies. Real quick, I wanted to ask you about your contact who works / worked at the Federal Reserve. I find it very very interesting that we are in fact holding IQD's! I have always speculated that we were, but could never find any proof. This has got me thinking... How much Dinar is the Federal Reserve holding? I personally don't think that they would be holding them in "hopes" of an overnight RV... LOL However, I do see the business logic behind a currency swap. They probably see the potential in gradual growth which would obviously add value to their currency (assuming they stop printing more and more dinar). This is good incentive for other governments to help Iraq as much as possible in the form of loans and contracts. The quicker Iraq grows, the quicker value could be added to their currency... Just wondering if you know exactly what types of deals are being made? **If other Central Banks are holding IQD's then possibly one day the IQD COULD become a reserve currency. This would be the only logical way for the Dinar to have any real significant value considering how much Dinar is in circulation! Anyways, I wanted to thank you for bringing this information over to DV. It is definitely excellent news! Thanks Amos!

I was going to say the exact same thing word for word: I wouldn't touch Facebook with a 10 foot pole... LOL When you follow the average investors, all you can expect is average returns...

Hey TM! Thanks for the post. I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents. You're right when you say that Traders' main goals are to basically create movements and go with the trend. The Greece situation played a HUGE roll in everything that has happened recently. However, the markets were also overbought: the DOW, Gold, most of the commodity currencies (AUD, NZD, CAD), and they were all in need of a correction. This is good for markets in the long term. Gold went up for over 8 straight years! LOL, that is a bull run if I have ever seen one. So with the markets being overbought coupled with the Greece situation, these past 2 weeks were only normal. Remember when I posted the Weekly gold chart a few weeks back? I saw this down trend coming due to the technicals. The dollar strengthened to almost a 2 year high during the past 2 weeks as well, which was only normal.! http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/DXY:IND BUT, today, we just witnessed the start of a reversal for Gold, as well as most other currency pairs because they can't go down forever. I expect this reversal / correction to last another few weeks, or at least until the Greek elections in another month. Then, we will more than likely see more downside for Gold and the Euro. Gold touched $1,526 and then bounced off, I expect us to go back up to around $1,600 or so. When greece has their elections, I expect a free fall for the Euro down to about 1.20 or so, which will also take gold down to newer lows! I probably won't buy any gold / silver until Gold hits around $1,200 - $1,300. Hopefully this happens by the end of summer, then it will be time to go PM shopping! Isn't it strange how Gold drops when major problems occur? You would think it would be the opposite... But, the US Dollar IS the safe haven currency and people flock to it when problems arise. The Yen is also a safe haven currency during uncertain times. My Projections: We will see a minor correction towards the upside during the next few weeks, then when Greece has their elections, the EURO will drop to low 1.20's or so, and so will Gold along with other major currency pairs. This down trend will last a few months, creating strength for the US dollar. Then, towards the end of summer (September - November) we will see commodities start to come back up. Positives: Cheaper Gas, Cheaper Stocks for the long term investors, and Cheaper Gold for long term investors

This is my exact reasoning behind why I will vote for Romney. Ron Paul has some good theories, however, he will not win. Not because I said he won't, it is simply because what he stands for is too far out there for most of the citizens. They have no idea what is going on anyways, so he will not have the majority of votes. Like you said, it is basically giving a vote to Obama, and I WILL NOT have that! Romney has my vote.

Transcript: 8 Shocking New Forecasts for 2012 and Beyond Nearly two years ago, we downgraded JPMorgan Chase to a Weiss Ratings of D, implying grossly excessive risk taking by the bank. And virtually every chance since, we repeatedly publishing this warning about JPMorgan in Money and Markets, Safe Money Report, and multiple press releases. Then, last week, we jumped online with a video that took our warnings to the next level — with this forecast: "Some of the world's largest banks will suffer massive losses and huge new bailouts will be needed." Sure enough, just 48 hours later, JPMorgan Chase shocked the investment world with the announcement of massive losses. But it's only the first of many — from JPMorgan and other banks around the world, raising urgent questions for investors. What are the consequences? Will the world's most powerful central banks crank up the printing presses? How much? And when? For the answers, simply read the transcript of our recent online briefing below — the focus of today's issue. 8 Shocking New Forecasts for 2012 and Beyond With Martin D. Weiss, Larry Edelson and Mike Larson Martin Weiss: Thank you for joining me today in this emergency briefing, 8 Shocking New Forecasts for 2012 and Beyond. And thank you for your overwhelming response to my emails asking you to share your own forecasts, fears, and financial desires with me on my blog. The number one question you've asked is a compelling one: "Is the great financial crisis that has plagued America and the world for four long years finally over? Or is this just the calm before the next phase of the storm? "In other words, should we go back to Wall Street investing as usual, or is this the time to buy gold, silver and other alternative investments?" Today, it's our turn to give you our forecasts, and my guests today are two men whose past predictions — on bull markets and bear markets, booms and busts — have proven to be astonishingly accurate over many years. Larry Edelson, editor of the Real Wealth Report, is our expert on precious metals and other tangible assets. He is one of the very few in the world who nailed the bottom of the gold market at $255 per ounce in 1999 and helped his Real Wealth subscribers profit from the entire bull market, to as high as $1,921 per ounce, so far! Mike Larson, editor of Safe Money Report, is our expert on conservative investments, interest rates and real estate. He is one of the very few who predicted the housing bust, the debt crisis and the Great Recession well ahead of time, and who also saw the turn as the housing market hit a bottom. Together, they make a great team, especially now that their forecasts have come to fruition, especially now that we move into what we believe is a brand new phase with enormous consequences for investors. Larry, you're famous as a gold bull, but in recent months, you have been probably one of the only gold bulls in the world who warned of a major correction in gold. What's up? Larry Edelson: Well, yes that is correct, and initially many of my subscribers were disappointed that I didn't give them the green-light "GO" signal to buy gold right away. I told them to wait, and now, they're very glad they did. Martin: So exactly when and where do you see gold moving? And what about silver? Larry: I don't want to jump ahead. Mike and I have eight new forecasts that we are going to issue today, and I think you have to understand the first seven before I can give you the eighth, which is on silver and gold. But, I can assure you, my gold forecast will not disappoint you. Forecast #1 Country after country will abandon their so-called "austerity" programs. Politicians all over the world are going to jump back to their old habits. They're going to borrow and spend, borrow and spend. Look at what's already happening in the U.S. You saw all the hullabaloo last year in Washington about the budget. You saw all the big fighting in congress and all of the politicking, and what did they do to cut the deficit? Martin: Diddlysquat! Larry: And guess what! The red ink is already gushing again. We have a fiscal deficit this year of $1.3 trillion and counting. Also look at what's happening right now in Europe. Last year, after months of agonizing debate, the Europeans finally cobbled together an agreement to cut deficits. They called it their new "fiscal pact." But in just the last couple of weeks, the entire agreement has started to collapse. Sarkozi in France, a major linchpin of the fiscal pact, has fallen from grace, and the social democrats are taking over France. The government of the Netherlands, another major supporter of the budget pact, has collapsed. The elections in Greece could be another game changer. We have seen new protests and riots on the streets in cities all across Europe, and they are just beginning to kick up the firestorm, just beginning to spread. So suddenly and without warning, the pressure is building for more spending, bigger deficits, and a bigger pile-up of ... guess what! Debt! Martin: Larry, stop there for a moment, because in some countries, they are already committed to cutting deficits. So how does that pan out? Mike Larson: Martin, let me take that question, if you don't mind. We already know the answer, and it's our forecast #2. Forecast #2 If governments cut spending, the debts will pile up even faster! Never forget, government spending is a major booster for these European economies. So in any country that pursues deficit reduction despite all the political backlash, here's what happens: The more they cut, the more their economies shrink! And the more their economies shrink, the less they collect in tax revenues, which, in turn creates ... Even bigger deficits and forces them to cut even more. It is a fatal vicious cycle. We first saw this cycle play out in Greece over a year ago, and now we're seeing it hit other countries as well. We have Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic already in recession. Plus, Spain and the U.K. officially sank back into recession just in the last couple weeks. You have taxes and other government revenues plunging and their deficits growing by leaps and bounds, which means ... Debt levels soar! Martin: And this is why we see such a violent political backlash. Mike: That's an understatement! For over three years we have said that Greece was the canary in the coal mine, and that's exactly what has happened. The Athens government radically slashed salaries and pensions. It cut entitlements. It raised taxes. And it did all of that to supposedly cut its deficit. But guess what! Instead of shrinking, its deficit ballooned from 139% of GDP to 159% of GDP. And its total sovereign debt load is now 17 billion euros higher than it was in 2009. Martin: But it's not just Greece. Mike: No. Ireland's debt is up by 76 billion euros. Italy's debt has surged by 175 billion euros. Spain's debt is now larger to the tune of 275 billion euros, and ... France's debt has jumped by 353 billion euros. Martin: What about the U.K.? Mike: They cut teachers' salaries. They wiped out subsidies for student tuition costs. And yet despite all that, the national debt has still increased by the equivalent of 519 billion euros. Martin: So what's the bottom line? Mike: We are seeing some countries already abandoning austerity ... We see some countries on the verge of abandoning austerity ... And we see some that may try to stick it out through thick and thin. But no matter what they do, government debts are going to continue to soar globally! Martin: And those are just the economic pressures for money printing. Mike: Right. But there are MORE pressures, as you can see with my next forecast ... Forecast #3 Some of the world's largest banks will suffer massive losses and huge new bailouts will be needed. Martin: More losses from what? From real estate? Mike: Sure, there are more real estate losses in the pipeline, but that's almost old news to me. What I'm mostly talking about is an entirely different disaster. And it's potentially much bigger than the banking disasters we saw in the U.S. three years ago. Think about it this way: All U.S. banks combined have roughly $14 trillion in assets, which is obviously a big number. But the banks of the European Union have almost $45 trillion, or three times more. And they're loaded down with bad government bonds that are sinking because of those budget and debt disasters that I just told you about. Martin: In the last debt crisis they got killed in real estate. So they ran to the safety of government bonds. Mike: Safety? Right. But now they're getting killed in those supposedly "safe" government bonds, and there's just no other place to run to. Martin: Our Weiss Ratings division is tracking this bank by bank. And we're soon going to launch our new global bank ratings, which you work with also. Can you give us a sneak preview of those ratings right now? Mike: Sure. Deutsche Bank, the largest bank in the world, has assets of more than $3 trillion, and it gets a Weiss rating of D; which means weak. Plus look at some other huge banks with D- and E+ ratings: BankWeiss Rating Crédit Agricole (France)D- Société Générale (France)D- Barclays (UK)D- Banco Santander (Spain)D- Royal Bank of Scotland (UK)D- Lloyds Bank E UniCredit SpA (Italy) E+ Please understand our ratings scale: A = excellent, B = good, C = fair, D = weak, E = very weak. Minus sign = lower third of a grade range; plus sign = upper third. Also please note that BNP Paribas has been upgraded to C-But the most shocking news of all is this: These weak and very weak banks have assets totaling $15.7 trillion. That's more than the total assets of ALL U.S. banks combined. Martin: More than all the U.S. banks combined — just in those few weak banks in Europe! What are the consequences for investors? Mike: You could have a massive plunge in bank stocks — for starters. But more to the point, it means massive new demands for bank bailouts and still moremoney printing. Martin: Many of our readers are asking this question ... "With this global disaster rushing towards us like a runaway freight train, why aren't global stock markets crashing?" Larry, you predicted this stock market rally scenario just as it's unfolding. So give us your answer to that question. Larry: It is a side effect of the money printing. It's because of wave after wave of money printing by the world's most powerful central banks. Martin: Explain how we actually track that. Larry: For every dollar the central banks print and pump into the economy, they add a dollar to their balance sheets. So you can directly measure the money printing simply by looking at the bloated size of their balance sheet assets. Martin: What would you say is approximately the normal level for that? Larry: I would say that each central bank's assets should be relatively small in proportion to each country's economy — at about 5% or 6% of GDP. But the U.S. Federal Reserve has nearly tripled the size of its balance sheet from about 6% of GDP to almost 17% of GDP. And it has engineered that dramatic, unprecedented change of money printing in just three years. The Bank of England has followed in lock step with the U.S. The European Central Bank was the most conservative. But recently, it just exploded its balance sheet to close to 30% of GDP. And the Bank of Japan, just announced a new round of money printing, it's also run up the size of its balance sheet assets to about 30% of its economy. Would you care to guess the total size of the balance sheets of these four central banks? It's more than $10 trillion! That's $10 trillion of paper money, fiat paper money, that's been pumped into the global economy, with nearly half of that hitting in just the last three years. Martin: What I find most shocking about this is not just how utterly massive and unprecedented it is, but also how passive and disinterested most people are. Look. My family and I have been tracking speculative bubbles and busts for 80 years. We have personally witnessed about a dozen recessions, two depressions, four or five stock market crashes, a couple of real estate busts, three bank failure epidemics, and two of the most vicious inflationary spirals of all time. But we have never seen anything like this. Larry: Martin, if you think this is extreme, then brace yourself. Because these are just the first waves ushering in a massive tsunami of money printing, which leads me to ... Forecast #4 The European Central Bank (ECB) will kick its money printing presses into overdrive and very, very soon. That's the only way they know how to react to the riots on the streets, how to finance their budgets, how to rescue their banks and save their own necks politically. And if you think Europe is too far away from your hometown to matter very much — too far away from Main Street USA — think again. What they do in Europe will have a direct impact on everything you buy, at the gas pump, in the supermarket, and most immediately, in the financial markets. In just the last four months, the European Central Bank has embarked on two major, unprecedented waves of money printing. They've just printed 802 billion euros, more than one trillion U.S. dollars, to try to convince investors that the sovereign debt crisis is over! But it is abundantly obvious that the debt crisis is not over. So they have no choice but to launch yet another round ... a third round ... a fourth round ... and a fifth round. They're going to keep kicking the can down the road. Martin: And they know that. Larry: Yes they know that they're confiscating wealth, causing inflation. But they're buying time in the hope that, somehow, everything will work out fine. Martin: What makes you so sure they're going to do this right now? Larry: Because of everything they're already doing! You don't need to be a Ph.D. or a mind reader to understand these guys. It's what they're doing and it's what they're going to continue doing. They're not blind. They see all the disastrous numbers we just told you about. They know all about the trouble the economy's in, and that their banking systems are in. They see no other way out: They must print money. Mike: But they're not alone. Larry: Exactly, which leads me to Forecast #5 The U.K. and the U.S. will also join the money printing rampage. Martin: Okay why don't you start with the U.K.? Larry: The British economy never really healed from the debt crisis. It's got deep, gaping financial wounds. And now, here we go again: Britain has just slipped back into a double-dip recession, the first since Margaret Thatcher. What will their response be? More money printing. Or go back to the U.S. Despite everything the Fed may say, in the real world, the U.S. Federal Reserve will also unleash a veritable tidal wave of newly-created greenbacks. Just look at how much the Fed has already printed since August of 2008: $1.963 trillion. It's amazing. That's in just 3-1/2 years. Martin: Most people don't have a clear vision of what it means for them personally. Larry: Let me put it into a very clear context for you: Remember the 1970s, when inflation hit double digits? Well, that happened after the Fed printed only $83 billion, which is about $332 billion in today's money. As a result of that money-printing binge, the buying power of the U.S. dollar plunged. Everyone's cost of living went through the roof. Overall inflation surged to nearly 15%. The price of eggs jumped 145%. Corn soared 248%. Wheat skyrocketed 340%. And gasoline more than quintupled in price, exploding 434% higher. Martin: But this time, we don't see as much consumer price inflation in the economy. Larry: I do! Look, it takes about 18 months for this kind of money printing to work through the economy. And the consumer inflation doesn't explode immediately. It starts in specific markets that become the targets of speculation. Then it spreads and builds up over time, working its way through the entire economy. The key is that this time, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has printed nearly six times more money than his predecessors printed in the 1970s, and that's even after adjusting for inflation. And now it's happening again. We all know our cost of living is going up. Just since Bernanke began his money printing binge, gasoline prices have jumped 200%. Eggs are up 203%. Wheat is up 236%. Corn is up 288%. But this is just the beginning because it's all going to work its way through the economy! Plus, never forget: Bernanke's boss in the White House is up for re-election. He's going to try everything in his power to paper over what's still the worst long-term unemployment in recorded history in the U.S. Martin: So let's add up the all these numbers. Mike: I've been doing just that as you were speaking. The U.K. has printed the equivalent of $520 billion. In Europe, they've printed an equivalent of $1 trillion so far. And here in the U.S., the Fed has printed nearly $2 trillion. In addition, Japan has already printed the equivalent of nearly $322 billion. Plus, other central banks have done the same. It adds up to a grand total of at least four trillion dollars-worth of newly created money. Larry: And it's all sloshing around in the global economy, with more money printing to come. It's colossal. It's massive. It's unprecedented. And it's going to be a tsunami of unbacked, paper money flooding the entire world. And now, you've got a new recession hitting, starting first in Europe and spreading out from there ... Martin: Which means ... Larry: Which means the money printing we've seen so far could pale in comparison to what's coming. In fact, top global economists are already starting to demand that governments not only continue, but actually accelerate their money printing. You've got Adam S. Posen, an American economist on the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, who says, "I am here to warn policy makers in the United States, Europe, everywhere that we cannot take our foot off the pedal. The outlook is grim — the right thing to do now is engage in more monetary stimulus!" He says it clearly, we can't take our foot off the pedal. You've got another, David Miles at the Bank of England, who says: "The weakness of demand, given the amount of spare capacity in the economy, still made a strategy of having monetary policy even more expansionary the right one." There you go again — pedal to the metal! These are two top economists with the Bank of England. You have riots on the streets and global investors in flight — all demanding the same thing. At all four of the world's most powerful central banks, the Fed, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan, the momentum is clearly building for more money printing. All four are now terrified of recession, bank failures, sovereign debt defaults ... and their jobs of course. All four will do everything in their power to avoid these disasters. Here's my next forecast ... Forecast #6 Before this great financial crisis comes to its final tipping point a few years from now, you'll probably see up to $20 TRILLION in global money printing. The worse things get, the more money they're going to print. And when you have a massive tsunami of paper money, there's only one thing that can happen: The value of that money, it's buying power, plunges. Through the basement! Forecast #7 This unprecedented global orgy of money printing is about to light the fuse on an unprecedented period of global hyperinflation. Even if they don't print one more dollar of paper money, you're going to see some pretty wild inflation coming up! Just the money they've already printed is going to create that massive inflation. You have to understand the mechanisms at work here and how they view things. So, I want to read to you one of my favorite quotes from economist John Maynard Keynes, who actually was the granddaddy of money printing and advocated it very strongly. He wrote this particular note about Lenin in Russia: "Lenin declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. "Lenin was right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose." What Keynes and Lenin were saying is that the way to destroy sovereign debt is to devalue the currency and inflate those debts away — rather than outright default. The problem is that the average citizen doesn't realize their wealth is being confiscated through inflation — like a ghost that comes into their home at night and steals their money. Mike: Two Harvard economists have written essentially the same thing — that inflation is a way for governments in debt to suppress and seize the financial wealth of the average person. Martin: This whole situation feels eerily familiar to me personally. I was raised in Brazil. And when the Brazilian government did what these countries are doing today, inflation surged to 100% in the mid-1980s. We thought that was bad, but then it hit more than 1,000% per year in the late ‘80s. And it didn't peak until it hit a record of 5,000% in 1993. Can you imagine that? At 5,000%, prices were jumping 50 times over the course of 12 months. Larry: The classic case of hyperinflation was the German Weimar Republic after World War I, when the German government printed trillions of marks, and it took three trillion German marks to buy one U.S. dollar. A German-born oil consultant now living in New York tells the story about his father who was a lawyer in Germany during that period. In 1903, his father took out an insurance policy, and every month for 20 years, he paid the premiums faithfully. Then, when the policy came due in 1923, he cashed it in. Guess what he was able to buy with that policy! A single loaf of bread! At Freiburg University in Germany, a student ordered a cup of coffee at a cafe. The price on the menu was 5,000 German marks. Then he ordered a second cup. The bill came. But by that time, the price had gone up to 14,000 marks. Mike: He should have ordered both cups at the same time. Larry: That's why, with inflation, you get a hoarding effect. The more prices go up, the more people buy. Mike: But I don't think the Brazilian and German inflations are directly comparable to what we're seeing here today. There are deflationary forces that could interrupt the inflationary spiral. Larry: Of course. That's why I warned about a major correction in natural resources over the past nine months or so. But consider this: The inflation that Brazil and Germany experienced were the result of money printing by just ONE central bank at a time! Now, we're seeing coordinated money printing by at least four major central banks at thesame time. So in those episodes, the inflation was mostly local. This time, it's certain to be global. Martin: How does all this impact our viewers in their pockets? Larry: It means that every dollar, every euro, every pound you earn, save and invest is going to be worth a lot less. That's already happening. That's why food and energy prices are already rising so quickly. But this is only the beginning. There's at least four trillion dollars' of new paper money sloshing around the global economy, just beginning to impact select markets and investments. And there's trillions more that are on the way. This money is clearly going to drive the price of gold, silver, oil, and almost all natural resources higher like never before in our lifetime. It's also going to create profit opportunities for savvy investors and like never before in our lifetime. Martin: Specifically, how much higher will gold and silver go? Larry: That's my last forecast. Forecast #8 The gold correction I've been forecasting will soon end, and gold will ultimately soar to at least $5,000 per ounce! Martin: What about silver? Larry: On January 21, 1980, the peak price of silver was about $49, or approximately $150 in today's dollars. So just to match its previous peak, silver would have to rise to that level, $150 per ounce. The $5,000 gold and $150 silver assume no further money printing, no further decline in the dollar, and no major global catastrophe, financial or otherwise. Add those factors into the mix, and all bets are off. And don't forget one of the most important commodities in the world — oil. Just the decline in the dollar alone could drive it to $200 per barrel! And if we see global supply disruptions, which I'm sure we will, it could spike even higher. So those are my baseline predictions for gold, silver and oil — my minimal expectations. And they imply the potential for gains of at least double or triple your money. Martin: Is that with or without leverage? Larry: Without any leverage whatsoever. Let me stress: The days of this natural resource correction are numbered, and we're now closing in on a huge buying opportunity in tangible assets and natural resources. Martin: Thank you, Larry, Mike. Thank you for your time and insights today. This has been an exceptionally illuminating session.

Due to the fact that the only source of the US governments income is TAXES, they better start taking care of the ones who create their taxpayers aka BUSINESSES! Thanks WW for posting this. I think this is BIG news as Procter & Gamble is the 4th largest corporation in the world! I wonder who's going to leave the USA next...

WW, You nailed it with this one sentence: If the US wants to keep wealthy individuals and successful companies here it better start working towards creating a more business friendly environment (ie. lower taxes and much, much less regulation). It is only common sense. Businesses are in the business of making money. Countries with more business friendly environments and better tax rates will benefit the most. Just wish the politicians understood a little more about business. They only know how to spend, on top of that, they spend money that isn't even theirs! I wish I could do that... If I am running an investment business online I could choose to do business in the USA or let's say Panama. USA - 35% - 50% Taxes Panama - 0% Taxes So if I make $100k in one year in the USA I only get to keep about $50k or so If I make $100k in one year in Panama, I keep $100k The US government gets a pretty sweet deal. Every person working in the USA pays them 35% or so of all of their earnings. This is why Businesses should be taken care of, they create jobs, which create employees, which end up being "partners" with the government via taxes. If the government doesn't take care of the businesses, then the businesses will leave, which will end up taking away employees that pay the government taxes! It really isn't that difficult to understand, not sure why all of these politicians can't understand the concept.

No problem Cris. Glad I could help.

I agree. Natural Gas is definitely the World's next great fuel revolution. However, timing is everything. I'm going to wait this out a little longer. I didn't really understand much about "Reserve Write-Downs" until yesterday and it has given me a new perspective. I definitely have more homework to do! Also, I didn't really think about Natural Gas for heat in the winters, probably because nobody uses it out here in Hawaii! LOL

If an individual thinks the price of a stock will go down, he/she essentially thinks that the current price of the stock is a good price at which to sell. That person would ask to borrow a certain number of shares from a bank to sell immediately. Once the stock is sold, the borrower still has the obligation to return the shares to the bank. That means the borrower will have to eventually buy the stock back on the stock market at a later date – also known as “buying to cover” or “covering a short position”. However, in order to make a profit, the borrower wants to buy the stock at a lower price than the price at which they originally sold the stock. The concept of shorting stock remains to buy low and sell high, however, shorting a stock requires you to perform these two steps in reverse order than when making “long” investments. A sample short transaction would look like the following: An investor would borrow 100 shares of a stock currently trading at $10 per share, and immediately sell those shares for a total of $1000. The proceeds from the sale would be frozen in that investor’s account to cover the total needed to eventually buy the stock back. Several days later, the stock falls to $8 per share, and the investor covers his short position by buying back 100 shares. He buys those shares for $800 and returns them to the lender. The investor earns the difference between the original sale of $1000 and the subsequent cover of $800, for a total profit of $200. The bank’s incentive to loan someone stock is that they can charge an interest fee on the value of the sale proceeds generated on the stock they lend. Plus, they know that they’ll get the stock back in the future, a fact which limits their own portfolio risk: Banks know that they will be better off lending than not, because regardless of the direction of the stock’s price movement, they will have the same amount of stock, but will also have the added interest income associated with lending the stock. http://www.marketocr...bHgJmKiMaKiAbDm This is how you would do it with E*Trade: Sell-short and buy-to-cover orders Just as buying a stock allows you to profit when the price rises, selling short makes it possible to profit from a stock price's decline. The traditional way to make money on a stock is to "buy low and sell high." When you sell short, you hope to do just the opposite. First, you sell shares you don't own (which you borrow from your broker), and then you buy them back later (hopefully at a lower price). There are certain risks involved in selling short, and it's important to know what they are before placing this kind of trade. You must have a margin account in order to place short sales. When you use margin, you are borrowing money from E*TRADE Securities based on the value of the cash and securities you currently have in your account. You are charged interest on the amount you borrow, and the holdings in your account serve as collateral to secure the loan. You can hold the shares short as long as you meet the margin requirements for the position, and as long as E*TRADE Securities is able to continue to borrow the shares. To open a short position, you enter a sell-short order; to close it, you enter a buy-to-cover (not a regular buy order). The buy-to-cover order effectively returns the borrowed shares to your broker. For step-by-step instructions on how to place a trade, see the Help topic Place a stock order . Before you can sell a stock short, your broker must first have access to the shares you want to borrow.

Which Stocks Will Lose the Most in the Coming Energy Bloodbath By Marin Katusa, Chief Energy Investment Strategist, Casey Research Friday, May 11, 2012 Yesterday, I made a prediction that should scare a lot of investors. I predicted a massive loss in market valuation for some of North America's largest energy producers. You might own some of these names yourself. I'll share some specific names with you in a moment… But before we cover them, it's important you know the dynamics that will drive them lower. I covered the first dynamic yesterday. It's called "reserve write-downs." As you probably know, the price of natural gas has collapsed more than 60% over the past 12 months. Energy firms that carry billions of dollars of reserves on their books based on the "old" prices (around $4 per MMBtu) will have to "write-down" the value of those reserves to reflect the new prices (below $2 per MMBtu). Natural gas reserves that were "economically recoverable" – and thus, extremely valuable – when natural gas traded for more than $4 per MMBtu back in 2010 are going to be worth much, much less… now that natural gas is below $2 per MMBtu. The second dynamic involves "hedging." Hedging is when one party agrees to sell a commodity to another party at a particular price in the future. This strategy helps commodity producers and consumers know in advance what their price of a given commodity will be. It gives both parties a greater ability to plan for the future. For example, a farmer might agree to sell his corn for $6 per bushel before he even harvests it. Or an oil producer might agree to sell his production for $100 per barrel. This gives the farmer and the oilman the certainty they need to run their budgets. Even if the prices of their given commodities fall, both the farmer and the oilman are protected from price declines. They've "hedged" their production. Hedged natural gas contracts have protected many producers from the full wrath of today's rock-bottom prices. They've been able to sell their production at relatively high prices… even while the spot price collapsed. But… for a lot of producers, these higher-priced hedges are about to expire. Encana, Canada's largest natural gas company, is a good example. The company had prudently hedged lots of the gas it sold over the last six months. This means it was still realizing $4 or $5 per MMBtu on its sales. Now, those hedges are expiring… and the new hedges are at much lower prices. Encana's cash flow and its economically recoverable reserves are going to plunge. Encana isn't the only natural gas company in this situation. In recent months, the second-largest natural gas producer in the U.S., Chesapeake Energy, removed most of its gas hedges for 2012 and 2013 based on the belief that prices are at or near a bottom. Such a move, known as going "naked to the strip," marks a major turnaround for a company that was one of the best and most active hedgers in the sector. Now, Chesapeake has no protection if gas prices continue to slide. It's a risky scenario seeing as prices are currently below production costs in most U.S. gas basins. For investors, the fact that many North American gas producers are seeing their high-priced hedges expire makes it more important than ever to understand a company's cash flow picture going forward. An investor must ask the following questions… • What percentage of production remains hedged and at what price? • How much will a company have to sell at or near the spot price? • What is the company's average cost of production? • Is the loss of high hedges about to send the company into the red? These are the questions you need to ask… But be warned: you won't find very many producers with pretty short- and medium-term cash flow pictures. I expect natural gas prices to remain between $1.50 and $2 per MMBtu for the next 12 months. Those prices will render a lot of production uneconomic. They will force companies to massively write down the value of their reserves. Cash flows will plummet. Shares in gas producers, while down a lot over the past year, will fall more than 25%. The bloodbath in natural gas stocks is about to get worse. Regards, Marin Katusa How You Can Profit From the Market's Next Big Collapse By Marin Katusa, Chief Energy Investment Strategist, Casey Research Thursday, May 10, 2012 If you think the bloodbath is over for natural gas stocks, think again… Despite falling 50% over the past year, many natural gas stocks are about to enter another major decline. And if you know what's going on here, you can use this coming decline to make huge capital gains over the next 12 months. The key idea in this coming trade is something called "reserve write downs." It will cause billions of dollars of market valuation to vanish… overnight. Some very well-known energy firms (that you might own) will suffer huge share price declines. Here's how it's going to work… A resource estimate is a geologic "best guess" of how much of a commodity exists within a particular deposit, be it ounces of gold, barrels of oil, or cubic feet of natural gas. A geologist takes information about the deposit's size and grade from drilling results… and then creates a statistical model of the deposit. From that model, he or she can estimate the size of the resource. However, the amount in the ground is not the amount that can be produced. That's where the reserve estimate comes in. Reserves are a whittled-down subset of total resources. That whittling-down process has two steps. First, geologic and technologic factors determine a resource's recovery rate, reducing the resource to the parts that are "technically recoverable." For example, recovering oil in conventional fields like those in Saudi Arabia is much easier than recovering oil trapped in tight layers of rock. Then, economic considerations further reduce the resource to only the bits that are "economically recoverable." In other words, the higher the price of a given commodity, the higher the "economically recoverable" reserves are. If oil is at $120 per barrel, a field has much more "economically recoverable" oil than it does when oil is at $60 per barrel. The higher prices allow firms to spend more money to recover more oil. With natural gas, the advent of horizontal drilling and multi-stage fracturing altered the first parameter dramatically, ballooning North America's technically recoverable gas resources. And while natural gas prices held steady, reserves ballooned too. The key bit there was "while gas prices held." But that honeymoon is over. Natural gas prices in North America have declined roughly 35% this year and are down approximately 60% over the last 12 months. Compared to the unsustainable highs reached in 2008, gas prices have fallen more than 80%. Natural gas has become a victim of its own success. The incredible technological successes of the last decade enabled producers to book massive volumes of natural gas resources… and increase output significantly. The result: supply overwhelmed demand, and natural gas prices tanked. This has already crushed natural gas producers… But it's going to get worse. Companies are valued according to their reserves. And remember, reserves are defined as resources that are economic to extract using existing technology. Natural gas is now worth less than $2 per MMBtu (the standard pricing unit for natural gas), less than half the $5.82 per MMBtu it has been worth on average over the last decade. A much-reduced price means that less of North America's new natural gas bounty is anywhere close to economic. And that means reserves – and stock prices – are about to fall dramatically. Companies haven't downgraded their gas reserves yet because reserve calculations use the 12-month strip price, which is based on gas futures over the coming year. Changes in the strip price lag changes in the spot price. "AECO" is the price of natural gas in Alberta… and is one of the leading gas benchmarks for North America. Right now, the AECO spot price is C$1.53 per MMBtu… while the year-to-date average AECO 12-month strip – which is the price producers use for reserve estimates – is C$3.21. But even though it is a bit behind in its decline, the strip price is on the same downward spiral as the spot price… And soon, it will take reserve counts down with it. When the strip price comes into line with the spot price – and the reserve overvaluation that a higher strip price has been creating disappears – I expect most natural gas companies will be forced to downgrade their reserves by 40%. When they do, investors will flee, share prices will fall, and the already-pummeled natural gas sector will have to endure another beating. That's why I recommend investors avoid – or consider shorting – companies vulnerable to the coming decline. In tomorrow's essay, I'll show you a few specific companies… and the other dynamic that will drive them much lower. Regards, Marin Katusa

Me too! These three publishers are excellent, and they're free! Most of the information we receive from them don't hit the mainstream media for at least a few days, if not weeks / months. I have no doubt that the paid subscriptions are worth their money!

Grand Pubah, You're welcome. They really do have good information. **I have not personally signed up for any of the more specific financial publications as of yet. I will probably look into a few of them sometime next year. Right now I have my plate full!

This Company Sells for Less Than Its Cash – And There Are Others By Dr. Steve SjuggerudTuesday, May 8, 2012 Canadian Phoenix Resources has $79 million of cash the bank… Yet its stock market value (as I write) is $67 million. Canadian Phoenix sells for a $12 million discount… The shares would have to rise 18% just to trade at the value of the cash it holds in the bank. This is just one example, and I'll explain more about Canadian Phoenix in a minute. My big point today is: Natural resource companies have become incredibly cheap… with many selling for less than their cash in the bank. Today's valuations rival the 2008 bust in mining stocks. And mining stocks soared hundreds of percent soon after that bust. In the just-released May issue of John Doody's Gold Stock Analyst newsletter, John points out that the valuation disparity between gold stocks and the price of gold is at an extreme. It is "exceeded only by the -34% undervaluation they had in October 2008 when it seemed the world was going to end." John's indicator is my favorite value indicator for gold stocks. It has a great track record. With valuations this low on his indicator, John minces no words in his latest issue: "We do not believe the valuations could go lower." It's practically mathematically impossible for some of these resource companies to get cheaper. Let's go back to Canadian Phoenix, as an example… Remember, Canadian Phoenix is selling for a $12 million discount to cash. There's got to be a catch… Canadian Phoenix has to have a pile of debt or something, right? Canadian Phoenix has essentially zero debt. The book value of the company is equal to its cash in the bank – $79 million. The company must be a money-losing business then, right? No. There's actually no "business" at this point. The company sold its main assets in 2010 and 2011. As the company explains in its latest update. Canadian Phoenix is a junior oil and gas exploration, development and production company seeking to invest its cash holdings of over $79 million… So when is $79 million in cash valued at $67 million? The answer is: Today, in the junior resource sector, in Canada… You see, the junior resource sector has fast become one of the world's most hated sectors. In the last year, commodity prices are down 20%. That hurts the potential profitability of junior resource companies. So investors have panicked… pushing prices lower. Canada's TSX Venture Index is a gauge of the price action in small gold, silver, uranium, and energy stocks. Note the emphasis on "small"… These are not huge, stable companies like ExxonMobil… but riskier plays on mining and energy. The Venture is down 43% from its 2011 highs. I'm not talking about its highs before the Great Crash… I'm just talking about last year's highs. As I write, over 80 companies in the TSX Venture Index are selling for less than cash – just like Canadian Phoenix. (Specifically, 80 companies have more current assets than total liabilities.) I know nothing about any of these companies. But other names that appeared on our screening include Gobimin with $11 million of net cash above its $42 million market cap and Kobex with $10 million in net cash above its $29 million market cap. My point is NOT for you to buy Canadian Phoenix or any of these companies… I know nothing about them. I have done no homework on them. My point is that natural resource companies have become incredibly cheap. Dozens are selling for less than cash in the bank. The last time resource stocks hit valuations this cheap, they soared hundreds of percent. I am not buying yet. I haven't seen any semblance of an uptrend yet. But we have to be close. Hundreds of percent gains are around the corner in natural resource companies – I'm certain of it. I just don't know how long it will take 'til we'll get to that corner… Good investing, Steve

LOL...I agree! I'm going to get ready to buy a little more Silver once gold hits around $1,500 or so. Hopefully Silver will be down to around $25 or so by then. I was fortunate to get in November of 2009 at about $15.60 an ounce. I bought 1000 oz's of Silver. BUT, I ended up selling the majority of it about a year later for $28 an ounce. Made a nice little profit but I was kicking myself when it hit $40 an ounce! Oh well...

WW & TM, I know you two own a nice chunk of precious metals so this is probably not what you wanted to see. BUT, gold was range bound for a few months and at least it has broken out! Not really in the direction most holding PM's wanted but... At least now you can wait for it to go lower and do some "bargain shopping" right? I'm sure your holdings are for the long term so this is no biggie, we all know where gold is headed in the future! Up, up, and away!

You're welcome. **I would never want to be the one to tell anybody to buy or not to buy precious metals at this time. However, I am personally holding off for a few months before making any more purchases. I want to either see lower lows or higher highs as my physical bullion is only being used as a hedge against inflation for the LONG TERM.

Thanks WW. Me too! LOL I always enjoy reading about different people's perspectives in regards to financial matters.

I forgot to post this with the original article: **Not My Words** There’s not a day goes by that I don’t see a level of casualness, or downright pointlessness, to the ins and outs of gold chatter. So, when I see Reuters deploying their editors to ask the wrong question — or, even more annoyingly, wasting their time wondering if something ONCE widely accepted can or should be accepted NOW — it just makes me wanna bring out my gold guns (er, maybe that’s my visual interpretation of quashing the nonsense via my provoking prose here) Anyway, when somebody writes an e-book with the title of ‘Is Gold a Currency?‘ (the reference to that is via the video on the Reuters page), one begins to scratch their head (er, I do) and ask back rhetorically: “Is Google’s stock a currency?’ The answer to that one is an obvious NO! But, why do the words ‘currency‘ and ‘money‘ get so conflated around GOLD? My bet is this: people like confusing and repositioning timelines — as in ‘history was like this’ so it ‘should be like this’ NOW. You see, there is a long history of governments throughout the world pegging their currency value to gold. As far as the U.S. goes, between a FIXED gold standard and a FLOATING fiat currency system (i.e., not linked to physical reserves), money has shifted back ‘n forth in about 10 different time-frames… ever since the first form of paper money was issued by The Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1690. There’s gold seen as “money” (like when you see coins tossed around in Old Western movies); there’s gold remembered as an asset to find and hide away; and there’s gold the inert metal, traded as a commodity 24 hours a day, that does not have much pragmatic use. But, the raw modern reality is this: Even though I can easily convert GOOG shares to cash, it doesn’t mean that those GOOG shares are legal currency in the US (I’m pretty darned sure I’m not going to be able to take those share certificates and go out to a nice restaurant or buy a new car with them). Gold bullion (in the form of coins, bars, ingots, jewelry, etc) is certainly more recognized and/or accepted for ‘exchange transactions’ than certifications of stock. Yet, the rub is still this: Bullion is, by useful function in today’s modern world, a ‘monetary asset.’ Just like the shares of Google are an asset, and not a currency, neither is gold really currency. Not even useful money NOW! (Things like cowrey shells, arrowheads, and cacao beans were ONCE useful too, ya know) Gold bullion is more a solid form of back-up money. Or, to be technically correct, a “currency of last resort,” as Greenspan has stated many times through the years. As in, “if the public one day decides not to have confidence in the USD, CAD, YEN, etc. — all derivatives of tangible and ideal money — maybe we can all feel good about resorting to lugging around heavy and obnoxiously impractical coins.” Yes, gold CAN BE pure insurance against paper currency breakdown. Which, like California falling over into the Pacific Ocean, is not something I’ll expect to see in my lifetime. The cries for “buy, buy, buy” gold (bullion, that is) can get so loud that the high priests of the metal (think Glenn Beck, Mike Maloney, or Howard Ruff) truly feel that using your hard-earned money for anything else is a crime. News Flash to all Gold Bugs: there is ab-so-lute value in holding your cash [paper money] in dollars (or any other major currency based on where you live and conduct business). In summary: Money, as commonly understood, represents both a medium of exchange and a store of value. Ideal money (not a required ideal, either, to work) is both, and it’s important to acknowledge that the dollar HAS served in that capacity in living memory. For reasons as to why it may not hold rein in that position at ALL TIMES, read this article… Currency — a made up word that just means paper notes — can be an excellent stand-infor money, as long as something sustainable (doesn’t JUST have to be ‘tangible money’) always stands behind the currency. Until the day comes when society-at-large no longer wants to have faith in using their debit cards and other digital forms of monetary transactions at WalMart, just accept the fact that GOLD (and even real estate) will probably make you look like the ever-so-wise one if you’re around to see a legit collapse of the current banking/currency system. And, quite honestly, if you want to believe in the ultimate doomsday scenario — think Mad Max style — gold is the last thing people will clamor for… in that situation, if you have some mini bottles of liquor stored up, you’ll control the world

WW, I also find it interesting. I'm going to post somebody else's comments on Warren Buffets' recent interview. Kno's Comments: Perception and Reality This thread is a good example of PERCEPTION and Reality. Imagine that we are in our own Private World here. There canbe no question that based on fundamentals and technicals and the broadKnowledge Base in this thread that our PERCEPTION is better focused than thePERCEPTION outside of this thread. That of course is my view and I only speakfor myself. A majority of all forex traders use technicals to make theirtrading decisions. We know most Retail Traders lose money trading and that, formany reasons. As always Money Flow because of changing FUNDAMENTALS changethe direction of the charts. Anything that changes PERCEPTION brings Fundamentals or thevalue of the various Asset Classes more in line with NEW Assumptions on theirvalue. The values are changing everyday with new information or newperceptions. In the absence of any NEW News, EUR/USD will be moved up ordown by the North America Retail Traders joining in around 6:00 AM EST. When Data (News) comes out at 8:30 AM we have NEW news. Themarkets react to this news and HOW the news is viewed. Then we arrive at 9:30AM EST and North America Equities Markets OPEN and then MONEY FLOW has moreinfluence on prices. Once Option Expiry and New News (Data) is out at 10:00 AMEST we have again a change of PERCEPTIONS and values. Then we head to the CLOSEof Europe Equity Markets at 11:30 AM and there is profit taking and shortcovering and then there is only North America open until 4:00 PM EST and theDaily Rollover at 5:00 PM EST and the START of another Daily Market as we headto Asia at 7:00 PM EST. I would be glad to answer any questions on my topic. Thereis no doubt that understanding what I share here would improve your results.Please keep in mind that this thread gives traders an edge because of theexcellent Resources that PipTrapper has made available here and so watchingwhat the other Retail Traders do outside of this thread in most instances canbring our overall understanding up to a better level. Another member responded with this: Keep in mind that Warren Buffet is an investor and not a trader. Therefore his views are much longer term than what is useful to the rest of us and as you know, long term forecasts can change overnight. The "real" traders will not be swayed by his comments. My Thoughts: It could be either Politics, difference of personal preference, or even a little bit of both. But the fact is, Warren Buffet is an extremely successful business man and I will take the time to listen to what he says any chance I get!

No problem. I really liked the last part where it said: And if you have any doubts, consider this: Since January 2002, Berkshire Hathaway’s share price has climbed 65% and gold is up 483% over the same period.

LOL That is pretty amazing! Consider yourself one of the lucky few TM!

http://www.youtube.c...ayer_embedded#! It worked! Kinda. I took Matthew Bishop’s challenge, and tried to spend a gram of gold like I would any other currency. And, frankly, didn’t have a lot of luck — until I managed to find a small business where the owner just happened to be standing around. In the end, I got three lobster rolls (and free drinks, too) for one gram of gold. Which were very tasty — thank you Snack Box! So, what did I learn on my expedition in Times Square? When I tell the Snack Box owner that the gold is real and that “you can tell by how shiny it is”, I’m not kidding. Pure gold is really shiny. The most surprising people turn out to know how much a gram of gold is worth, with an astonishing level of accuracy. Gold is not a currency. I’m reasonably sure that Andrew, the guy behind the counter at Snack Box, would not have accepted my gram of gold unless his boss was telling him to. If you do want to spend gold, then try your luck with small businesses, and don’t expect a good implied exchange rate. Also, bringing a film crew along is unlikely to help you at any big chain store. Most interestingly, however, at least to me, was how much it actually cost us to obtain that gram of gold. For the purposes of the video, I was using the value of one gram of gold based on its market price per ounce. But if you go out and attempt to buy a gold bar, you’ll never be able to find one for a mere $53. In fact, my producer wound up paying double that, in Manhattan. Even if you do a lot of searching online, you’ll be hard pressed to find one for less than $80. We didn’t try to sell the gold — we wound up getting a delicious lunch instead — but my guess is that in most cities the effective bid/offer is absolutely enormous. And much bigger than for any major global currency. Still, it was a fun — and tasty — experiment. If you try it yourself, do let me know the results!