Quote from: I, Brian on March 26, 2012, 02:35:13 PMI think having George W Bush as "President" was a pretty big clue.

You are only part right. The parts you missed are Clinton and Obama.

The oligarchs are both Democrat and Repulbican.

To say or imply that someone from one party was indicative of the problem is giving the other party an undeserved free pass.

the Mainstream Media doesn't give it justice - Russia Times does a super job.

Janet Tavikoli has a superb grasp and states the truth eloquently here

Financial Oligarchy and the New Robber Barons w/Derivatives Guru Janet Tavakoli

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTWKT3pZgT8&feature=player_embedded#!

Thanks for the welcome

Sadly, I do not share your hopefulness.

Our country and our financial system and country are being run by the Robber Barons of today.

You would be right to be hopeful if our country was run under the rule of law and with integrity. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

It has now come out that Corzine directly ordered the transfer of funds to JPM

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-24/mf-global-s-corzine-ordered-funds-moved-to-jp-morgan-memo-says.html

from the link

Quote from: the link"Ms. O'Brien wrote in an e-mail that the transfer was 'Per JC's [Jon Corzine's] direct instructions'

Barry Zubrow, JPMorgan's chief risk officer, called Corzine to seek assurances that the funds belonged to MF Global and not customers. JPMorgan drafted a letter to be signed by O'Brien to ensure that MF Global was complying with rules requiring customers' collateral to be segregated. The letter was not returned to JPMorgan, the memo said.

This not only indicates that Corzine should be indicted, but that JP Morgan was aware that the money was most likely from segregated funs and as such should be returned to the account holders (clawed back due to it's being illegally transferred)

The reason I began this thread with the post about MF Global, is because It clearly shows that the Robber Barons are above the law, and the oligarchs are running the country.

If you see indictments and convictions in the MF Global matter, and money clawed back from JP Morgan,  and returned to account holders I will then agree that there is reason for hope.

Instead, the trustee is being asked that bonuses to be paid to MF Global muckety mucks.

Bascially, the comments by JPM's Michael Feroli, are the critical part at the link.

I personally do not like blaming this on Obama (who I did not vote for) because I believe that both parties are equally guilty.

Be warned that Zero Hedge is a bear den, and suffers from a common bearish slant. I tend to the bear side, even so - ZH is pretty bearish. Still there is much good info there. And at the links they have on the left side.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/jp-morgan-finds-obama-and-us-central-planning-has-broken-economic-virtuous-cycle

Quote from: linked articleIn a nutshell, Feroli finds that "Productivity, which used to be procyclical, has now turned countercyclical"

Quote from: dogboy on March 24, 2012, 01:41:32 PM
>what specifically to do
I hear you.  Right now, I'm just looking at the big picture. I move cash to metals, and am trying to dump the Florida vacation home.  Guns and ammo were never an issue with me, as we have enough to weapons to literally fully outfit a small army... over 50 guns for just about any conceivable situation.This is just for the autos...I have more for shotguns, hunting rifles, and pistols.

People laugh ...

I'm not laughing, I'm admiring!

Serious preps there.

You can never have too many guns or too much ammo.

Quote from: dogboy on March 23, 2012, 03:27:38 AM
could we be seeing the beginning of the end of the Comex Silver/Gold paper market?

Could be, but probably still a way off.

There's an interesting video of Kyle Bass where he talks about face to face discussions with Comex warehouse facilities about, what if you don't have enough metal on hand for people to take delivery? their response was "price resolves everything" so Bass said "as a fiduciary there is no question but for me to take physical delivery ( at the time of purchase and avoid warehouse receipts as proof of his position) - He was acting on behalf of a major university in Texas.

Fwiw, as a believer in PM for decades - I rarely see posts or comments about the fact that years back on the London Metal Exchange, they actually ran out of Nickel, and were unable to meet calls for delivery. They essentially gathered all the numbers, told people what percentage of their position they would get, what the price would be - take it or leave it. It is reasonable to assume that there is equivalent Language in the fine print for everyone dealing with Comex.

As a practical matter, I think Bernanke and crew, and all of their bankster buddies will go to great lengths to keep Comex the place to be for gold and silver. They will have input as to margin that must be posted, position limits, etc., and be able to do all they can to keep gold/silver down

Quote from: dogboy on March 23, 2012, 02:12:52 PMDD, I couldn't have said it any better myself; I totally agree with you.

heh, heh Always enjoy dialogue with someone who understands the situation.

Quote from: dogboy on March 23, 2012, 02:12:52 PMEveryone is going to lose in the future. But some of us are going to lose much less than others because they were prepared.

There will be an overall decline, but some will do better than others. And a few, will do quite well. Depends on how well we can position ourselves, at this point - I wish I had a better grip on what specifically to do, but feel I am somewhat prepared.

Quote from: buckworks on March 23, 2012, 06:16:21 AMI recommend some reading around http://www.chrismartenson.com/ if you haven't discovered it already.

And hello to you buckworks. Chris is one of the several dozen or so sites that I commonly frequent. Sharp guy, and able to verbalize it well. I at one time thought of Canada as being a good place to bugout to.

However. It is a global problem, I am comfortable in my home, have my firearms and family nearby, so will ride it out here.

If things get worse than I'm thinking, those mountains aren't far away.

Quote from: dogboy on March 22, 2012, 11:06:02 PM
Sir, like Jason, please allow me to welcome you to our little piece of the Internet. It's a pleasure to meet you....how it could affect all of us.......we are people who like to watch where the puck is going and get there before the next guy, so big picture discussion, in that light, is always welcome.

Pleased to meet you also, and my son is a great guy that I also turn to for advice at times.

As to where the puck is going, it is not going to a good place.

If I were to attempt to make specific projections with a time line, I would most certainly be wide of the mark. However, there are some generalities that I believe are likely.

Central banks will continue to print until there is some form of collapse. They are now coordinated in their efforts. It is pretty clear that the perma-growth model is not fiscally sustainable, and governments around the world will kick the can for as long as possible. The best and appropriate alternatives are not politically acceptable.

For years, I thought there would be some form of SHTF scenario, but I now believe that although possible, it is unlikely. Further, the central bankers of the world have already kicked the can down the road further than I expected with huge expansions of their balance sheets.

We may well at some point see riots in the streets as you have in Greece, but the social order has not broken down there - at least it has not at this point.

To understand where the puck is going, you have to clearly understand where it has been and where it is now.

There has been a huge debt bubble that is worldwide, and it has popped. It cannot be reinflated. All that can happen now, is for it to hopefully deflate gradually, in such a manner as for the entire system to keep functioning.

All money today is backed by debt. We have in the US and other countries of the world, debt based monetary systems.

Debt however has costs. It has creation costs, and carrying costs. The debt has reached such a level that we can no longer sustain practical costs of creating and servicing increased levels of debt. The current system in the US, is that of securitized or "bundled" debt. Basically, this can only overcome the original cost of creating (under the current system) if the product is misrepresented. A key to understanding our current situation is the fact that no systemic changes are being made. Nothing is being resolved. Instead of having too big  to fail, we have bigger too big to fail.

Pretty much, governments of the world, at the national, state/province and local levels, along with many businesses, insurance companies, various parts of the financial sector, pension funds, institutional investors, etc. all base their projections for their budgets, revenues, etc. on increased growth.

Increased growth will not be there, any more than the unemployment statistics are realistic and true.

So, if you are unable to print money, governments increase taxes, and layoff in an attempt to get closer to balance - increased taxes diverts money from the private producing sector, layoffs have less workers putting money back into the economy and you have a downward spiral that only ends when all of the bad debt is completely cleared.

Greece cannot be saved. The people of Greece are not getting any of the money from the bailouts, the money is going to pay off noteholders. Portugal is next, Spain is probably too big to bail-out, Italy for sure – basically the Eurozone is close to falling apart. Hey, they are roughly equivalent to the US in GDP and population, it will affect the world financial sector and world economy depending on how and what happens there.

The levels of debt are quite high, too high for the debts to be paid.

Next up, in two or three years – Japan.

And if we don't quit deficit spending in the US,  the US die will be cast by the time Japan  goes, we will already be so far gone that our default is inevitable, although it will be another several years before actual default occurs. Although not technically a default, printing enough to pay the US debt (which we have already started, by buying T's) and hyperinflating the currency will essentially be a default for all practical purposes.

I have commented to my son, more than a couple of times – every thing you know, all of your adult experiences as relate to financial and work matters have been within a bubble. A bubble that cannot be reblown.

There is no good trade at the moment, that I am aware of. One really needs to be hedged and diversified. Right now we are looking at return of investment more than return on investment.

I have seen well reasoned cases to the effect that Bernanke in fact brought the equities markets down in order to drive money into Treasuries.  Long term, however, equities may do better than other sectors because the markets should rise with printing.

I do think that the original post about producing land being a good thing to get into now or in the next several years may well be a good trade.

Gold should probably do well, but if you notice is headed down at the moment. I'm close to buying some but have not yet pulled the trigger.

My business is doing well and I hope to have some money that I need to put somewhere  in the next several years. But, damned if I know where to put it.

Look at it this way, we're probably not going to know what the Eurozone is going to look like till 2015 or so, and Japan is going to be getting pretty interesting about then, and by that time it will likely be obvious to most that the US is in serious trouble.

So, while I cannot say exactly where within the above scenario that the puck is going, I can tell it is not a good place.

Quote from: JasonD on March 22, 2012, 07:09:27 PM
I have absolutely no idea at all on what is being discussed here but I can say DrasticDad, a pleasure to meet you.

Thanks.

Not sure what I have to contribute to core issues, but I have done a great deal of reading and thinking about the economic future of the US, where we are, and where we are headed.

http://english.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/03/mf-global-roundup-louis-freeh-feeling.html

Basically, the link I have posted shows one part of how corruption permeates the US financial system.

If you have not heard of MF Global - it was a brokerage house that went under, that comingled customer funds with their own funds, about 1.6 billion dollars in customer funds initially missing. No indictments. Press releases to the effect the money "vaporized."  (untrue, the money went somewhere, probably most of it went to JP Morgan on margin calls).

At this time - approximately 72 cents on the dollar of average customer payouts, according to the trustee.

Many of these customers were farmers that hedged their production. Some were traders, some did business with other brokerages that cleared their trades thru MF Global. Gerald Celente lost a sizeable position where he was going to take delivery on gold futures.

Jon Corzine - well connected former Governor of NJ. No charges brought. He says he "didn't know about daily activities" yet he traded one of the largest accounts for MF Global actively, and it was his trades that took the company down. So, for stealing 1.6 billion of the customers money - they want permission from the court to pay bonuses!

Video by William K. Black is well worth watching - he knows what is going on.

A lot of people know and make public the laws that have been broken, credentialed people such as William K Black, Janet Tavokoli, RC Whalen - a list of people have made public criticisms that the mainstream media will not follow up on, and that no prosecutor will act on. Instead, they expect to be  given bonuses. And why not, the banks had to be bailed out, and they then gave bonuses!

Sadly, I now believe that the US is basically an oligarchy. Please, no Democrat or Republican slanted comments on this - they both - with a few notable exceptions - line up with the oligarchs. We have got to drop the "two party" slant to our thinking and realize that it is not Republicans or Democrats running the country - it's the oligarchs.

If you are unaware of the MF Global situation , please do a search and some reading. If you do that, you may open your eyes as to what the US has become.

There's an old saying. There never is just one cockroach.

Got money in the markets? So did the customers of MF Global..

Lake chatuge would be good, more thought of by me as to being in NC, because the NC side is closer to us and not that far from Asheville. I don't really like being right on a lake for a SHTF scenario - to easy for an intruder to slip up on you by boat, any time day or night. If you were in a hollow surrounded by steep hills on three sides - you only have to defend the front.

My vote is for the thermal belt area of Western NC.  up around Rutherfordton, Marion, Spindale, Isothermal college in the thermal belt. buy something on a stream, has long growing season for the area, moderate winters, still only about an hour or so from Asheville, or GSP, little further to Charlotte.

The area should have low real estate prices, yet is close to modern hospitals, etc.

Dogbuy is thinking right, though - along western carolinas, NE ga, also possibly around Elizabethton, Tenn. or other places along the NC/Tenn border

Between robbinsville NC and and Maryville Tenn would also be good. could spend the weekend at http://www.snowbirdlodge.com/ and ride around, gorgeous. Joyce Kilmer National Forest. If you get over the border in Tenn, there is no state income tax.

Robbinsville is about as close to nowhere as you can get and still be in the southeast. Lake fontana is gorgeous, but mostly federal land. Robbinsville has like a dollar general and two fast food places and two gas stations, that or something like that.  Absolutely gorgeous area, IMO. Winters more harsh than the thermal belt.

The thermal belt is real, and winters are milder there.

BTW, don't know where the person asking this question is from - but these backwater places in the southeast can be a whole lot like stepping back in time. Might be a rude shock to someone not accustomed to small town, rural, mountain folks.