November Podcast Archive

November Podcast Archive


11.30.12 - Prepared for a "Scrooge" Christmas? - Listen

Gold prices eased below $1725/oz. Friday on profit taking and a firmer dollar. Stocks frozen on fiscal cliff. Gold last traded at $1,715 an ounce. Silver traded at $33.44 an ounce.

President Obama says he's keeping a ‘Naughty and Nice list’ in Washington as the fiscal cliff approaches, reports Washington Examiner. If Congress doesn’t pass tax cut extensions for the middle class, Americans would find a rude awakening on Christmas morning. “That’s a Scrooge Christmas,” said the president.

grinch “President Obama has said he will take America over the 'fiscal cliff' on January 1, 2013, and wreck America's economy and credit rating unless he is able to impose trillions of dollars in higher taxes on businesses and their owners,” says Craig R. Smith, whose just-published latest book is The Great Debasement.

“Such enormous tax increases, along with Mr. Obama's record of using government regulation to stifle energy and other industries, will quickly plunge America back into deep Recession or worse,” says Smith.

“One immediate effect will be that a re-elected President Obama will be the Grinch who steals Christmas, not just in 2012 but for his next four years in office,” says Smith.

[Attn. Nightowls: Craig Smith will be a guest live Monday night, Dec. 3rd, 10-11pm P.T. on "Coast to Coast with George Noory" explaining how to overcome "The Great Debasement".]

CONGRESS LOOKS AT DOING AWAY WITH THE $1 BILL - AP
Congressional auditors say doing away with dollar bills entirely and replacing them with dollar coins could save taxpayers some $4.4 billion over the next 30 years

The Mint is preparing a report for Congress showing how changes in the metal content of coins could save money.

The last time the government made major metallurgical changes in U.S. coins was nearly 50 years ago when Congress directed the Mint to remove silver from dimes and quarters and to reduce its content in half dollar coins. Now, Congress is looking at new changes in response to rising prices for copper and nickel...such as steel, aluminum and zinc.

Stories of the Week

ACKNOWLEDGING THE DOLLAR HAS BEEN DEBASED - CSM
Christie's specialist Caitlin Graham poses for photographers with a dollar bill signed by Andy Warhol, during a photocall at the auction rooms in London. Acknowledging that the dollar has been debased so much is perhaps something that many Americans don't want to do.

‘FISCAL CLIFF’ COULD PUT MILLIONS OF TAXPAYERS INTO ‘AMT SHOCK’ - CNBC
Millions more Americans could be subject to the alternative minimum tax (AMT) in their 2012 returns if Congress fails to reach a deal on the fiscal cliff before year-end. That's because the AMT is currently scheduled to hit individuals making as little as $33,750 a year and joint filers making $45,000.

THE 1930S ALL OVER AGAIN? - TheAmerican
As in the 1920s and 1930s, remedies are thus thought to be not in repairing the mistakes and making sure that the unguarded expansions of credit won’t be repeated anytime soon, but in governments and central banks getting into the voids left in capital markets — though without attempting to stabilize exchange rates. Yet their instability was then — as it is now — a major source of preventing the world from regaining its footing.

OBAMA PLANS TO GRAB PRIVATE IRAs, 401(K)s, SAY EXPERTS - News Release
During President Barack Obama's first term, the government massively expanded the welfare state, took over American healthcare, effectively expropriated several major banks and two of the nation's three biggest car companies, and nationalized 90 percent of a trillion dollars of student loans.

In President Obama's second term, his biggest takeover target is the $18.5 Trillion that Americans have saved in their personal Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), 401(K) plans and pension accounts, say two prominent economic experts.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.29.12 - Debased Dollar: Art Imitates Life - Listen

Gold prices rose above $1725/oz. Thursday on bargain hunting and a weaker dollar. Stocks scale fiscal cliff worries. Gold last traded at $1,726 an ounce. Silver traded at $34.26 an ounce.

Market News Headlines
-Q3 GDP Revised Up to 2.7%
-Initial Jobless Claims 393K
-Existing homes surge 5.2% in October
-15M Households on Food Stamps
-Starbucks Offering $7 Cup of Coffee
-Congress considers $1 coins vs. bill
-"Dollar" stores boom, but only 1/4 of items cost a buck
-3 Reasons to Go Bullish on Gold - 1) Technical buy, 2) Seasonal buy, 3) Uncertainty buy
-Gold seen winning whether or not U.S. hits fiscal cliff

signed When art imitates life, it's time to wake up and change direction. Today's U.S. paper dollar retains just over one penny of value in comparison to gold and just three cents of value in comparison with silver over the last century.

How did this happen to our money and will it accelerate over the next four years? These questions and much more are covered in "The Great Debasement" by Craig R. Smith and Lowell Ponte.

ACKNOWLEDGING THE DOLLAR HAS BEEN DEBASED - CSM
Christie's specialist Caitlin Graham poses for photographers with a dollar bill signed by Andy Warhol, during a photocall at the auction rooms in London, in this November 2012 file photo. Acknowledging that the dollar has been debased so much is perhaps something that many Americans don't want to do.

The U.S. Treasury would save $147 million by switching its $1 note with a $1 coin, but that proposal faces opposition not only from the supplier of paper, but also from a majority of Americans.

A dime today is worth less than what a penny was worth as recently as 1973, and similarly a 5 dollar bill is worth less than what the 1 dollar bill was worth in 1973, so abolishing the penny and the 1 dollar bill would simply mean adjusting the denomination of coins and notes for inflation.

TAX NOW, CUT 'LATER' - Politico
Here’s what to expect: Taxes will go up just shy of $1.2 trillion — the middle ground of what President Barack Obama wants and what Republicans say they could stomach. Entitlement programs, mainly Medicare, will be cut by no less than $400 billion — and perhaps a lot more, to get Republicans to swallow those tax hikes. There will be at least $1.2 trillion in spending cuts and “war savings.” And any final deal will come not by a group effort but in a private deal between two men: Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

‘FISCAL CLIFF’ COULD PUT MILLIONS OF TAXPAYERS INTO ‘AMT SHOCK’ - CNBC
Millions more Americans could be subject to the alternative minimum tax (AMT) in their 2012 returns if Congress fails to reach a deal on the fiscal cliff before year-end. That's because the AMT is currently scheduled to hit individuals making as little as $33,750 a year and joint filers making $45,000.

THE 1930S ALL OVER AGAIN? - TheAmerican
As in the 1920s and 1930s, remedies are thus thought to be not in repairing the mistakes and making sure that the unguarded expansions of credit won’t be repeated anytime soon, but in governments and central banks getting into the voids left in capital markets — though without attempting to stabilize exchange rates. Yet their instability was then — as it is now — a major source of preventing the world from regaining its footing.

Centralization of powers and the thinning of capital markets are the most dangerous parallels to the 1930s. What model of society will people bet on as these trends continue, and Europe and the United States get into mazes of error? The 1920s and 1930s offer warnings.

GOLD BOOSTS SLOW SALVATION ARMY SEASON - UPI
The first gold coin was dropped into a Houston-area Salvation Army kettle this week. Juan Alanis, spokesman for the Salvation Army said that anonymous donors have been dropping gold coins into collection kettles for years and this coin came amid a slow start in the season. The gold coin was wrapped in a dollar bill with a note reading "A child is born, Jesus".

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.28.12 - A Life Well Lived Always Rewarded - Listen

Gold prices dipped over 1% Wednesday on profit taking and a firmer dollar. Stocks climbed a fiscal cliff of worry. Gold last traded at $1,718 an ounce. Silver traded at $33.68 an ounce.

Market News Headlines...
-US Economy Growing at Steady Pace (except factories): Fed
-Average retail gas price hits its 2012 high
-Gold Sharply Lower on Reported Big Sell Order
-Student-Loan Delinquencies Now Surpass Credit Cards

zig ziglar Legendary motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar passed from this world today after a short bout with pneumonia. Though his time on earth has ended, he is now in his heavenly home and his family is celebrating a life well lived.

Michael Pento was a guest on CNBC today, explaining that come Jan. 2013 QE3 will be expanded from $45 billion monthly to $85 billion...and will be called QE4. He said the U.S. is massively accumulating debt at zero interest rates, while the FED is counterfeiting money at light speed.

"The system can't withstand this mismanagement and will ultimately collapse under it's own weight," writes Swiss America Chairman Craig R. Smith. "That is best case scenario. Allow interest rates to increase together with a rash of inflation and it is going to get real ugly, real fast. I agree completely with Mr. Pento."

REPUBLICANS TO DEMOCRATS: 'WE'VE DONE OUR PART' - FoxNews
House Republican leaders said Wednesday they’ve done their job in negotiations to solve the looming fiscal crisis, while President Obama is returning to the campaign trail to sell tax hikes that studies show won't have much, if any, effect on solving the problem.

“We cannot tax our way back to budget surpluses and economic prosperity,” Texas Sen. John Cornyn said. “Without major spending cuts and entitlement reforms, we will continue running huge deficits, regardless of what we do on the revenue side.”

THE BIGGEST FINANCIAL STORY IN AMERICA--FOR YEARS TO COME - Forbes
There’s one number that makes all the recent squawking about the $600 billion fiscal cliff — and every other headline-grabbing issue, for that matter — beside the point.

That number is $87 trillion, and it is the present value of America’s future financial obligations — what the country owes and, as things stand, cannot remotely hope to pay.

Filling our fiscal hole by taxing all taxpayers, let alone just the upper crust, amounts to “bailing out the Pacific Ocean with a teaspoon.”

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.27.12 - $18.5 Tr. Gov't Money Grab in Works? - Listen

Gold prices traded slightly lower Tuesday on mild profit taking and a firmer dollar. Stocks retreat on fiscal cliff fears. Gold last traded at $1,742 an ounce. Silver traded at $34.04 an ounce.

Market News Headlines...
-Stocks Fall as 'Cliff' Fears Trump Economic Data
-Consumer Confidence Hits Four and a Half Year High
-Home Prices Rise, Durable Goods Mixed
-Democrats Resist Efforts to Cut Entitlement Spending

401K AMID TAX TALKS, A CRY OF 'SAVE MY 401(K)!' - CNBC
As the debate around tax reform grows more heated, broker-dealers and other companies that service retirement plans offered by employers are increasingly concerned that the tax benefits of 401(k) plans are on the chopping block.

The "Save My 401(k)" campaign includes a website, Facebook page, Twitter feed, and even an online video game. The budget is undisclosed but is in the six figures, according to the ASPPA's chief executive, Brian Graff.

"The last time Congress made major changes to the tax code, there was a drop in 401(k) contributions by more than 70 percent," Graff said in an interview.

OBAMA PLANS TO GRAB PRIVATE IRAs, 401(K)s, SAY EXPERTS - News Release
During President Barack Obama's first term, the government massively expanded the welfare state, took over American healthcare, effectively expropriated several major banks and two of the nation's three biggest car companies, and nationalized 90 percent of a trillion dollars of student loans.

In President Obama's second term, his biggest takeover target is the $18.5 Trillion that Americans have saved in their personal Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), 401(K) plans and pension accounts, say two prominent economic experts.

“This is one of the biggest pools of private money left in America, and our spendaholic politicians would love to divvy it up,” says Craig R. Smith, a renowned monetary expert whose just-published latest book is The Great Debasement: The 100-Year Dying of the Dollar and How to Get America's Money Back.

NORQUIST’S FINEST HOUR - NYSun
Our government is swimming in revenues, and they have been rising every year and are projected to keep on rising. It seems to be the view of these pledge breakers that what the economy needs is a combination of spending cuts and tax increases. To which one can but say that the pledge has its value even in its breaking, because it gives the voters a device by which to keep track. It’ll be Mr. Norquist’s finest hour.

To them all we would say remember 1937. That was the depression within the Great Depression. For a while it looked like things were trending for the better. FDR bought the 1936 election with unprecedented spending, just like President Obama did in 2012. Then came a cutback in spending and an increase in taxes, and the country promptly went into the most brutal downturn of the whole 1930s.

The liberals, and a handful of Republicans, are all trying to make Mr. Norquist the goat in all this. If we get a 1937 type event because of tax increases, they’ll be singing a different tune. The left likes to say that it was the war that finally pulled us out of the Great Depression. The alternative today — read our lips — is tax cuts on the margin, deregulation, and a move to sound money.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.26.12 - Change that produces Hope - listen

Gold prices hovered near $1,750/oz. Monday on mild profit taking and a firmer dollar. Stocks retreat. Gold last traded at $1,749 an ounce. Silver traded at $34.14 an ounce.

President Obama’s trying to harness the passions that returned him to the White House to pressure Republicans to accept tax increases on the wealthy, The New York Times reports.

In today's world of declining confidence in paper-promise money, it is real money - gold and silver - that offers the needed change to produce real hope for the future. After politicians have gutted the dollar to no value, as discussed in the new book "The Great Debasement", what comes next is a "Re-basement" of store-of-value money, backed by gold.

hope A CHANGE IS COMING - 2013 AND ONWARD - PART II - Safehaven
Right now the dollar and the rest of the world's currencies have lost a considerable portion of their ability to measure true value. This has been pointed out by much respected monetary leaders in globally respected institutions over the past few years. We cannot see this changing.

Gold will have to act as a counter to currencies rising in value as they fall...there is little prospect of a resurrection of a 'Gold Standard' with gold at a fixed price.

Gold's confidence-raising abilities demand that it only be used as a last resort by any country. Such use would be an act of desperation. As a past President of the Banque de France, M. Noyer put it, it would be like selling the family jewels. It will be in this role that it will be used to hold the global monetary system together more effectively than any unbacked currency can do now or in the future.

OBAMA'S SOVIET MISTAKE - Pravda
Recently Obama was re-elected for a second term and he is ready to continue his lies of less taxes. He gives speeches of love in the world yet promotes wars as he did in Egypt, Libya and Syria. In January 2009 Vladimir Putin gave a speech giving insightful and helpful advice to help the world economy and told the to avoid the Soviet mistake.

INFLATION TRUTH: CHRISTMAS PRICE INDEX UP 6% - CNBC
Buying your true love each item from classic Christmas song “The 12 Days of Christmas” will be more expensive than ever this year. According to PNC, buying all 364 quirky gift items—from the “drummers drumming” to the “partridge in a pear tree” mentioned in the song— would set you back $107,300 this year, the most since PNC began compiling the numbers in 1984.

PNC, which measures the cost of buying the items in its Christmas Price’ index, said this year’s cost is up 6.1 percent on last year, much higher than the consumer price index (CPI) of 2.2 percent.

NOW OBAMA WANTS YOUR 401(K) - WND
The Obama administration was proceeding with a novel way to finance trillion-dollar budget deficits by forcing IRA and 401(k) holders to buy Treasury bonds by mandating the placement of government- structured annuities in their retirement accounts.

With the issuance of the White House 256-page Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2013, the Obama administration endorsed “Automatic IRAs,” a plan introduced into Congress in 2010 by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass, and Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., in which private companies would be automatically enrolled into government-mandated IRAs.

The Retirement USA idea is to promote the concept that all workers in the U.S. have a right to a government retirement account that would fund a secure retirement with adequate dollars... basically an effort that amounts to nationalizing 401(k)s and IRAs,” David John, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told WND.

In 2008, Argentine sovereign debt was trading at 29 cents on the dollar, reflecting the devalued state of the Argentine peso...“Here is a warning to us all,” Evans-Pritchard wrote. “The Argentine state is taking control of the country’s privately managed pension funds in a dramatic move to raise cash.” He warned the same could happen in the United States and Europe.

BEN’S DEBT BINGE TO DETONATE RETIREMENT FUNDS - NYPost
There goes the nest egg.

There’s a record $16.3 trillion of US debt and a good portion of that is sitting in baby boomers’ portfolios like a ticking time bomb ready to explode, and most investors know little about it.

“It’s my worst nightmare,” says a long-only bond fund manager. “There’s nothing I can do — the checks come in [from clients] every day, and I have to invest it.”

“If the 10-year [bond] goes up 100 basis points, that could mean more than $35 billion is lost,” says one bond trader.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.21.12 - A Thanksgiving Feast for Multitudes - Listen

Gold prices rose above $1,725/oz. Wednesday in light, pre-Thanksgiving trading. Stocks inched up. Gold last traded at $1,729 an ounce. Silver traded at $33.35 an ounce.

U.S. jobless-benefits claims dropped last week and consumer sentiment was revised lower. Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv over a dozen were wounded in blast as an Israel-Gaza truce falters.

Swiss America will be closed on Thursday and Friday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday and will reopen on Monday, Nov. 26th. We wish all of our readers a relaxing and delicious celebration of blessings and bounty with family and friends.

thanksgiving CUTTING THE COST OF THANKSGIVING DINNER - Editor
The cost for this year’s feast for a family of 10 is $49.48, according to the American Farm Bureau. Back in November 1912, the cost of Thanksgiving dinner for a family of 10 was $6.50, according to Watertown Daily Times. That equates to eight times more "paper dollars" for the same Thanksgiving feast today.

But 6.5 "silver dollars" today are worth 215 paper dollars, enough to buy dinner for 43 people. And 6.5 "gold dollars" are worth 600 paper dollars today, enough to buy a Thanksgiving banquet for 120 people! Moral: Owning gold and silver dollars allows you to feed multitudes compared to debased paper dollars.

NEGATIVE REAL INTEREST RATES CONTINUE TO DRIVE THE GOLD PRICE - Goldsilverworlds
Financial repression is a critical aspect of today’s economic environment. In essence, it’s a form of wealth redistribution that benefits debtors and punishes savers. In the short term it alleviates the huge debt mountain, but long term it paves the way for a bigger crisis.

One pillar of financial repression is negative real interest rates, which the Fed has promised will continue in the US until at least mid 2015 (many countries are embracing near-zero interest rates). This shows that they are running out of ammunition with which to battle growing debt loads and economic instability.

Negative interest rates have always been the perfect environment for gold and silver. Interest rates in gold’s bear market of 1980 – 2000 stood around 4% (see chart). In the 70’s during most of the time there were negative real rates, just like in the current bull market. Between 2001 and November 2012, we saw negative real rates in 58% of the months.

chart

Gold shouldn’t be regarded as an investment; rather, it’s a form of money that has been around for 5,000 years, an alternative form of cash in its purest form. People today have difficulty imagining a currency system backed by gold. There will be a paradigm shift, however. The first signs are there: More and more politicians and economists are talking about a gold standard.

AMERICANS SHOULD “SECEDE” FROM U.S. DOLLAR, SAY EXPERTS - NewsRelease
In the wake of the November 6 re-election of President Barack Obama, more than 900,000 Americans have signed petitions requesting that their states be allowed to secede “peacefully” from the United States.

“Americans can and should do more than symbolically protest against the economic disaster our nation now faces,” says Craig R. Smith, a renowned monetary expert whose just-published latest book is The Great Debasement.

“People can secede from today's unconstitutional economy of debased Progressive paper currency by returning to what America's Founders specified as genuine money, gold and silver,” says co-author Lowell Ponte.

PRESIDENT OBAMA IS THE WORST KEYNESIAN EVER - Forbes
Obama has got to be the most hapless Keynesian ever, reports Forbes. The president’s current tax-increase push is, if nothing else, an admission that the stimulus efforts of his first term failed.

The Obama program is such a sorry testimony to the Democratic-Keynesian tradition. First he deficit spent, and big — and got no recovery. Now the poor man has to legislate tax increases.

Top Stories of the Week

LET’S GO OVER THE FISCAL CLIFF - WashPost
Today, the only ones in Washington who advocate fiscal cliff-diving are liberal Democrats. It’s time for conservatives to join them. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire will strengthen the GOP’s hand in tax negotiations next year, and it may be the only way Republicans can force President Obama and Senate Democrats to agree to fundamental tax reform.

Americans had a choice this November, and they voted for bigger government. Rather than shielding voters from the consequences of their decisions, let them pay for it.

TREASURY SECRETARY GEITHNER: LIFT DEBT LIMIT TO INFINITY - CNSnews
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Friday that Congress should stop placing legal limits on the amount of money the government can borrow and effectively lift the debt limit to infinity.

Buzz On Bloomberg TV, “Political Capital” host Al Hunt asked Geithner if he believes, “we ought to just eliminate the debt ceiling.” “Oh, absolutely,” Geithner said.

INVESTORS RUSH TO BEAT THREAT OF HIGHER TAXES - CNBC
Business owners and investors are rapidly maneuvering to shield themselves from the prospect of higher taxes next year, a strategy that is sending ripples across Wall Street and broad areas of the economy.

“In my 30 years in practice, I’ve never seen such a flood of desire and action to transfer a business and cash out,” said Kenneth K. Bezozo, a partner in New York with the law firm Haynes and Boone. “We’re seeing a watershed event.”

2013 LOOKS A LOT LIKE 1937 IN FOUR FEARSOME WAYS - Bloomberg
Will 2013 be 1937? This is the question many analysts are posing as the stock market has dropped after the U.S. election. On Nov. 16, they noted that industrial production, a crucial figure, dropped as well. In this case, “1937” means a market drop similar to the one after the re-election of another Democratic president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1936.

Benjamin Anderson, the chief economist at Chase National Bank in the 1930s, tried to capture the problem of the big- government president by titling one of his books, “When Government Plays God.” His advisers warned him to suppress the title, arguing it might offend. Anderson shifted to the more banal: “Economics and the Public Welfare.” But Anderson’s phrase still reverberates: A government that “plays God,” or at least “plays powerhouse”, can spook markets and employers whatever the decade.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.20.12 - GOLD: A Hedge Against the Follies of Politicians - Listen

Gold prices steadied above $1,725/oz. Tuesday on profit taking and a flat dollar. Stocks back peddled. Gold last traded at $1,728 an ounce. Silver traded at $33.21 an ounce.

Largest-ever insider-trading scheme alleges SEC, reports Marketwatch. Estate Tax Is Set to Climb, but 'People Aren't Paying Attention' CNBC reminds us.

Housing starts rise to 4-year high, says Bloomberg, but Goldman Sachs warns investors to brace for 8% drop in stocks. Meanwhile, Peter Schiff says to expect $5,000/oz. gold.

Some 45% of those polled said the holiday season brings so much financial pressure, they would prefer to skip it altogether...their level of stress related to holiday expenses is high or extremely high, reports CNBC.

welcome Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your new country can do for you. “Welcome to USA.gov,” says a website maintained by the Department of Homeland Security..."you may be eligible for some federal benefit programs,” the Web page reads, reports DailyCaller.com.

SOROS BUYING GOLD AS RECORD PRICES SEEN ON STIMULUS - Bloomberg
Gold’s 12-year rally, the longest in at least nine decades, is poised to continue in 2013 as central bank stimulus spurs investors from John Paulson to George Soros to accumulate the highest combined bullion holdings ever.

Paulson & Co. has a $3.66 billion bet through the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), the biggest gold-backed exchange- traded product, and Soros Fund Management LLC increased its holdings by 49 percent in the third quarter.

Central banks from Europe to China are pledging more steps to boost growth, raising concern about inflation and currency devaluation. “We see gold as a hedge against the follies of politicians,” said Michael Mullaney, chief investment officer at Fiduciary Trust in Boston.

LET’S GO OVER THE FISCAL CLIFF - WashPost
Today, the only ones in Washington who advocate fiscal cliff-diving are liberal Democrats. It’s time for conservatives to join them. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire will strengthen the GOP’s hand in tax negotiations next year, and it may be the only way Republicans can force President Obama and Senate Democrats to agree to fundamental tax reform.

Americans had a choice this November, and they voted for bigger government. Rather than shielding voters from the consequences of their decisions, let them pay for it.

SENATE BILL LETS FEDS READ YOUR E-MAIL WITHOUT WARRANTS - CNET
A Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans' e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law. Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns.

Leahy's rewritten bill would allow more than 22 agencies -- including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission -- to access Americans' e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.19.12 - To Infinity and Beyond! - Listen

Gold prices rebounded above $1,725/oz. Monday on bargain hunting and a weaker dollar. Stocks bounce on fiscal cliff hopes. Gold last traded at $1,731 an ounce. Silver traded at $33.12 an ounce.

TREASURY SECRETARY GEITHNER: LIFT DEBT LIMIT TO INFINITY - CNSnews
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Friday that Congress should stop placing legal limits on the amount of money the government can borrow and effectively lift the debt limit to infinity.

buzz On Bloomberg TV, “Political Capital” host Al Hunt asked Geithner if he believes, “we ought to just eliminate the debt ceiling.” “Oh, absolutely,” Geithner said.

GOLD DEMAND IS STRONGER THAN YOU MAY HAVE HEARD - SeekingAlpha
The long term picture for precious metals remains quite bullish as central banks with free floating currencies are likely to launch new rounds of money printing in the months ahead. A renewed "flight to safety" and uncertainty over how the fiscal cliff will be resolved will also contribute to higher gold prices.

INVESTORS RUSH TO BEAT THREAT OF HIGHER TAXES - CNBC
Business owners and investors are rapidly maneuvering to shield themselves from the prospect of higher taxes next year, a strategy that is sending ripples across Wall Street and broad areas of the economy.

“In my 30 years in practice, I’ve never seen such a flood of desire and action to transfer a business and cash out,” said Kenneth K. Bezozo, a partner in New York with the law firm Haynes and Boone. “We’re seeing a watershed event.”

2013 LOOKS A LOT LIKE 1937 IN FOUR FEARSOME WAYS - Bloomberg
Will 2013 be 1937? This is the question many analysts are posing as the stock market has dropped after the U.S. election. On Nov. 16, they noted that industrial production, a crucial figure, dropped as well. In this case, “1937” means a market drop similar to the one after the re-election of another Democratic president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1936.

Benjamin Anderson, the chief economist at Chase National Bank in the 1930s, tried to capture the problem of the big- government president by titling one of his books, “When Government Plays God.” His advisers warned him to suppress the title, arguing it might offend. Anderson shifted to the more banal: “Economics and the Public Welfare.” But Anderson’s phrase still reverberates: A government that “plays God,” or at least “plays powerhouse”, can spook markets and employers whatever the decade.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.16.12 - Former Fed Heads Predict Obama's Fate - Listen

Gold prices steadied below $1,725/oz. Friday on profit taking and a firmer dollar, joblessness at 18-mo. high. Stocks at 4-mo. lows. Gold last traded at $1,713 an ounce. Silver traded at $32.29 an ounce.

UNION STRIKE KILLS CUPCAKE KING, reports Drudgereport.
WAL-MART WORKERS PLAN BLACK FRIDAY WALKOUT, says CNN Money.

ALAN GREENSPAN TELLS BLOOMBERG TV "MARKETS WILL CRATER if we run into any evidence that we can't solve this [fiscal cliff] problem. If we get out of this with a moderate recession, I would say that the price is very cheap."

2016 CAN OBAMA CHANGE? - Fox News
Be prepared, America, for another $5 trillion dollars in debt. That means America would be over $20 trillion in debt, one half of it added by one man, Barack Obama. Be prepared for higher taxes on those who are pulling the wagon, and more benefits for those who are sitting in the wagon, says author and filmaker Dinesh D'Souza, also producer of "2016", the highest grossing documentary this year.

ADVICE FOR THE PRESIDENT FROM PAUL VOLCKER - NYBooks
“Do you trust your government to do the right thing most of the time?” That question has been asked regularly for decades by experienced pollsters. These days only 20 percent or even less say yes. In other words, four out of five Americans don’t instinctively trust our own government to do the “right thing” even half of the time. That’s not a platform upon which a great democracy can be sustained.

The political divide is too often put as “big government” versus “small government.” That particular argument may be — probably should be—endless...the present system of personal and corporate income taxes — shot full of special credits, exemptions, loopholes, and evasion—has reached practical limits.


NEW: Editor's Top 5 News Story Picks of the Week

1. SILVER AND GOLD: THE SUPERHEROES OF WEALTH PRESERVATION - BusInsider
Precious metals such as silver and gold act as a reliable source of wealth. This is because gold and silver exist in limited quantities and have inherent properties with real value, which is why it is no coincidence that gold and silver have been recognized as a medium of wealth by virtually every civilization for thousands of years.

2. LAWMAKER ASKS TO BE PAID IN GOLD - Politico
A Montana state lawmaker is asking that he be paid in gold coins because of his lack of faith in the U.S. dollar amid a rising deficit. Jerry O’Neil, a Republican just reelected in his northern Montana district, says his constituents told him he was not honoring his duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution, which O’Neil and Gold Standard supporters say requires the government to print money backed by gold.

3. $20 SAINTS TWICE AS NICE IN 2012 - SATC Research
Gold bullion has been on a tear in recent years - and looks set to continue for at least four more years. But Swiss America Sr. Broker Tom Rodriquez reports that the higher grade "Mint-State" collector (or numismatic) U.S. gold coins are outperforming bullion in 2012. (see chart)

4. PREPARE FOR A MASSIVE MARKET MELTDOWN - CNBC
The markets are going to go into meltdown soon, so expect stocks to lose 20 percent of their value, Marc Faber, author of the Gloom, Boom and Doom report told CNBC on Tuesday.

There won’t be a ‘fiscal cliff,’ Marc Faber told CNBC’s Squawk Box. The market is going down because corporate profits will begin to disappoint, the global economy will hardly grow next year or even contract.

In the Western world, including Japan, the problem we have is one of too much debt which has to somehow repaid or it will slow down economic growth. I think we lived beyond our means from 1980 to 2007, and now it’s payback period.

5. SILVER PRICE TO 'INCREASE 400% IN THREE YEARS' - Telegraph
Silver will increase in value five times over the next three years, according to mixed asset fund manager Ian Williams.

"Silver is about to enter a sustained bull market that will take the price from the current level of $32 an ounce to $165 an ounce and we expect this price to be hit at the end of October 2015," he predicted.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.15.12 - “Someone yelled fire in the theater" - Listen

Gold prices fell below $1,725/oz. Thursday on profit taking and a flat dollar, joblessness spikes to 18-mo. high. Stocks at 4-month lows. Gold last traded at $1,713 an ounce. Silver traded at $32.56 an ounce.

Forget the "fiscal cliff." The real panic on Wall Street is over Apple's stock, which fell to 6-month lows, according to CNBC. “Someone yelled fire in the theater where the hedge funds were safely booking year-end profits — and as traders do, they will trample you trying to be first to get to the exit,” said David Greenberg of Greenberg Capital.

moneyburn The U.S. consumer price index rose 0.1% in October, down from sharp gains of 0.6% in the previous two months, the government's Labor Department said Thursday. In the past year, prices increased 2.2%.

The Daily Mail reports Denny's is adding a 5% 'Obamacare surcharge' to prices and plans to cut employee hours, claiming it is, 'the only alternative. I've got to pass on the cost to the customer.'

Meanwhile, across the pond, Reuters reports the euro zone debt crisis dragged the bloc into its second recession since 2009 in the third quarter despite modest growth in Germany and France, data showed on Thursday.

SILVER AND GOLD: THE SUPERHEROES OF WEALTH PRESERVATION - BusInsider
Precious metals such as silver and gold act as a reliable source of wealth. This is because gold and silver exist in limited quantities and have inherent properties with real value, which is why it is no coincidence that gold and silver have been recognized as a medium of wealth by virtually every civilization for thousands of years.

WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE MARKET? - TheBigPicture
Whenever a significant trend change occurs in equity markets, the immediate response from most quarters is a mix of confusion and often futile attempts to rationalize the occurrence. Financiers on Wall Street attempting to describe the day to day action oft resemble the parable of the six blind men describing the elephant.

Changes in market action send all scurrying back to the comfort of their discipline; each describes what they “see” in relationship to their school of thought. While each manages to describe a small portion of what is going on, they do so with only limited success.

MR. OBAMA'S TAX HIKES WOULD SHRINK THE ECONOMY - Investor's
Wednesday president Obama again claimed his "tax the rich only" plan to reduce the deficit and avoid the fiscal cliff would mean that "97% of small businesses are not going to see their taxes go up." But this is, to put it politely, deceptive. By jacking up taxes on the most successful 3% of small businesses, Obama will destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs, shrink U.S. output and force companies to raise prices.

America has some 34.8 million small businesses, according to a recent Treasury Department study. 30 million of them employ no one other than the owner. Of the remaining 4.8 million that do employ workers, 1.2 million have incomes above $200,000 — where Obama's tax hikes kick in. Here's the rub: Those 1.2 million small businesses that will be hit by Obama's small-business tax are the nation's most prolific job creators, accounting for 54% of all private-sector positions — or 77.6 million in all.

THE POOR WILL BE THE FIRST OVER THE FISCAL CLIFF - TheNation
The fiscal cliff may not be a real cliff, but jumping off it could be a catastrophe for the poor. Housing assistance, child care and education, nutrition assistance, home heating assistance and income security for the blind, disabled and aged all together make up 17 percent of 2012 tax cuts.

The Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, credits aimed at low- and moderate-income Americans, were expanded under the 2009 stimulus, with the former aimed in particular at low-income families. Those expansions will expire, too, if we tumble over the cliff. This all means that while the richest will experience a larger increase in rates, the poor will actually feel the biggest hit to their bottom lines.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.14.12 - Metals rise with 'Fiscal Cliff' fears - Listen

Gold prices inched above $1,725/oz. Wednesday on bargain hunting and a flat dollar. Stocks at 4-month lows. Gold last traded at $1,726 an ounce. Silver traded at $32.67 an ounce.

"Fiscal-cliff fears pushing stocks to four-month lows," says Marketwatch, but they still expect silver to potentially double from the current levels. Which is why CNN Money reports "Gold bugs love fiscal cliff fears".

gold pot Meanwhile, a Montana lawmaker is asking that he be paid in gold coins because of his lack of faith in the U.S. dollar. Why? Americans voted last week and the winner is inflation.

And all of this is prompting Americans in all 50 states to petition the White House to secede from the Republic. So far more than 675,000 digital signatures appeared on 69 separate secession petitions covering all 50 states, according to Daily Caller.

YUAN SPOT PRICE PER US$ HITS RECORD HIGH - Xinhua
The spot price of the yuan against the U.S. dollar rose to 6.2262 on Tuesday, marking a record high since China's foreign exchange reforms seven years ago. Tuesday was the second consecutive day that the spot price of the yuan against the U.S. dollar hit a record high since China launched its foreign exchange reforms in 2005.

LAWMAKER ASKS TO BE PAID IN GOLD - Politico
A Montana state lawmaker is asking that he be paid in gold coins because of his lack of faith in the U.S. dollar amid a rising deficit. Jerry O’Neil, a Republican just reelected in his northern Montana district, says his constituents told him he was not honoring his duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution, which O’Neil and Gold Standard supporters say requires the government to print money backed by gold.

LONG-TERM BUYING OPPORTUNITIES IN SILVER AND GOLD - Marketwatch
The larger pattern in metals seems to suggest that new all-time highs are still highly likely, which makes these drops long-term buying opportunities. So, please do not lose sight of the forest while analyzing the trees and leaves, as we expect silver to potentially double from the current levels.

BIG INFLATION COMING - SafeHaven
Americans voted and the winner is inflation. Half our voting populace inexplicably decided to award a second term to Obama. Four more years of mind-boggling record deficits and record national debt growth! Obama's Administration spent roughly 50% more than the government took in, which can essentially only be financed in two ways. Borrowing from foreigners and running the printing presses.

The latter of course is pure inflation. And the Fed bent over backwards with its quantitative-easing campaigns to buy massive amounts of the Treasury debt Obama ran up on our children's credit cards. It created trillions of new fiat dollars out of thin air to purchase Treasuries to finance Obama's trillion-dollar-plus annual deficits. And with Obama sticking around, this dangerous trend is only going to accelerate.

OBAMA TO SEEK $1.6 T IN NEW TAX REVENUE - Marketwatch
President Barack Obama plans to open talks over the tax component of the so-called "fiscal cliff" by calling for $1.6 trillion in new tax revenue over the coming decade, according to reports late Tuesday. The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post reported separately that Obama's figure for additional taxes is likely to meet with strong Republican opposition, as it is double the amount proposed during failed closed-door talks with GOP leaders during debt negotiations in mid-2011.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.13.12 - The Saints Go Marching Up - Listen

Gold prices eased back near $1,725/oz. Tuesday on profit taking and a firmer dollar. Stocks frozen on 'fiscal cliff'. Gold last traded at $1,724 an ounce. Silver traded at $32.45 an ounce.

$20 SAINTS TWICE AS NICE IN 2012 - SATC Research
Gold bullion has been on a tear in recent years - and looks set to continue for at least four more years. But Swiss America Sr. Broker Tom Rodriquez reports that the higher grade "Mint-State" collector (or numismatic) U.S. gold coins are outperforming bullion in 2012. (see chart)

swiss

These classic $20 Saint Gaudens gold coin gems offer the safety and liquidity of bullion with the added benefit of 100% privacy. Own a piece of American history - something of real value you can be proud to give the next generation to help them remember a time when "sound as a dollar" and "as good as gold" were still true of America's money system.

SILVER PRICE TO 'INCREASE 400% IN THREE YEARS' - Telegraph
Silver will increase in value five times over the next three years, according to mixed asset fund manager Ian Williams.

"Silver is about to enter a sustained bull market that will take the price from the current level of $32 an ounce to $165 an ounce and we expect this price to be hit at the end of October 2015," he predicted.

PREPARE FOR A MASSIVE MARKET MELTDOWN - CNBC
The markets are going to go into meltdown soon, so expect stocks to lose 20 percent of their value, Marc Faber, author of the Gloom, Boom and Doom report told CNBC on Tuesday.

There won’t be a ‘fiscal cliff,’ Marc Faber told CNBC’s Squawk Box. The market is going down because corporate profits will begin to disappoint, the global economy will hardly grow next year or even contract.

In the Western world, including Japan, the problem we have is one of too much debt which has to somehow repaid or it will slow down economic growth. I think we lived beyond our means from 1980 to 2007, and now it’s payback period.

TRADERS LIMBER UP FOR THEIR RACE TO THE EXITS - NYPost
The stock market has had a good run this year, mainly because Fed Chairman Bernanke — with no other way to spur economic growth — has been printing insane amounts of money. Much of that extra dough has found its way into the stock market, and a new equities bubble has been blown.

Right now you have to pay a 15 percent tax on stock-market profits. But at the beginning of next year, that tax will rise to 20%; 18% if the gains meet certain long-term criteria. The tax on dividends paid by companies will go up from nothing to as high as 40%.

So anyone who has had stock-market gains this year, or buys stocks for the dividends, will be thinking of selling by the end of December. You are probably thinking that you don’t have to worry if there’s still a month to go.

Well, you have permission to start worrying right now. What I just told you is known to everyone on Wall Street. And the pros aren’t going to wait for the last minute to take their profits, especially if the stock market continues to be weak.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.12.12 - 2013 "FISCAL CLIFF" TAX CALCULATOR & SAFETY NET - Listen

Gold prices hovered near $1,730/oz. Monday on safe haven buying and a flat dollar. Stocks mixed up on 'fiscal cliff'. Gold last traded at $1,727 an ounce. Silver traded at $32.38 an ounce.

Gold posted its biggest weekly gain since late August last week on safe-haven buying driven by worries the U.S.could return to recession if Congress fails to reach a deficit-reduction deal, according to Reuters.

fiscal It is possible Congress and President Barack Obama will come up with a plan - perhaps a temporary fix - to avoid the $600 billion in tax increases and budget cuts set to start in January 2012.

TAX CALCULATOR: OBAMA TAXES ON RICH WILL HIT POOR, SAY EXPERTS News Release
In his first weekly speech since his November 6 re-election, President Barack Obama said that he has a voter "mandate" for, and will insist on, much heavier taxes on "the richest Americans."

Without such taxes on the rich, President Obama has said, he will force the U.S. economy over the "fiscal cliff" into heavier taxes on most Americans, a devastating new Recession, and unemployment that will soar to above 9 percent starting January 1, 2013.

"Mr. Obama apparently thinks he has a winning political poker hand, because he knows his mainstream media allies will blame Republicans for the economic horrors caused if he hurls America off the 'fiscal cliff,'"says Craig R. Smith, whose just-published latest book is The Great Debasement: The 100-Year Dying of the Dollar and How to Get America's Money Back.

President Obama says he wants to tax the wealthy, yet this is almost impossible to do," says Craig Smith. "Two-thirds of upper income earners are also the owners and investors of companies that make the products that everybody, including the poor, buy," says Smith.

GOLD: 2013 'FISCAL CLIFF' SAFETY NET - Craig R. Smith
According to Swiss America Chairman Craig R. Smith, who first began warning of the dangers of a steep recession on Fox News' Neil Cavuto show last August, the future of gold will be bright - whether we renew Bush tax cuts or not.

Mr. Smith says if we tumble off the 2013 fiscal cliff; taxes will go up, spending will be slashed and we will cut the 2013 deficit by $600 billion. BUT we also will face a massive recession, which will likely prompt the Fed to provide liquidity. Both of which will push gold prices higher.

If, on the other hand, we kick the can down the road for months or years, or if Congress arrives at a compromise, then taxes will still go up for those earning $1 million+ a year. This will give businesses a new sense of certainty, which will move the $3.2T in corporate cash and $3T of individual savings now sitting on the sidelines. If $6T is suddenly injected into the economy, it will likely cause price inflation and higher gold prices. Cliff or no cliff, gold wins.

WORLD CANNOT AFFORD SECOND FISCAL CLIFF - Telegraph
The International Monetary Fund has elevated the fiscal cliff to a “medium probability event”. The Fund fears a very nasty “feedback loop” at this delicate juncture that could tip the global economy into a second leg of the Long Slump. This will go to the wire, and perhaps beyond. It has all the makings of a colossal debacle for America and the world.

The fiscal cliff is not an either/or outcome. Bank of America said a compromise of 2% or 3% tightening is possible, or even likely. With the economy so far tracking an annual growth rate of barely 1.5% in the fourth quarter - near stall speed - this alone could be enough to trigger the downward slide.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.9.12 - Metals: Antibodies in a Sick Economy - Listen

Gold prices held above $1,725/oz. Friday on safe haven buying despite a firmer dollar. Stocks slide 2% last week. Gold last traded at $1,731 an ounce. Silver traded at $32.55 an ounce.

"The rise in gold, silver and stimulus spending under President Obama are like antibodies in a sick economy," says Lowell Ponte, co-author of "The Great Debasement", a former think tank futurist and science editor at Reader's Digest.

sick “They reflect how weak the economy has become, and are symptoms of how afraid investors are,” says Ponte.

WHAT OBAMA'S RE-ELECTION MEANS FOR GOLD - MarketWatch
“With the fiscal cliff approaching fast, an entire new group of investors will be pouring into the precious metals in anticipation of the grim fact that the U.S. is going to try and print itself out of debt,” said David Morgan, publisher of The Morgan Report, a newsletter on precious-metals.

"Panic in Europe would also see an increase in gold prices as investors seek the safety of a stable store of value," said Paul Herber, portfolio manager of the Forward Commodity Long/Short Strategy Fund.

INVESTORS TURNING TO GOLD AS GLOBAL ECONOMIES STRUGGLE - Mineweb
Since the U.S. Presidential election it has been noticeable that gold in general has been rising in price regardless of U.S. dollar strength ... could be an indicator that gold's safe haven appeal is returning.

Along with the rise in the gold price, the VIX - or fear - index is rising as well. And if gold and the Vix are both rising, this again is yet another indicator that what U.S. Global Investor's chief Frank Holmes calls the fear trade is beginning to dominate gold price movement again. Recession realities are building and people are turning again to gold as their financial insurance policy.

WARNING: THE STOCK MARKET PANIC BUTTON IS ABOUT TO BE PUSHED - Minyanville
As Mark Twain once said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” As the eye is drawn to the upper left corner of the weekly SPX chart, one sees a very clear Orthodox Broadening Top with the resulting decline into the crash of 2008. Today we don’t have only one Broadening Formation -- there are several! One may draw the conclusion that this time may be different -- but in the worst possible way for those who are holding long and hoping. Don’t be the last person standing when the lights go out after the panic button is pushed.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.8.12 - Is America Past the Tipping Point? - Listen

Gold prices shot up near $1,735/oz. Thursday on safe haven buying despite a firmer dollar. Stocks fall on EU/fiscal cliff fears. Gold last traded at $1,733 an ounce. Silver traded at $32.40 an ounce.

Today political leaders vowed to try to avoid the "fiscal cliff" of spending cuts and tax increases that could push the U.S. into another recession. Can they come to an agreement in time? Everything You Need To Know About The Fiscal Cliff - WSJ Video

Cong. Ron Paul says this week's elections illustrate that the country has "already veered over the fiscal cliff" ... "We're so far gone".

In their new book The Great Debasement, Craig R. Smith and Lowell Ponte warned that with 49.1 percent of American households now receiving a government benefit, the 2012 election will be a tipping point in American history that could turn America permanently into a European-style welfare state.

goldrising OBAMA RE-ELECTION MEANS ‘PERFECT STORM' FOR GOLD - Mineweb
Gold analyst Jeff Nichols' feels that Obama's return to the White House, with Republicans maintaining control of the House of Representatives and the Democrats with only a weak majority in the Senate, represents the best of all possible worlds for gold investors.

"With the election now behind us, the market's short-term attention will re-focus on possible Federal Reserve policy initiatives that may be discussed or even initiated at the December 12th FOMC policy-setting meeting. There is already talk of further quantitative easing..."

FEARFUL INVESTORS SHOULD STOCK UP ON GOLD - FT
Gold usually rises in times of fiscal uncertainty, especially when such times lead to a big increase in money-printing and very low interest rates. On the supply side, gold miners are running out of high-grade ore, there are problems with labor in South Africa, and both working and capital costs have risen. Central banks have stopped selling their gold and become big buyers.

The tipping point will be when overseas creditors realize the best they can hope for is to be repaid in much-depreciated US dollars. Bill Gross of Pimco believes that unless the fiscal gap is closed soon, “the damage will be beyond repair”. Pimco counsels investors to hold gold “as a compelling inflation hedge and store of value that is potentially superior to fiat currencies”.

RON PAUL: ELECTION SHOWS U.S. 'FAR GONE' - WashTimes
Rep. Ron Paul, whose maverick presidential bids shook the GOP, said in the wake of this week's elections that the country has already veered over the fiscal cliff and he sees no chance of righting ship in a country where too many people are dependent on government.

"We're so far gone. We're over the cliff," the Texas Republican told Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop" program. "We cannot get enough people in Congress in the next 5-10 years who will do wise things." (Ed. Note: Sadly, we agree with Dr. Paul, which is why reading The Great Debasement is critical.)

THE REPUBLICAN WHO RE-ELECTED OBAMA - USAToday
Things have changed for Obama over the past four years. In 2012, Obama owed his re-election to just one man. He is white, grew up in the South and is a registered Republican. His name is Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve.

First, the Fed held down short-term interest rates that apply, for example, to credit card debt and automobile loans. Next, Bernanke signaled markets that they should anticipate low interest rates for as long as it took to reduce unemployment. Finally, he transformed the Fed into the lender of last resort.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.7.12 - Stocks Volatile, Metals Solid - Listen

Gold prices held above $1,700/oz. Wednesday on bargain hunting despite a firmer dollar. Stocks slide on fiscal cliff and EU fears. Gold last traded at $1,717 an ounce. Silver traded at $31.84 an ounce.

money A newly re-elected President Obama will push for higher taxes — including a dividend-tax hike that will cause a substantial drop in stocks, Pimco's Bill Gross told CNBC Wednesday.

Barack Obama’s victory in yesterday's presidential election virtually assures that the US will maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy. We can therefore expect the debasement of the US dollar and thus the rise of gold to continue. In fact, if gold were to continue to rise at the average annual rate that it has for the past 11 years, we can expect it to reach $3,360 by the end of December 2016, reports 247Bull

MARKET UNDER OBAMA SHOWS SYMPTOMS OF SICKNESS: EXPERTS - News Release

OBAMA RE-ELECTION MIGHT BE FATAL TO DOLLAR, ECONOMY

The morning after President Barack Obama's re-election, stocks plunged more than 351 points, far below 13,000 to 12,876.60, the market's biggest one-day point drop in a year.

“This is one more symptom of a sickening economy under President Obama,” says monetary expert Craig R. Smith, whose just-published latest book is The Great Debasement: The 100-Year Dying of the Dollar and How to Get America's Money Back.

“Since Mr. Obama's inauguration in January 2009, the price of gold rose 91 percent and of silver 165 percent, symptoms of investors being worried about the future of stocks and the value of the dollar. The Dollar Index has fallen by almost 5 percent, from 85.47 in January 2009 to 80.77 today,” says Smith.

“The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 61 percent on election day this week,” says Smith, “but under President Obama our upside-down stock market has gone up on bad news and down on good news. Market speculators now buy on whatever will prompt the Federal Reserve to conjure more stimulus billions out of thin air.”

“Our sick economy is not recovering,” says Smith. “The stimulus not only failed, it made things worse. Fearful of the tidal wave of future inflation this flood of paper money will soon cause business people to cut back on investment and hiring, according to an economic analysis at the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank we discuss in our book The Great Debasement."

“The rise in gold, silver and stimulus spending under President Obama are like antibodies in a sick economy,” says Smith's co-author Lowell Ponte, a former think tank futurist and former science editor at Reader's Digest.

“They reflect how weak the economy has become, and are symptoms of how afraid investors are,” says Ponte.

“President Obama's re-election will make our economy even sicker,” predicts Ponte.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.6.12 - Markets Rally Amid Election Cliffhanger - Listen

Gold prices shot over $1,700/oz. Tuesday on bargain hunting and a weaker dollar. Stocks rise despite Election Day angst. Gold last traded at $1,716 an ounce. Silver traded at $31.99 an ounce.

A GREAT DEBASEMENT, NO MATTER WHO IS PRESIDENT - Craig R. Smith

vote Today monetary "debasement" is being screamed from the roof tops. No matter who is elected, this modern debasement of our money will continue in America as well as throughout the entire world.

Why? Because there is no other choice - short of a worldwide default!

The only way to strengthen the U.S. dollar is to raise interest rates dramatically. But raising interest rates would cause a deep and prolonged recession. And more importantly, it would explode the size of interest payments due on the $16 trillion of debt chained to us and our children.

In 1979, Federal debt was $826 billion, just 1/20th of the $16 trillion we owe today. Reagan raised interest rates to combat inflation and strengthen the markets and the U.S. dollar. Which it did.

Many people think Mitt Romney (if elected) would do same thing Reagan did to strengthen the dollar. But that can't happen this time around. Using the Reagan play book today simply will not work like it did 30 years ago because of the gargantuan debt.

Any major interest rate hike now would cripple the budget, as massive revenues would be diverted to pay interest to our creditors. It would explode the deficits and crush any chance of a balanced budget over the long-term. It would also be like thrusting a dagger into the heart of a very anemic economy and auto industry still hanging on by a thread.

So the bottom line, whoever wins tonight, monetary debasement will continue. We have no other option. Until the world recovers, China starts growing again and our GDP is back to well above 5% or more we will not see a let up in this currency debasement. Therefore, higher gold prices are almost a certainty going forward.

OBAMA OR ROMNEY, STOCKS STILL OVERPRICED: ROSENBERG - Marketwatch
David Rosenberg, investment manager Gluskin Sheff & Associates sees a nation where stocks are 20% overpriced against a U.S. economy that faces, if not an outright recession, then a “growth relapse” that would trim GDP expansion to around 1% at best.

No matter who wins the presidential election, Rosenberg adds, Washington will tighten its belt in 2013 – the only way “to put the nation's finances on a more stable footing.”

BANKS STRUGGLE TO ADAPT OR SURVIVE IN COMMODITIES - Reuters
The top five banks in the global commodities trade have reached a point where they must decide to hold strategy, adapt, or give up and get out. The 2008 financial crisis forced tighter regulation on banks that trade oil, metals and agriculture. This has led to banks deciding to "throw in the towel" and discontinue trading these commodities.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.5.12 - Why 'Vote Gold' in 2012? - Listen

Gold prices rose toward $1,700/oz. Monday on bargain hunting despite a firmer dollar. Stocks mixed up on election uncertainty. Gold last traded at $1,684 an ounce. Silver traded at $31.17 an ounce.

vote An Obama win will likely propel gold prices higher in the short term and long term. A Romney win could boost the buck temporarily, sending gold prices lower short-term. But if Republicans follow through with their Gold Commission talk and plans to replace Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, gold will shine long-term. Either way gold and silver win as the U.S. grapples with astronomical debt.

Wise investors will use any price dip as an excellent long-term buying opportunity. No matter the outcome of the U.S. election, the looming fiscal cliff of $400 billion in automatic spending cuts and tax increases looms large.

THE SECRET RETURN TO THE "GOLD STANDARD" - MoneyMorning
The world's central banks have quietly – almost secretly – returned the world to a new version of the gold standard. Back in 2010, the world's central banks became net buyers of gold for the first time since 1988. Buying ramped last year and net purchases exceeded 455 metric tons (tonnes). That was the largest net purchase since 1964.

OBAMANOMICS = NEVER ENOUGH JOBS - NYPost
The core of President Obama’s re-election argument is this: The economy is on the right track; things are getting better — stay the course. This “recovery” has yet to bring us a period of strong job growth to make up for what was lost in the recession — to close the “Jobs Gap.”

We need tax reform that rewards investment rather than lobbying. We need entitlement reform that creates a safety net rather than a debt trap. And we need a president who understands that wealth is created by innovators, not regulators.

ROMNEY VS. OBAMA: WHO'S BEST FOR THE ECONOMY? - Forbes
Governments can’t create economic growth, but they can put up barriers to it. The question then is what are those barriers, and which candidate, Romney or Obama, will reduce the barriers the most. What are those barriers?

1. Taxation – Taxes are nothing more than a price. They’re a price we place on productive economic activity.
2. Regulation – Regulations as a rule inhibit the profit motive.
3. Tariffs – Tariffs are a direct tax on our work.
4. Stable Money Values – Though our hapless Fed Chairman in Ben Bernanke would like you to believe otherwise, the creation of money for the sake of creating it is decidedly not an economic stimulant.

Comparing the economic programs of Romney and Obama, overall Romney is the winner. Though his economic plan is not nearly pro-growth enough, he’s better than Obama on taxes, regulation, and monetary policy, but it should be once again said that his trade policies vis-à-vis China are dangerous, and they could more than erase any good that would come from retiring Bernanke.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.2.12 - The Real Choice on Election Day is ... - Listen

Gold prices retreated below $1,700/oz. Friday on profit taking and a stronger dollar amid mixed jobs data. Stocks fall. Gold last traded at $1,676 an ounce. Silver traded at $30.92 an ounce.

U.S. payrolls were up 171,000, but unemployment also rose to 7.9%, higher than when president Obama first came to office in 2009 and the highest unemployment rate of any incumbent since Franklin Roosevelt.

Meanwhile, gold and silver prices fell over 2% on the assumption that the economic environment is improving slightly. As recently reported, any weakness in precious metals prices prior to or just following the election should be viewed as yet another buying opportunity.

RE-ELECTED GRINCHBAMA COULD STEAL NEXT 4 CHRISTMASES, SAY ECONOMIC EXPERTS - Press Release
If progressive Democratic President Barack Obama is re-elected, this will persuade many thousands of investors that the United States is no longer a friendly country for free enterprise or business, say two economic analysts in a new book.

grinch “President Obama has said he will take America over the 'fiscal cliff' on January 1, 2013, and wreck America's economy and credit rating unless he is able to impose trillions of dollars in higher taxes on businesses and their owners,” says Craig R. Smith, whose just-published latest book is The Great Debasement: The 100-Year Dying of the Dollar and How to Get America's Money Back.

“One immediate effect will be that a re-elected President Obama will be the Grinch who steals Christmas, not just in 2012 but for his next four years in office,” says Smith, the founder and chairman of a major company who is frequently interviewed by Fox's Neil Cavuto and other business media.

“The real choice people face on election day isn't between President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney,” says Ponte.

“The real choice on Americans' ballot,” says Ponte, “is whether voters are so committed to ruinous class warfare that they are willing to sacrifice their own children's future, and to destroy America's economic future, by voting to re-elect President Barack Obama and his failed high-tax, high-debt, high-unemployment, anti-free enterprise ideology.”

THE CHOICE - WashPost
Government grows in size and power as the individual shrinks into dependency. Until the tipping point where dependency becomes the new norm — as it is in Europe, where even minor retrenchment of the entitlement state has led to despair and, for the more energetic, rioting.

An Obama second term means that the movement toward European-style social democracy continues, in part by legislation, in part by executive decree. The American experiment — the more individualistic, energetic, innovative, risk-taking model of democratic governance — continues to recede, yielding to the supervised life of the entitlement state.

If Obama loses, however, his presidency becomes a historical parenthesis, a passing interlude of overreaching hyper-liberalism, rejected by a center-right country that is 80 percent non-liberal.

Should they summon the skill and dexterity, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan could guide the country to the restoration of a more austere and modest government with more restrained entitlements and a more equitable and efficient tax code. Those achievements alone would mark a new trajectory — a return to what Reagan started three decades ago.

Every four years we are told that the coming election is the most important of one’s life. This time it might actually be true. At stake is the relation between citizen and state, the very nature of the American social contract.

ECONOMIC BOOMS & BUSTS OF THE GOLD STANDARD ERA - Forbes
Did “booms and busts” take place during times when a gold standard system was in use? Of course. These were caused for all manner of reasons, none of which include a currency

What gold standard critics are really talking about when blaming gold for “booms and busts” is that a gold standard system prevents “macroeconomic management” via currency manipulation. These economists are convinced that they could deal with any sort of economic problem with their funny money toolkit.

CHINA RATINGS FIRMS CHALLENGE US DOMINANCE - BBCnews
Chinese ratings agencies are setting up ventures overseas and challenging the "Big Three" US-based firms that are used to asses the creditworthiness of the world's governments and corporations. These three are Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch Group.

More: Swiss America Gold Market News


11.1.12 - Will Unemployment Surprise "Do a Job" on Voters? - Listen

Gold prices eased back Thursday on profit taking following government economic, confidence, and jobs data. Stocks cheer. Gold last traded at $1,715 an ounce. Silver traded at $32.26 an ounce.

CBNC reports there’s talk on Wall Street about the possibility of the Fed providing further monetary accommodation in response to the damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy. Could this mean "QE Sandy"?

Gold price to rally regardless of who is elected President reports London Telegraph. Analysts at London's GoldCore predict the gold price may consolidate short-term no matter which presidential candidate is elected, but long-term trend for gold remains upward.

job WILL FRIDAY REPORT “DO A JOB” ON AMERICAN VOTERS? - Press Release
DO NOT SWALLOW OBAMA'S JOBS REPORT, SAY EXPERTS
President Barack Obama's “October Surprise” could arrive on November 2, only four days before the election – an official October “Jobs Report” manipulated to create the illusion that Mr. Obama's economic policies are starting to succeed, say two economic experts.

“For the first 43 months of President Obama's term, unemployment was stuck above 8 percent,” says Craig R. Smith, whose just-published latest book is The Great Debasement: The 100-Year Dying of the Dollar and How to Get America's Money Back.

“The grim reality of 24 million Americans unable to find full-time work was destroying Mr. Obama's chances for re-election,” says Smith, “but then, something strange happened.”

“The government's September [2012] jobs report, issued October 5, surprised experts by saying that the jobless rate had somehow declined from 8.2 to 7.8 percent,” Smith writes in The Great Debasement.

“This was the largest one-month jobless decline in 29 years,” writes Smith, “which back then happened when the economy under President Ronald Reagan was growing by more than 5 percent.”

TIME FOR ECONOMISTS TO ADMIT ECONOMIC IGNORANCE - Reuters
It is time for economists to admit that they are stumped. Four years after being blindsided by Lehman Brothers’ collapse, the profession is still stumbling in the dark. Policymakers and pundits still make confident pronouncements, but the conclusions are radically different. The expert disagreements give away the truth: ignorance reigns. Here are six crucial questions which professionals should stop pretending they can answer.

TAX UNCERTAINTY FUELING BUSINESSES TO SELL -WSJ
A looming increase in the capital-gains tax rate next year is fueling sales of some privately-held businesses reports WSJ. The tax on investment income is scheduled to rise from 15% currently to at least 23.8%.

When Obamacare’s individual mandate takes effect in 2014, all Americans who file income tax returns must complete an additional IRS tax form. The new form will require disclosure of a taxpayer’s personal identifying health information in order to determine compliance with the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, according to Americans for Tax Reform.

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