THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD
December 22 is a Solstice Day in 2011
The December solstice will occur at 05:30 (or 5:30am) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on December 22, 2011. It is also known as the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere and the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere due to the seasonal differences.LET'S TRAVEL DOWN THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD.......
WARNING!! YOU MUST HAVE YOUR REAL EYES OPEN
A WARNING, FROM ONE OF OUR “FOUNDING FATHERS”
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people, ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property, until their children wake-up homeless, on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”
~ Thomas Jefferson ~ 3rd President of The United States (1743-1826)
1ST SIGN POST
"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression.... There is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such a twilight that we must be most aware of change in the air -- however slight -- lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." -- William O. Douglas, US Supreme Court Justice from 1939--1975
This is Where the American Illusion Comes to an End - 2012 The End of the World As We Know It
THE JOURNEY BEGINS ---------------
Mexico Mayan region launches apocalypse countdown
With precisely one year left for the world and all of its inhabitants, at least according to the Mayans, not to mention on the day of the Winter Solstice, it is only fitting that US debt, net of all settlements for all already completed bond auctions, is now at precisely $15,182,756,264,288.80. Why is this relevant?
Because the latest annualized US GDP,according to the BEA, was $15,180,900,000.00. Which means that, as of today, total US debt to GDP is 100.012%.Congratulations America: you are now in the triple digit "debt to GDP" club!
(naturally, this is using purely "on the books" data. If one adds the NPV of all US liabilities, and adjusts GDP for such things as today's housing contraction, then the magical triple digit threshold was breached long, long ago).
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'Inside Job' provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. It was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.
This is about developing our own Karma and being true to ourselves.
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December 23, 2011
“Over the past few months, those who have been paying attention have witnessed some of the most disturbing developments in modern American history unfold at breakneck speed.
This includes the explicit codification of indefinite detention without charge or trial as well as rendition under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Fiscal Year 2012, the KBR move to create a team of sub-contractors to activate the so-called FEMA camps on a moment’s notice and the designation of American citizens as the enemy under Continuity of Government (COG) plans created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Unfortunately, the file revealing the FEMA COG plans, entitled “National Continuity Programs (NCP) Program and Mission Support Services (PAMSS)” was quickly removed from the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) official website, according to Infowars.”
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Jim Willie CB, editor of the “HAT TRICK LETTER”
Divergence between paper gold and physical gold price is happening, the process begun.
Actual physical shortages have kept the price up.
The naked shorting of futures has kept the paper price down.
The fraud cases and lawsuits, with no hint of prosecution, provide the levered force to create much wider divergence, as traders and entire firms depart the tainted crime scene that is the COMEX.
Trust has vanished along with private accounts.
At the center of the backdrop for the divergence, apart from the criminal events, is the economic deterioration and asset market downdraft.
It leads to margin calls, loan payment obligations, fading investor confidence, negative sentiment, and a desire to avoid loss.
Hence the huge liquidity concerns, selling of good assets that command a strong price, and central bank encouragement of gold sales even with lease.
These forces conspire to push down the gold futures price from the discovery process, called the paper gold price.
These forces, although real, are exaggerated by the Syndicate to explain all. On the other side is the desperation among central bankers to cover debt securities up for sale or rollover funding.
They resort to utter hyper inflation by monetizing the many types of government bonds.
They are obligated to aid their banker cohorts, and thus purchase truckloads of badly impaired sovereign bonds and other collateralized bonds.
Over time these sovereign bonds have proved toxic.
The compelling need to stimulate economies, to redeem toxic bonds, and to recapitalize and nationalize the big banks adds to the monetary inflation outcome. Therefore, two sides are in opposition in a battle to the death of one or the other.
No middle ground can be achieved, not any longer.
It is the quintessential battle between monetary hyper inflation and restoring bank system integrity to avert collapse.
The insolvency has recently met illiquidity. The battle features strong forces on each side. The divergence between physical and paper gold price is widening.
The incurable speculator junkies committed to the addictive leveraged game rigged by the Forces of Evil seem stuck at the casino tables, where fingers are lost, finally entire hands and arms.
If their practice was to purchase physical, they could benefit from the paper price swoon, and join the Forces of Good team, rather than fighting the evil side on their dominated turf.
To be sure, many aware analysts in the news maintain a small gold position in COMEX that is rolled over constantly.
Many have physical positions but keep with the paper trades as a hobby, better described as an addition to the juice. Leverage cuts both ways. Their continued activity has left them exposed to theft, while knowing the criminality was widespread within the arena.
So many players and firms are departing the arena altogether like Ann Barnhardt of BCM Capital. The divergence between physical and paper gold price is widening.
The desperation of the bad team is growing.
The gold cartel has benefited significantly from the fresh Libyan gold supply (144 metric tons) and Greek gold supply (111 metric tons), not to mention the ample Dollar Swap Facility. It is the bankers New Gold, as reported by intrepid Jeff Neilson.
In a fresh sign of bankster desperation, the lease rates for gold have been pushed down to net negative levels.
The fresh supply from the two broken nations has greatly aided the COMEX, providing new cannon fodder.
Perhaps more wars to liberate the oppressed can be conjured up, to release more tyrant wealth. It is not a coincidence that negative gold lease rates came when Libyan gold was made available (heisted) and when Italian sovereign bonds went into critical DEFCON mode.
The gold supply helped to aid the lack of bond demand.
The gold lease story is analyzed more fully in the December Hat Trick Letter.
INELASTICITY BLEMISH
A preface is warranted. The paper Gold market is very different in its internal dynamics from the physical. The paper Gold market shows signs of inelasticity that borders on comical.
Witness the low demand in 2001 and 2002 when Gold had a paper price tag at $300 or less per ounce.
Witness nowadays the amplified selling when the paper price declines. The leverage from the corrupted paper mechanisms forces margin pressures and sales.
The leveraged game goes opposite to the real world of price mechanisms. On the upside, global demand rises with a rising physical price, called the gold fever.
The inelasticity on the supply side is prevalent in the paper market, while the inelasticity on the demand side is prevalent on the physical market.
To confuse the mix, mining firms realize some inelasticity as price falls, they are stuck with a liquidity crunch on their forward sales ruin. A huge amount of money is required to cover their losses, urged on by Wall Street advisors.
Their mining operations suffer from lack of funds, and projects are curtailed.
The paradoxical differences in dynamics help to push the gap between the paper and physical Gold price.
The incompatible forces work to rip apart the COMEX.
The divergence between physical and paper gold price is widening.
ILLICIT USAGE OF CLIENT FUNDS AS COLLATERAL
The hypothecation battle will bring sufficient publicity to help the divergence along. As more assets are seen as committed, involved, and tainted in the process of grabbing, snatching, and securing collateral, even by illegal means, the physical assets will be removed from the system. Parties will remove accounts and metal from the COMEX in response from basic self-preservation.
On the investment and speculation side, harm has been rendered to managed risk. The client funds have begun to flee.
The protection and security of money in private accounts has been under siege in recent weeks since the MF Global crime scene was established and the yellow tape cordon has been put in place.
Investors are pulling money out of hedge funds at a rapid rate. The COMEX will be increasingly isolated.
Clients funds were redeemed to the tune of $9 billion in October, almost four times as much as they pulled in September, according to Barclay Hedge and TrimTabs Investment Research. Investors in October yanked more from hedge funds, setting a single month high over the last two years.
The redemptions are the largest for the hedge fund industry since July 2009, when $17.8 billion was returned. The Barclay Hedge office put lipstick on the corrupt pig by commenting on how investors have lost patience with lackluster investor returns. To be sure, the average hedge fund is down by about 4% this year.
The global hedge fund industry size has been reduced to $1.66 trillion, still sizeable.
It is always interesting, if not amusing, to read the spin from the isolated corners. Hedge funds are seeing capital depart for the simple reason of moving away from crime centers. In the process the COMEX is being isolated.
With increased isolation comes the easily recognized fraud. Look for some major stories soon about the raids to the GLD and SLV inventories by their custodians engaged in naked shorting.
The Exchange Traded Fund fraud story is analyzed more fully in the December Hat Trick Letter.
The divergence between physical and paper gold price is widening.
DYNAMICS OF PAPER VERSUS PHYSICAL BASIS
Grand divergence dynamics are becoming clear. Ann Barnhardt explained in detail how the COMEX will go away.
It will not default, but rather fall into irrelevance.
She laid it out in credible detailed form with numerous factors coming to play. The COMEX might still suffer the shame and spotlight of criminal prosecution.
It will more certainly suffer from being ignored and shunned.
The physical basis market will not respond to the declines in the paper futures market.
The current dominant market will go away due to lost integrity and eroded trust. The consequences and implications of the recent major scandal and coverup are enormous, staggering, and sweeping.
The changes from the MF Global failure and theft of private segregated accounts will come in time, perhaps accelerated by another similar event to slam the message home. The Syndicate has turned desperate, resorting to theft in the open daylight, which has resulted in direct consequences.
Hundreds of COMEX clients waited in line for delivery of gold, and had their wallets stolen by JPMorgan. Their Gold & Silver set for delivery found its way into JPMorgan accounts at the COMEX.
The details of the missing silver then reappearing silver is discussed in the December Hat Trick Letter.
The slow mentally overlook this fact.
The alert who point to fraud consider it a smoking gun.
On its face, evidence mounts that JPMorgan simply converted 614k ounces of MF Global client silver into JPM licensed vaults.
Big hats off to the Silver Doctors for excellent financial fraud forensic analysis.
Do not expect prosecution over the crime, for MF Global, for JPMorgan, or for the accomplices in London, not even Jon Corzine.
The Fascist Business Model in the Untied States does not permit prosecution.
The bigger the crime, the more likely the perpetrator is in control of the government high offices, the financial ministry, the printing press, or the regulators.
Ann Barnhardt explained how the COMEX will fade away into oblivion. Its final chapter will be marred by a grand price divergence, where the futures market price declines from shunned avoidance, while the cash physical market price holds steady then rises.
Many including the Jackass had thought that a slew of delivery demands would force a drain in their gold & silver inventory, eventually leading to a slew of lawsuits, together to shut them down as a corrupt enterprise arena.
The MF Global theft reveals the alternative route that seems more clear. The gold cartel led by JPMorgan and secretly by the USFed will not go quietly. They have resorted to theft of private accounts on the open stage.
The money is not missing. That is the lie.
It is held in JPMorgan accounts in London, where fraud laws are more relaxed. We have seen this Madoff movie before, but it will be shown on the silver screen again. The divergence between physical and paper gold price is widening.
The backlash has begun and will gain strength. Barnhardt offered many cogent arguments with detail on how the COMEX will be ignored from distrust and suspicion of further thefts, as clients remove funds and close accounts.
Here are her main points.
They apply to Gold & Silver.
She has the Barnhardt weblog: http://barnhardt.biz/
Arbitrage is set to kick in. Players will buy at the cheaper corrupt paper market in COMEX and sell in the higher honest physical market, wherever brokers can match to make deals.
(It is the same phenomenon that ripped the Euro sovereign bond market apart, as the German Govt Bond yields remained much lower than the Spanish and Greek.) They will take advantage of a strong basis, buy at the discount offered by COMEX, and sell into the cash spot physical market.
A linchpin holds the market together. Keeping the futures markets tied to the underlying cash physical market is the fact that the futures contracts permit taking delivery. That delivery mechanism just broke as linchpin in full view. The futures market has lost viability and trustworthiness because of the MFG collapse and theft.
The entire delivery mechanism has been corrupted and undermined. Taking delivery has meant a holding of physical metal bars is stored in a certified vault with your name attached. No longer are such holdings considered safe.
Thefts occurred, and lawsuits have occurred to decided upon ownership of bars in dispute.
The de-coupling process comes when arbitrageurs finally lose all confidence in market interaction dynamics, as the cash market will lose connection on price from the futures market. Players will not be willing to take the risk of having their money, positions, and physical metals stolen or confiscated.
As players flee the futures market, the paper futures prices will decline. The cash physical market will hold steady. The divergence will come and be noticed, then be widely publicized. The players will realize that the physical market is the only remaining game to be played with honest rules in effect.
The cash dealers will ignore the futures prices, no longer a valid price discovery, seeing that market demand for their physical inventory is robust, and maintain their prices steady. Later, they will even raise the physical prices.
Then later still, the parabolic spike comes for physical Gold & Silver.
THE GREAT SHUN BY MINERS
Asset management funds are appealing to mining firms for direct metal supply. They are bypassing the COMEX in a new trend. It is a natural development, as miners seek a fair price and the funds seek a reliable supply. The COMEX is cut out of the process.
The Sprott Funds have revealed how they sourced their precious metal from mining firms last year. The official exchanges are being cut off, a form of isolation as a result.
The divergence between physical and paper gold price is widening.
See the Ashanti story as typical. The COMEX is seeing reduced supply lines, reduced operations, more criminal implications, horrible publicity, and fewer clients. Criminal fraud does that, as lawsuits will follow like cold rain. The trend shapes up well for higher gold & silver prices. Mark Cutifani is CEO of AngloGold Ashanti, a $16 billion mining firm. He said, "Major [asset management fund] buyers are finding it is hard to get physical gold. People are coming directly to us [for large gold purchases,] people who want tonnes of physical gold, people with serious financial muscle, because they are finding it is very difficult to secure the volume of gold they want.
That is something we have noticed over the last 18 months, and it has been increasing in the last six months. People are finding its hard to get physical gold." The clear message is that the COMEX has no spare available metal at all. Cutifani has good insights into the commodities and precious metals markets, and describes a fascination new trend regarding the global picture.
He pointed out that major gold buyers are emerging from the Middle East and Asia. See the Bull Market Thinking article (CLICK HERE).
http://bullmarketthinking.com/mark-cutifani-ceo-of-anglogold-ashanti-major-buyers-finding-its-hard-to-get-physical-gold/
NEW MARKETS FLOWERING
New gold centers are forming, where the safety is most assured. Hong kong and Dubai have emerged as reliable honest brokers, and will continue to provide valid safe haven. Switzerland, London, and other locations are fading fast.
They are the corrupt centers where fascism has become prevalent, laced through the financial system.Takahiro Morita, the Japan director of the World Gold Council, reported that Japan's gold exports in the 10 months ended October totaled 95.6 metric tonnes, their highest level since 2008, when it registered at 95.5 metric tonnes. People who bought gold and jewelry in the 1980 and 1990 decades are selling back what they purchased, according to precious metals traders. Japan has turned into a big exporter.
Contrast to the official side. Central bank purchases have risen by 114% over the previous quarter. Purchases by central banks could hit 450 metric tonnes this year, concludes the investment research at the council. The volume represents the highest level of central bank buying since at least 1970, perhaps the greatest in recent history.
A veteran gold trader with actual experience in these locations pitched in to explain.
He said, "These are not sales in Japan. They are exports, an important distinction. Many investors are busily relocating their precious metal bullion to Hong Kong and Dubai UAE. Look for Dubai to be the HK of the Middle East.
The Chinese have made that decision, and it is being implemented with lightning speed." Most of the relocation from Japan shows up as exports, which require payments.
October imports into China from Hong Kong rose 50% over September, and up 40-fold from last year. The more attractive fair price paid in Shanghai reached $50 above the corrupt controlled London price.
The arbitrage has been very active.
Chinese gold imports from Hong Kong hit a record.
The Financial Times reported Chinese gold imports from Hong Kong hit a record high in October and astoundingly, they accounted for more than one quarter of the entire global demand.
Data showed that China imported 85.7 tonnes of gold from Hong Kong in October, up 50% from the previous month and up more than 40 times from October of last year.
It marks the fourth consecutive month that China's gold flows from Hong Kong have hit new highs. The article noted that the price arbitrage between London and Shanghai was favorable for Chinese imports during late September and early October, giving astute clever traders an edge.
Gold on the Shanghai Exchange traded up to $50 per ounce above the main global market based in London, a record price difference.
Purchases from China have fallen since October, as the recent strength in the USDollar has made gold more expensive. Also, considerable new strain has been felt inside China in recent weeks. Conclude that price arbitrage has begun to show itself across international boundaries.
The divergence between physical and paper gold price is widening.
ONE GOLD EVENT, THE BIG SQUEEZE
No gold chart will be shown in this article, out of disrespect deserved for the COMEX criminal activity. A story was recounted in recent days from my best source of solid reliable gold information. The aware gold community has overlooked a phenomenon that might be more profound in action here and now. A major squeeze is on that capitalizes on the artificially low COMEX price and the higher honest physical price.
The Barnhardt effect can be seen, or at least recounted. A gold trader informed that some multi-$billion purchase Gold orders have been in the process of filling at or near the $1600 price per ounce.
The price must remain near $1600 to complete the orders and permit them to clear.
Call it Agent2000 who seeks the massive amount of Gold, one of the Good Guyz.
The name fits since their goal is to force the Gold price back over $2000/oz after the sale transaction clears. Since so large, the orders take time to fill completely. The low-ball buy orders have been filling for over two weeks.
At the same time, the Agent2000 buyer has enlisted the aid of numerous assistants to push down the paper Gold price by putting extreme pressure on some bad players, some nasty types from the usual list of suspects in the Western banking sector. These bankers are being squeezed out of their gold, as they contend with deep insolvency, reserves requirements, falling sovereign bond values, depositors exiting, and more.
They are players in what has been widely called the Gold Cartel. The Jackass term has been applied in a wider sense, as they have been part of the Syndicate that reaches into the Wall Street banks, the defense contractors, news media, and big pharma.
The other side of Agent2000 is where additional intrigue lies. He (they) have buyers lined up on the physical side some deals ready to close at $1900 per ounce. Later the price will push over the $2000 mark.
The buyers are ready. One must infer that the buyers have a great deal of money ready to devote to the battle.
Maybe some is piled up to escape the clutches of the cartel, removed from the system.
Maybe some is piled up at a major new slush fund to do battle with the cartel at their own game. Maybe some is piled up and kept out of sight from greedy hands in government officials, like off-shore in the Caribbean or sequestered in the Persian Gulf. This story might be perplexing to many in the gold community since the Good Guyz are pushing down the Gold price in order to facilitate a gigantic order that will work toward crushing the cartel by draining their gold.
Their gold cannot be drained without the completion of a great many orders. It is only natural to attempt to achieve the lowest possible price. If the gold cartel insists on pushing the price down, then they open the door for major volume sales at the artificially low and very much bargain price.
It is happening, but the gold community does not enjoy the symptoms of the process.
So a huge huge huge buyer of gold is busy, and a multi-$billion order is working through. The buyer demands a $1600 price, while on the other side of the table Agent2000 has a sale lined up for the same metal at a $1900 price on physical.
The trade will take gold bullion from the Bad Boyz hands and put it into the Good Guyz hands. In the process, the COMEX supply lines will be drained more.
This is consistent with mining firms removing supply lines to the COMEX. The Agent2000 buyer is pushing price down, squeezing some evil parties hard, crushing testicalia along the way. He (they) describe to the distressed seller at $1600 that pressures will continue until the deal is closed. The seller is in tremendous pain with open distress showing.
So many assume the Bad Powerz are pushing down the Gold price.
Not so!!
This event and transaction displays how some pain comes in many isolated cases of Good Guyz pushing the Gold price down to empty the Bad Powerz vaults. My source would not reveal the identity of Agent2000 or the location of the squeeze. It seemed like London.
The money is not exclusively coming from China.
Word has it that Russia is also applying the pressure, with some Chinese teamwork.
The Competing Currency War has a new major flank.
The divergence between physical and paper gold price is widening.
Jim Willie CB, editor of the “HAT TRICK LETTER”
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“Intelligence Is Treason, In a Country Full of Idiots”
“When a government is dependent upon bankers for money,
they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives, is above the hand that takes …
Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency ... their sole object is gain.” ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, 1815 ~
BEWARE OF VICIOUS LIES
This is about developing our own Karma and being true to ourselves.
As the great global reset draws near
Consider the things you hold dear
Will others agree
With the value you see?
If so you have nothing to fear
Consider the things you hold dear
Will others agree
With the value you see?
If so you have nothing to fear
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The Golden End Game – A Thought Experiment
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The Golden End Game – A Thought Experiment
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This is part one of a two part exploration into what the world might look like after a total or partial collapse of the currency/economic system from the perspective of holding Gold.
As the title explains this is a thought experiment, not a dissertation filled with footnotes and references. Consider it one man’s flight of fancy, so take what you need and leave the rest. Anyone who claims they know what will actually happen is a fool greater than me.
As markets are starting to sink
The end could be here in a wink
So should I prepare?
Should I even care?
My PMs will save me!!! (I think......)
The end could be here in a wink
So should I prepare?
Should I even care?
My PMs will save me!!! (I think......)
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“It is natural to man, to indulge in the illusions of hope ...
We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts. ... For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it might cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.” ~ Patrick Henry ~ Slavery Behind Barbedwire
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When I first entered the business 20 plus years ago the firm I started with had a mentoring program that paired the fresh faced rookie with a veteran for the first 6 months.
The idea was that for a piece of the action paid to the veteran from the rookie’s commissions, the veteran would offer hands-on review, insight and support. While some on both sides of the office divide groused over this arrangement, from management’s point of view it made all the sense in the world because now the office was raising the rookie, not just one or two managers.
I found the mentoring system to be beneficial simply because I was coming in quite a bit older than the younger shark chum fresh from the diploma mills. Most of them felt they had the world by the balls, thus as long as they showed up the (fiat) spice would flow.
But I knew these financial chop shops had a tendency to chew up the rookies, and then spit them out once they’d been used and abused.
Since I didn’t want any part of the rookie churn and burn I relished the chance to work with a veteran and develop good habits early rather than be left with trying to break many bad habits later.
Luckily I was paired with an old pro who quickly took a shine to me and showed me the ropes, spending far more time with me then he was ever compensated for.
In fact the experience re-invigorated him and he went on to become the top producer of the office two years running. The more I learned the harder he pushed, reasoning that since I knew this, I damn well better know that.
So he took most of his compensation in the form of my spilled blood and an inner satisfaction that he was making his mark. For me, the processes, morals and methods he taught me are still paying sweet dividends two decades later.
One of his demands was the weekly ritual of a portfolio review of each holding in every client account. When Friday came round he insisted I justify why this or that position was in a client’s account and quite frankly it drove me crazy.
I would complain that we had done the same damn thing every week for months and not much had changed. So why was he still asking me the same questions again and again.
And every time I complained he would respond with a question of his own, often dramatizing it by looking out the window or throwing the Wall Street Journal on his desk.
Prove to him that the world was the same one that existed when we reviewed the accounts the last time.
And of course he was right; the world was not the same and often quite different from week to week. This trial by fire is something I still force myself to go through every Friday afternoon.
Knowing the client and the world situation, if I can’t justify the position, why the hell is it still in the account? But of equal or greater value to me were my mentor’s questions each time I tried to add a new position to an account.
I hated his probing and poking and often I took it personally. And that bastard knew where all my buttons were and delighted in pressing every single one until I finally wised up and stopped letting him goad me.
After we had discussed why I was adding the position, and well before I was allowed to call the client and make the pitch, he always had one final question for me. How was I going to dispose of it if things went wrong in a hurry?
Or in his words, “What’s the end game on that?”
At first I felt his question was downright stupid and my rote answer was always that I would cross that bridge when I got there.
But he never let me get away with my intellectual laziness and he’d ask the same question 6 different ways until I saw all the possible pitfalls based upon the knowledge I had at the time.
I can still hear him today. “Don’t ever take on a new position until you have thoroughly considered how you will dispose of it under the worst of conditions.”
It forced me to look beyond my nose and consider how circumstances change, and with those changes the ability to sell something that, while saleable today, might not be tomorrow.
Liquidity and desirability can dry up quickly and always when it is least convenient to you and your client.
This perspective broadening exercise was extremely useful beyond my business world because it can and should be applied at all (not just major) life decision points.
As this Keynesian game nears an end
And the Banksters can no longer lend
What will we all treasure?
Will gold be our measure?
Or the love of our family and friends?
And the Banksters can no longer lend
What will we all treasure?
Will gold be our measure?
Or the love of our family and friends?
So……what’s the end game here folks?
Regardless of whether we are USA centric or more globally focused, the fact is that we ‘own’ a political, economic and social portfolio that is the foundational basis not only of our wealth and investments, but of our very lives and those of our family, friends and neighbors.
So have we done a fearless and thorough portfolio review or are we simply buying Gold and other precious metals, along with guns and various food stuffs, and hunkering down to wait out the storm?
I don’t pretend to have all the answers, let alone the proper questions.
So don’t look to me for instructions when the T-1000 HFT bots crest the ridge and cream our asses. But a little proactive introspection is well warranted here considering we are now entering uncharted territory.
And it is uncharted territory; at least for plebs such as you and me, even though there have been fiat currency collapses throughout history.
This time really is different (as were all the other times for each generation caught in the middle) if for no other reason than the massive use of financial leverage combined with the humongous explosion in global population over the last 100 years.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m basically a hard asset guy at this point in the great unwind. But as I have said in the Zero Hedge comment section several times before, it’s one thing to grow and/or protect your assets and wealth in Precious Metals (PMs) (and other hard assets) and another thing entirely to move those assets to the next game board when this one is reset, replaced or recreated.
I see and hear a great deal of cognitive dissonance in many of the articles and comments discussing PMs as the best vehicle to use when moving to dry land……….that is, when dry land finally does rises from the ocean floor to form the new capitalist capital called Atlantis Redux.
I find that many are kind of fuzzy on how the actual transition/transaction will go down and nearly all just sort of insert “and then a miracle occurs” at some point in the discussion when they recite the precious metals (PM) mantra.
Let’s just say for a moment that our Gold, Silver, Platinum and Gold-plated Tungsten have all quintupled in price (as measured in whatever fiat is the favorite at the end) and we are now all sitting pretty.
Do we really honest-to-God no-fingers-crossed cherry-on-top believe that the powers-that-be will simply allow us to mosey up to the cashiers cage and redeem or convert it all for whatever monetary unit reigns supreme? Really?
Because from my point of view it’s just crazy talk to assume that the enemy of the state (Gold and other PM’s) will be welcomed home with a warm welcoming embrace.
Now before you bite my head off (remember boys and girls, this is just a thought experiment) understand who this essay is directed towards. Or rather isn’t directed towards.
If you are capable of purchasing several LBMA Gold bars and are able to store them overseas and you can easily relocate yourself to where your Gold is, then this rant really isn’t directed towards you. While you may not be a power-that-be, you are in a class above the middle class regardless of your protestations to the contrary.
I’m not saying you don’t share many of the problems others are facing, only that you have a great deal more flexibility to deal with them.
In the same respect, if you own several Gold Eagles and a couple hundred ounces of Silver, then you are also not to whom I’m speaking.
Most likely you will run under the radar because your small amount of Gold and Silver is being held in the form of the U.S Eagle coin which, while not exactly produced as a numismatic, is a US Mint produced Gold and Silver coin that is considered US legal tender.
So from my point of view, if Gold and Silver Eagles are held in small quantities, they will not be considered an investment, but rather savings or collectibles.
The people I am talking to are those who are converting a substantial portion of their investable assets into physical Gold.
Or who are selling other assets or breaking qualified retirement accounts (IRAs, 401(k)s etc) in order to purchase relatively large amounts of physical Gold and Silver, though the focus of this essay is Gold.
Their intent is not only to grow their PM assets, but to carry the bulk of their wealth over to the Promised Land when the current Ponzi Empire crashes and burns.
You know who you are and unfortunately so do the government goons if you have ever bought any quantity of Gold from an established dealer with a check, a cashier’s check, wire, electronic funds transfer or other traceable method.
And because of Check 21 everything is traceable nowadays (even cash within a few degrees of separation) if you used one of these instruments to gather the cash.
The End Game is here so I'm told
Will the last valued asset be gold?
If so, keep it tight
From the thieves in the night
For they know every ounce that you hold
Will the last valued asset be gold?
If so, keep it tight
From the thieves in the night
For they know every ounce that you hold
Where I have a problem with the logic used by some is this.
There seems to be a general consensus that Gold is the arch enemy, the Kryptonite if you will, of the out of control fiat creation by central authorities in order to extend and pretend while looting the executive bathrooms of the Gold faucets and monogrammed bathrobes.
This understanding, along with a host of others, is always proffered when explaining the reason behind PM manipulation and the entire PM paper racket. And I don’t necessarily disagree with this general supposition.
What I don’t get is the idea that if Gold has been considered ‘contrary’ or ‘dangerous’ to the unfettered debasement of fiat in the past and present, thus the reason for the manipulation, then why would this suppression and resistance to the ‘Golden enemy’ by the powers-that-be suddenly disappear precisely when the powers (or more accurately their agents and puppets) are desperate and have the most to lose?
It is clear to me, and judging by the comments clear to many others here on Zero Hedge, that these guys and gals play for keeps, consistently pushing nearly all their chips to the center of the table in an endless game of bluff and intimidation.
More important to me, at least for the purposes of this essay, is that those lovable sociopaths would rather burn to the ground than play to lose or walk away.
This, by the way, is precisely why they rarely lose.
They play for keeps and they’ve been doing so for thousands of years.
They not only have the power, but they know how to use the power they have.
Meaning they are ruthless cutthroat bastards who see you and me as cattle to be consumed or beasts of burden to be used. And I’m being kind for the sake of the weak stomachs among us.
As best as I can tell the general assumption is that when the partial or total collapse comes (not if because we are talking worst case scenario here) the failed powers that be, perhaps inspired by some public hangings and decapitations, will pack up their lawn chairs and vacate the levers of power, allowing more responsible adults and even some advanced children to take over and save the day.
Or at the very least, the expectation is that the new kids on the block will clean up the mess left behind by those traitorous bastards and that they will do so in a reasonably fair, open and egalitarian manner.
Let me take a moment to collect my thoughts before rendering my opinion on this matter.
I DON’T THINK SO!
Why am I so confident of this? Well, from studying history of course. And by history I mean good old fashioned world history dictated and approved by the Empire for high school or college textbooks.
You see, from the perspective of long term history, while we may have a new production company and support system for the global Ponzi screenplay, as well as fresh faces to fill the role of puppets, enablers and useful idiots, and even a (relatively) new political system to emotionally and culturally unify us all as we labor away in our hamster cages, the Ponzi is at its central core the oldest con in the books.
Essentially we are all experiencing plantation living at its highest and most efficient evolution to date, where the sole purpose of our existence is to serve our immediate masters who then serve their masters who then serve their masters in an ever narrowing pyramidal hierarchy.
This goes on until it reaches the point where at the top we find several hundred to a thousand elite scattered across a number of blood-line families that share the power and spoils.
And there is serious evidence available to be examined by the determined researcher that there might even be another level (or two) above that.
BTW for the most part, but with certain exceptions, you will not find these elite of the elite on any list of richest people in the world.
I personally suspect that many of those who you do see listed are in fact the public caretakers of the wealth of others and who are paid handsomely to play the role and weather the slings and arrows of public scorn in exchange for growing the assets and guarding the anonymity of the real owners of Mother Ship Earth.
The Powers That Be are concealed
Their identities won't be revealed
They will hide from the light
And continue their fight
Until all of our fates have been sealed
Their identities won't be revealed
They will hide from the light
And continue their fight
Until all of our fates have been sealed
History is full of examples of crumbling empires and nearly all of them seem to share several characteristics. First and foremost in my mind is that regardless of how dire things may seem to be, the collapse progresses much slower than expected.
It always seems like today’s bad news signals the end of the world as we know it….until tomorrow’s even worse news hits the ticker.
Grab Mr. Peabody and fire up the WABAC (pronounced ‘wayback’) machine to travel a few years into the past, say to 2007, and consider some of the headlines we saw and the reactions they provoked.
What were considered Earth shaking events back then are nearly routine today, no big deal really.
This is a severely misunderstood and underappreciated, and thus under weighted, counter balancing force to the general insanity level. The (normalcy bias) force is strong in you young Skywalker.
I suspect this isn’t so much because the powers that be are holding it all up, but rather it is the common folk living on the ground floor of this insanity that are doing the heavy lifting.
Never underestimate the desperate desire of those who are chained to the plantation to preserve that plantation even when it would be easier and saner just to walk away.
This Stockholm syndrome conditioned mind is of course exploited by the masters to rape and pillage long past the normal or even expected expiration date of the Empire.
Also, collapse (partial or total) is a relative term. For the financial elite, politically powerful and top tier business people, collapse is just another word for a really severe business cycle downturn.
When conditions become harsh, the script is always the same.
Shed useless eaters, strip all usable assets and sell the estate to the last of the greater fools, then move on to a more favorable business location. So by the time the barbarians are at the gate, the rich and powerful are long gone and have stripped most of the wealth from the kingdom.
In the modern era this means that the rape and pillage of the middle class is the purpose and eventual outcome of any severe recession/depression. So of course it is the purpose of the ongoing collapse.
See ‘The Great Depression’ of the 1930’s for the Cliff Notes on the coming fun and games…exponentially escalated by $708 Trillion (notional value) in derivatives.
But always remember that the explosive firepower released back in the 1930’s is nothing compared to the massive potential energy that is about to be released.
The real purpose of can kicking is to try to slowly release that energy rather than to allow it to go BOOM all at once. Consider it a form of extended game play for the elite.
When the global reset is complete
And the Kleptos are in full retreat
Secure family and friends
For their game never ends
And they'll never accept their defeat
And the Kleptos are in full retreat
Secure family and friends
For their game never ends
And they'll never accept their defeat
The true powers that be have a long history of backing all sides in nearly every conflict or collapse.
So it is not a stretch to assume they are supporting the very barbarians who are beating the door down while also relocating their kin from the collapsing empire.
If you spend any time studying the blood lines of the rich and powerful, despite our general indifference to this seemingly inconsequential subject matter, to Earth’s owners the blood lines are carefully massaged, managed and manipulated in order to maintain a balance of power and influence among the bickering kings and queens.
Do not underestimate the utmost importance of blue blood hierarchies or of the interconnected web between supposedly bitter enemies and plantations/countries. If it is important to them, then it should be considered life and death to us.
Inside the sprawling plantation the conditioning of the slaves is ongoing and ever changing and relies heavily upon the older, more experienced slaves to indoctrinate and condition the new ‘volunteers’, thus cementing the bond that is often expressed as nation or community…..or more properly ‘misery loves company’. For several thousand years religion was the center of the indoctrination process and controlled by the blue bloods, all of whom had no aversion to donning priest’s robes to spout the all important rites and rituals.
A close inspection of history shows that while the vehicles of power shifted and morphed, the methods used and the personalities involved always remained the same.
Closer to the modern era, there was a shift to the sharing of power between religious centers and blue blood families who presided over kingdoms. Again, there really wasn’t a divide, only the public appearance of division.
Mom usually decided which son became King and which became a Cardinal or Pope, thus assuring her it all remained in the family.
Over the last several hundred years the center shifted once again to the façade of central governments organized under ideological memes such as democracy, communism, socialism and of course the more traditional blue blood families aka Kings, Queens and royal families, sometimes along with a quasi democratically elected congress designed to create a false sense of self control for the naïve native slaves.
Regardless of the method or ideology used today, they are all simply more sophisticated methods to organize and exploit the plantation and nothing more. In much of the so called ‘free’ world today, giving the slaves the illusion of freedom of (limited) choice has been found to dramatically increase productivity.
An intelligent plantation manager will allow any work rules as long as they still maintain order while increasing efficiency because strip mining the human and mineral resources of Earth is the one and only goal of the ruling elite.
Preserving your wealth can be fun
The first thing you'll need is a gun
Trust no one you meet
Each night soak your feet
Just in case it is prudent to run
The first thing you'll need is a gun
Trust no one you meet
Each night soak your feet
Just in case it is prudent to run
Regardless of whether the financial elite remain in place or move on during or after the collapse, there will still be some type of procedure set up to exchange the old slave script for the new slave script.
Without a doubt there will be different tiers or exchange rates depending upon which social and/or economic class you reside in. And rest assured the transition will not be fair and it will be used to extract whatever remaining wealth the middle class still holds.
This is a given, but it will not be readily obvious or even visible since most of the dirty work will occur behind closed doors and well in advance of the general scrum.
There is also no doubt, once again predicated by a careful reading of history, that regardless of the leadership actually holding office, when the gates are busted down (or as is more likely the case pulled down from within, often via false flag attacks), in order to placate the increasingly restless slave population, fresh faces will magically appear from the cloning rooms to offer stirring speeches and heartwarming platitudes about how all the slaves must engage in mutual sacrifice and work even harder to ensure that the elite make a clean getaway before the cleansing fires are set and the system is finally rebooted.
I can’t wait for the games to begin because I still have more cognitive room left over for that hope and change thingy.
Every crumbling Empire always reaches into the same bag of tricks when the heat is on and the slave nation becomes restless.
After all, the elite must maintain order so that the fleecing can be completed. ‘Order’, especially near the end of the End Game, is usually maintained by a heavy handed police and/or military presence via outright martial law or the stealth version implemented by (executive) decree.
Let the head bashing begin.
Desperate puppet leaders will most certainly do desperate things, first to maintain their own illusion of power, then just to save their asses. Count on it.
Two tricks of the deception trade that often work hand in hand are scapegoat harvesting combined with war mongering, which usually leads to out-right-war in order to deflect attention and blame those evil elites over there and their supporting band of vicious baby eating enablers, indentured servants and wage slaves.
And while it might be an old trick, even the oldest, it still works every single time it is used because we slaves would rather support the devil we know then to take a chance and actually live free.
Spend enough time in a locked cage under dehumanizing conditions and the jailer no longer needs to lock the door anymore. We slaves will keep ourselves just fine, thank you very much.
While I could extend this list of common denominators for several more pages, let me cut to the chase and list the one commonality that is near and dear to my heart and the core function of every central government that administers the (crumbling) Empire……..to be a blood sucking parasite.
The bottom line is that governments, Kings and religious orders do not ‘produce’ anything nearly equal to their consumption no matter how you measure it, unless you have been drinking their Kool-Aid.
These entities will consume from all sources using one or more of the following strategies; regulation, taxation and ultimately confiscation.
As markets are starting to sink
The end could be here in a wink
So should I prepare?
Should I even care?
My PMs will save me!!! (I think......)
The end could be here in a wink
So should I prepare?
Should I even care?
My PMs will save me!!! (I think......)
As a reminder of something emphasized in Part One, I am discussing a worst case scenario here.
So please keep this in mind when your brain synapses start firing and you feel compelled to stop reading and fire off a nasty comment.
There are thousands of lesser scenarios that could play out here as opposed to only hundreds of worse case scenarios.
What you find below are just my thoughts on the matter, not fact or even hard opinion.
In addition, this essay isn’t directed towards the small PM ‘investor’ who owns ‘small’ amounts of Gold and Silver, for example under 20 ounces of Gold and several hundred ounces of Silver.
Nor is it directed towards the whales, those who can purchase and safely store (preferably offshore) several hundred or even thousands of ounces of Gold.
They have similar problems as everyone else, but much more flexibility.
Rather this essay is directed towards those solidly middle class people who are converting their ‘wealth’ into Gold and Silver, even going so far as to cash out their qualified retirement accounts (IRA’s, 401(k)’s and qualified annuities) or mortgage their property in order to increase their Precious Metal stash.
I see and hear a great deal of cognitive dissonance among those who promote Gold as the way to salvation, all while ignoring or dismissing the idea of governmental confiscation of said Golden chariots.
It’s not like doing so would be totally unprecedented in the US (or on other plantations for that matter) since President Franklin Roosevelt’s April 5, 1933 Executive Order 6102 did precisely that, promptly followed by a revaluation of said confiscated Gold to push the anal probe that much further up the rear.
What everyone seems to forget is that the United States is not the only plantation bleeding from every orifice while simultaneously ripping open new ones.
This is a global party we’re throwing here and everyone who is anyone seems to have accepted the invitation, something many are beginning to regret as they desperately click the ‘un-send’ button.
Actually this isn’t true, since we already know that the blue blood families play all sides against each other, then turn things around and transform former arch enemies in lifelong best girlfriends, the only way this global Ponzi could have progressed to this point in the collapse countdown.
I guess my point is simple.
Today’s (global) disaster isn’t Argentina from 1989-1990 and again in 1999-2002.
Nor is it Zimbabwe from 2004-2009 or even the Weimar Republic from 1920-1923.
While the rest of the world was also (more or less) suffering during those turbulent times, Argentina, Zimbabwe and the Weimar were islands of disaster in a world of relative stability.
The Kleptocrat game is not chance
It resembles a well-rehearsed dance
With lifts, dips and spins
Until treachery wins
And the middle-class shits in their pants
It resembles a well-rehearsed dance
With lifts, dips and spins
Until treachery wins
And the middle-class shits in their pants
Remember that almost by definition disaster recovery requires relative normalcy somewhere nearby as the staging area from where you send in the life lines and supplies, as well as a place to evacuate the wounded.
So when Norman, Oklahoma suffers a devastating tornado, help comes rushing in from 10-500 miles away.
But what happens if the entire country is simultaneously ravaged by natural (Ponzi) disaster?
Where does the help come from then?
Overseas?
But they are running the same Ponzi as we are here.
So if we go down, they go down just as hard if not harder and vice versa.
One of the staples of the Armageddon genre of disaster porn is the notion that, in a national/global disaster, there is no safe harbor from which to coordinate and launch the rescue ships.
Thus everyone goes into survival mode and if you aren’t helping yourself then no one is.
Social rules of order and decorum are quickly abandoned for survival of the fittest and suddenly it is game on Mad Max style.
Ironically if you remember the original Mad Max movie, it begins shortly after a terrible global disaster.
Max was one of several cops working with the ‘authorities’ in an effort to maintain some type of order in the rapidly decaying remains of society.
It was all downhill from there.
In response to those who would disagree with my line of reasoning by saying, “CD, you can’t compare a global natural disaster, where there is infrastructure damage, to an economic collapse, where at least initially all infrastructure remains in place and functioning” all I can say is that I disagree.
The active ingredient in my analogy isn’t the level or type of global devastation as much as the equality or uniformity of it.
External rescue requires a more or less untouched area that contains a surplus of resources, financial or otherwise, and the means to organize and deploy them into the underserved disaster area.
Because the Ponzi disease is globally and uniformly distributed around the developed world, in the event of a total or partial collapse, essentially there are no substantial surplus resources that can be gathered and transported from one area to the next.
Everyone is in the same degraded condition. Well……actually there are ‘excess surplus assets’ available after a global economic collapse.
Those assets are called the people’s Gold. But we’ll get to that in a moment.
So any rescue or recovery can only come from in-place assets and organized systems such as the existing military and governmental bureaucracy.
Thus other than some shifting of leadership positions to create scapegoats and dispel slave anger, not much will change unless an armed and organized revolt is mounted.
While that might eventually come about, it will not initially, thus allowing the military to disperse and dissolve any pockets of semi-organized resistance or even to prevent states from seceding so that they may create their own economic systems and/or preserve local and regional natural resources.
So who could have guessed Marx was right?
That the Bourgeoisie class is a blight?
All our wealth they will take
While they let us eat cake
We are slaves who must stand-up and fight!
That the Bourgeoisie class is a blight?
All our wealth they will take
While they let us eat cake
We are slaves who must stand-up and fight!
There seems to be a never ending stream of comments left on Zero Hedge that are short and sweet.
Let it all burn to the ground baby so that we can rebuild it from scratch.
I honestly think these people have no idea what that really means because in today’s world of massive financial leverage and staggering amounts of derivative contracts, too big to fail banks using 40 or 50 to 1 leverage and the majority of the slave population living paycheck to paycheck etc., burning it all down just might be an act of compassion compared to what would happen if it all just fell apart.
Anyone who doesn’t think martial law would be immediately declared and our remaining civil rights forcibly removed in the event of a partial or total economic/currency collapse has been brewing and taste testing their own brand of Kool-Aid.
When order begins to break down, the existing power base WILL attempt to restore order and they won’t be gentle while doing so. And for the most part the plantation slaves will welcome the intervention because they have not prepared for the chaos, having ignored all the warning signs because they relied upon their masters to protect them.
So once again let us circle back to the principal question.
What will you do with all that Gold and how will you reintegrate it into any new currency system that is implemented?
During the first few hours, days, even weeks after the partial or total collapse, on a local basis you will be able to use your Gold (and especially your Silver) in small increments to barter for the goods and services you need to continue to live.
But very quickly, most likely the same day of the collapse, the government will announce draconian banking, price, wage and possibly even barter controls. And they will begin to implement unilateral decisions about what is needed where and when.
If you have something the ‘greater good’ needs or wants and if others know about your good fortune, it could very easily be taken from you.
On a more practical basis, because the established control system will want to quickly put in place some type of replacement currency system, our Gold and other precious metals may actually escape any attempt at a quick governmental grab and go.
But within days, and at most a week or so, global decisions will be made (correction: they have already been made, they will be implemented after a week) and in my opinion the priority will be to establish confidence in any new currency system or reestablish confidence in the old.
While one can’t know exactly how it will go down, considering that Gold and other PMs will probably have gone through the roof by this point, it is highly likely that Gold, along with other PMs or a basket of commodities (and possibly other new or old foreign currencies) will be used to back any new or renewed currency.
The IMF’s so called Special Drawing Rights (SDR), essentially a global currency, is a perfect example of a cobbled together currency that might gain traction.
When HFT algos have ceased
And those who had most have the least
Is gold the best bet?
For a system reset?
And those who had most have the least
Is gold the best bet?
For a system reset?
Or will Banksters create a new beast?
Now here is where I strongly suggest that, for several reasons, ‘they’ will feel compelled to confiscate Gold from the population. And this works on a global as well as national scale folks.
The principal psychological warfare technique they will us is to vilify and scapegoat those ugly Gold hoarders and evil speculators.
And there is no doubt in my mind that they will claim with absolute confidence and with concocted evidence that these evil Precious Metal terrorists destroyed the old system.
‘Truth’ will be immaterial at this point and actually counterproductive for those trying to beat back the resurgent Ponzi Hydra. Frightened people are not deep thinkers and they most certainly are not very reasonable.
The emotional pain of collapse must be relieved, so any handy pain killer will be willingly ingested. History is replete with examples of this and a frightened and extremely angry slave population will gratefully latch onto the offered Gold hating piñata rather than soul search and examine their own role in the present disaster.
Depending upon the believability of various figures bandied about, less than one percent of the US population owns Gold as an investment (even less own the physical) and less than 2% own Gold miner shares.
At the peak of the last Gold rush in the late 70’s and early 80’s I believe 8% of the US population owned investment Gold.
Even if the present Gold love affair reaches that level of participation before the End Game commences, this group will still be a small minority and it will be very easy to turn the general population against them/us.
In addition, those who hold their Gold in bank safety deposit boxes or private vaults, at bullion banks or any other private, public or governmental storage facility will find that it will not be there for long.
I suspect that the entities that own or control the facilities will be ordered to close their doors and to turn over the Gold.
So even if we own Gold in ‘real physical’ fund companies such as Sprott, we will soon find that it isn’t available for withdrawal after the fall.
And please don’t talk to me about the rule of law.
We saw how the rule of law was respected when the US ran over the GM bond holders.
Let’s get real here folks, under these circumstances the law is what they say the law is.
As well, plantation (country) borders will essentially be meaningless because every modern country will be in the same predicament.
So the smart play for the new political puppets will be to cooperate with every other plantation (even enemies) to reenergize the system as quickly as possible.
The precious metal mining companies will probably be nationalized, even if that just means that all of the output from the mines will be directed to the vaults of the ‘host’ plantation.
China is effectively doing this now.
So the only Gold you can count on is the Gold coins and small bars buried in the sand at the bottom of your fish tank.
Aside from the uncontrolled corruption and unrestrained fiat creation, if the old system collapsed because the general population lost faith in the financial system (ultimately the real reason behind any fiat collapse because it is not the unrestrained fiat printing, but the loss of public faith and belief the printing engenders, that destroys a fiat) and Gold in its role as the ultimate safe haven was the lightening rod that inflamed and focused that loss of faith, it will be incumbent upon the ‘new’ leadership to defuse and deflect any pockets of resistance to the new or reformed currency.
By making a show of confiscating Gold ‘for the good of the people’ many non Gold holding people will go along with the theft because it essentially helps pull their asses out of the fire.
In effect the reckless and imprudent will cheer on the confiscation because backing the theft of others increases the chance they will be rewarded, or at least not severely punished, for their bad behavior.
Moral hazard works wonders for the general population as well as the too big to fail. Because the general population can (and will) be stampeded when the crisis gets ‘real’, this will allow the political puppets to set up tiered currency conversion systems and unfair Gold and other PM reintegration rules.
The rich will get richer and the poor will……well, you know.
We will hear a lot of crying by the rich and powerful about how they just can’t put their glorious talents to work unless they receive special ‘incentives’.
I just can’t wait to hear the imaginative sob stories of the down and out crony capitalists.
The dollar says, "In God We Trust"
But the dollar's about to go bust
So who betrayed whom
That has led to our doom?
(Twas the one who embraced greed and lust)
But the dollar's about to go bust
So who betrayed whom
That has led to our doom?
(Twas the one who embraced greed and lust)
While black and barter markets will most definitely spring up as they did in the 1930’s and 70’s, they might be less effective than they were back then unless we use them strictly for locally produced items and services.
And even then I can see many problems and pitfalls.
The one hope I have here is that the underground market for drugs and stolen goods will not go away because of the collapse, particularly since the new Ponzi will once again want to use (inter)national drug money to feed the beast.
This might help to create pathways for black market currency to flow back into the main system which in return sustains the PM reintegration.
We shall see if I am correct.
I see Gold and PM dealers becoming highly regulated and required under heavy penalty of law to report any and all relatively large PM transactions, for example anything over two or three ounces of Gold, thus effectively cutting off Joe’s ability to feed his or her Gold back into the system and extract or convert the wealth they tried to transport from the old system to the new.
It can be done, but only very slowly and at considerable time, money and labor expense.
And most importantly, with no free floating Gold market to set realistic prices, we will once again be robbed in broad daylight.
They don’t need to ‘take’ your Gold, just take its value through price controls.
I expect that one of the national and possibly worldwide changes that will be implemented after the collapse and rebuilding of the financial system might be mandatory electronic fund transfers for things such as paying taxes, utility bills, mortgage as well as insurance and/or rent payments, payments to any local, state or federal agency or contractor as well as any large purchases such as cars, homes, businesses or anything else above an arbitrarily drawn currency amount.
Once these rules and regulations are introduced into the system, most retailers will follow the lead and refuse most or all cash transactions, preferring to use lower cost and more efficient electronic transfers.
Expect a higher price or penalty to use cash (which you received when you sold your PMs) to purchase just about anything.
Remember that a vibrant black market can only exist if there is a way to launder the proceeds back into the main system or if there is a parallel alternative currency system that fits the needs of the local users.
This explains the need for drug and organized crime money to blaze a trail into the official money system. I have faith the new Ponzi will open that door for their own purposes.
Throughout history the key to forcing the public to accept new monetary and currency systems is to demand that all payments to the false sovereign master be made in the new script and/or using the new method of payment.
This has the effect of forcing people to adopt the new system, thus validating it.
Wide spread use by the general population for all their financial business usually quickly follows. The oldest tricks are still the best tricks from the (global) Ponzi point of view.
This will have a two pronged effect on the system, washing out any chance of laundering larger quantities of our Gold by using it for large purchases and more effectively binding the indentured servant and wage slave to the new currency system. If the slave gets too mouthy and begins to complain, just cause a few problems with his or her electronic payment system and watch them quickly buckle.
After all, we all have to eat now don’t we?
Never let a crisis go to waste, especially when you are creating it in the first place.
** ***** **** AMERICAN SILVER EAGLES ** ***** ****
So how will the End Game play out?
The answer is surely in doubt
When all fiat dies
Will sound money rise
Or will all assets suffer a rout?
The answer is surely in doubt
When all fiat dies
Will sound money rise
Or will all assets suffer a rout?
BANKSTER CONFESSES AT 100 YEAR JEKYLL ISLAND ANNIVERSARY!
Jekyll Island - 1910
Former 'FED' Chairman Alan Greenspan, Admits To Rampant FRAUD & Illegal Activity In U.S. Banking System, While On Jekyll Island Stage With Currant 'FED' Chairman, Ben Bernanke, (From The 'Federal' Reserve's 100 Year Anniversary Celebration of the Overthrow of The U.S. at Jekyll Island). Bernanke looks uncomfortable as Greenspan admits the truth. This is exactly what the Founding Fathers wanted to avoid; A centralised cartel of 'Bankster criminals' looting our country's coffers, while affecting the rights of Sovereign States along with its people. Hence, the Jeffersonian struggle of the Confederate? South against Washington D.C.'s 'proto-Empire' of the time, which only a central bank can make possible. The Rest, (as they say) Is History...
Enough Is Enough! - End The FED!
It's Past Time, To END The Planned Destruction of Our Republic.
This is one of the reasons I feel Silver will be more usable as an alternative unit of currency if this global collapse does transpire.
Hopefully Silver is incorporated into any new national/global currency as part of its backing, for this will lend tremendous credibility to using Silver in alternative barter/currency systems.
Silver throughout the ages has always been used as money and not necessarily as a store of substantial wealth.
This is why you might consider purchasing 1964 and earlier Silver U.S. coins, junk or not.
It is important that we incorporate flexibility and diversification into our wealth transfer vehicles as this is the key to successfully crossing over.
To assume, hope really, that our one and only method, that of Gold, will be successful is wishful thinking at best and foolhardy at worst. For the masters, Gold is a well known and understood escape mechanism and it will not be allowed to pass totally untouched.
We must be different from the masses in order to survive while still being transparent enough that we don’t draw unwanted attention.
And that, in my opinion, is the more realistic path to dry land in this global disaster scenario.
The worst thing that you and I can do when preparing for tough times is to develop a severe case of tunnel vision and focus only on our Golden boat as the exit strategy.
The bottom line is that we must try to own the same assets that will be owned and transferred by the financial elite and their henchmen and puppets.
While one of those assets will most definitely be Gold, it will not be their only asset or their most valuable.
While some of these elite alternative asset classes are out of our reach because of our much smaller stash, and there is little we can do to combat the planned inequalities that will be built into any new system, that doesn’t mean we are helpless or that it is hopeless.
On the contrary, just as the elite see the coming chaos as the perfect time to rape, rob and steal, I see it as ushering in a generational opportunity to build family and community ties like never before.
And maybe, just maybe, begin to do some of the hard work we need to do within. Just because we are being buffeted by the fierce rain and wind squalls that precede the hurricane doesn’t mean we can’t use this to our advantage.
However, if we see everything through fearful eyes and with great trepidation we are going to drop the ball and hurt ourselves worse than if we had done nothing.
Regardless of what the bad guys did or will do, if we aren’t right within we will wind up harming ourselves much worse than they ever could.
And so this all leads directly to my final thoughts, including one I have shared many times before and which can never be repeated too often.
Over the years I have found that regardless of my heartfelt desire for a positive outcome or the gentle and considerate methods used, if my intent and motives are not honest or if I’m not honest with myself or others regarding them, rarely is the outcome to my satisfaction.
Bottom line, this isn’t about the bad guys or their enablers, their greed and lawlessness or even what is right or just.
This is about me and my motives and how square I am with myself and others.
Just because others lie, cheat and steal doesn’t mean I must follow suit in the name of staying alive or even to justify keeping my head above water.
What this isn’t about is sugar plums and fairy tales or holding hands and singing Kumbaya.
This is about developing our own Karma and being true to ourselves.
To those who seek power and greed
It will soon be your hour of need
What good is your gold?
When you’re hungry and cold
And the price for some flour is seed
It will soon be your hour of need
What good is your gold?
When you’re hungry and cold
And the price for some flour is seed
So it is with great concern that I have noticed a disturbing trend among the articles and comments posted of late.
I have been a ZH contributor for two years now and I watched the discussions about Gold begin as one of several ways to protect our assets.
This conversation began way back when Gold was still largely out of favor even here on Zero Hedge.
And I have slowly seen it morph into a widely accepted concept of wealth protection as more and more began to see without a doubt that we are on a collision course with history.
There is nothing wrong with this and I have no real problem with it.
But lately sentiment has changed from preserving wealth to growing wealth.
And now I am beginning to detect the next stage of the emotional escalation.
I am hearing greed and wanton self interest along with the self satisfied chuckle of the prospect of both making a killing and of being proven right when everyone else told us we were wrong.
I am hearing the sound of avarice and lust, of rationalization and justification, of outsized egos and very little perspective.
Tunnel vision can take many forms and can strike the best and the worst with the same crushing blow.
I have no intention of being self righteous or of calling the kettle black when this pot can be even blacker.
That is not the purpose or intent of this essay because there is no denying that I have also felt the seductive tug of jackpot thinking.
But when our motive for holding Gold and Silver is distorted and warped by greed and self interest, so is our thinking and perspective.
Which means that if there comes a time when the best move forward is to sell most of the Gold and move on to another asset class, one more likely to survive the transition intact, will we be able to see this as obvious and a no brainer?
Or by this time will we so blinded by the Golden glow that we become nothing more than obsessed slaves kneeling in prayer to the almighty God of Gold, seeing nothing but our beloved promised land?
I hope not! From my point of view our most valuable asset is, and will continue to be, an open and flexible mind.
Our most valuable asset is, and will continue to be, an open and flexible mind.
When all markets finally go bust
From our greed induced hubris and lust
To whom do we turn?
What skills should we learn?
It's all just a matter of trust
From our greed induced hubris and lust
To whom do we turn?
What skills should we learn?
It's all just a matter of trust
===========================
NO BILL OF RIGHTS
Gerald Celente continues:
“As the bankers take over, and we’re seeing what’s going on, they are throwing out democratically elected governments, we are forecasting there is going to be a severe decline in 2012, particularly in Europe.
They are going to blame the problems in Europe as a reason for the problems going on over here (in the US).
And we have our own (problems) that are as big as Europe’s, even bigger and better.
So that brings us to the next trend, get ready for economic martial law.
They are going to call a bank holiday.
So what we are saying is conditions have become a lot worse.
And a bank holiday is no holiday folks.
You can’t get your money out and when you do get it out, you will get it out a little bit at a time.
It’s going to be worth a lot less.
That’s what they do with bank holidays, they devalue your money.
So they are going to do it again.”
When asked about his new trend prediction titled ‘Battlefield USA,’ Celente responded, “It just became law.
The Bill of Rights in the United States has been abrogated.
They passed the new Defense Act and in that Defense Act they have in there, in clear language, anybody can be arrested under the National Defense Authorization Act....
“They authorized the military to go in and take anybody they feel is an enemy of the state, citizen or not, no charges, detain them indefinitely and without a civil trial. No judge, no jury, no trial, no rights of habeas corpus.
This is what the United States has become.
Put it all together, it’s going on worldwide.
The merger of state and corporate powers is, by definition, fascism.
Now they have put the laws into place where fascism has become legalized.
The military could come into anyone’s home, anyone’s office, into anyone’s life and lock you up.
Take you away, torture you, blow your brains out and there’s no recourse at all.
They are setting us up, they are putting all of the pieces in place because when the banks close and when the economy starts crashing down, now they have the goon squads in place.
So they are putting the soldiers in place.
I used to think they were nuts talking about the FEMA camps, now I don’t anymore.
We have no civil liberties.
We have no rights in this country, they are all gone.”
==========================
“Let It Not Ever Be Said, That No One Cared ... That We Did Nothing.”
~ Texas Republican Congressman, Ron Paul ~
==========================
Money As Debt-Full Length Documentary
I watched this vid the week I completed my Banking & Finance degree. I was shocked to realise that everything I learned during those 4 years was a LIE. I also realised that if one of the conspiracy theories circulating around was true, they all might be true. Don't stop here, continue with your research, trust nothing if it's not backed by solid evidence or the logic behind it is rock-solid. Be prepared to have your stomach turned upside down, to feel like picking up a gun and start shooting...
============================
MISSING CHILDREN ARE IN UNDERGROUND BASES
==============================
Congress EXPLICITLY Creating a Police State
If You Thought Police Brutality Was Bad
==============================
Congress EXPLICITLY Creating a Police State
If You Thought Police Brutality Was Bad
==============================
“The division of the United States into two federations of equal force was decided long before the civil war by the high financial power of Europe. These bankers were afraid that the United States, if they remained in one block and as one nation, would attain economical and financial independence, which would upset their financial domination over the world. The voice of the Rothschilds predominated. They foresaw the tremendous booty if they could substitute two feeble democracies, indebted to the financiers, to the vigorous Republic, confident and self-providing. Therefore they started their emissaries in order to exploit the question of slavery and thus dig an abyss between the two parts of the Republic.”
~ Otto Von Bismarck, 1876 ~
“History records that the money changers have used every form
of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control
over governments by controlling money and its issuance.”
~ President James Madison - 4th President of The United States (1751–1836) ~
“The inability of the colonists to get power to issue their own money permanently
out of the hands of George III and the international bankers,
was the PRIME reason for the Revolutionary War.”
~ Benjamin Franklin ~
The Wizard of Oz - The REAL Story, Behind The Story
~ The Hidden Symbolism Within “THE WIZARD of OZ” ~
Written by L. Frank Baum, -- It's Much More -- Than a Mere Child's Story.
There's Actually A Real Story ... Behind The Story.
______________________________________
What is "Oz" a symbol for? Ounces.
What is measured in ounces? Gold.
What is the yellow brick road? Bricks or ingot bars of gold.
The character known as the 'Straw Man' represents that fictitious, ALL CAPS, legal fiction - a PERSON, the Federal U.S.Government created with the same spelling as your birth name.
Remember what the Straw Man wanted from the Wizard of Oz? A Brain, Remember?!
No juristic person - legal fiction - paper corporation has a brain because he/she has no breath of life.
What did he get in place of a brain?
A certificate: a 'Birth Certificate' for a new legal creation.
He was proud of his new legal status, plus all the other legalisms he was granted ... Now he becomes the epitome of the brainless sack of straw who was given a certificate in place of a grain of common sense.
Now, what about the Tin Man? Does Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) recall anything to mind? The poor TIN Man just stood there mindlessly doing his work, until his body literally froze up and stopped functioning.
He worked himself to death, because he had no heart nor soul.
He's the heartless and emotionless creature, robotically carrying out his daily task, as though he were already dead. He's the ox pulling the plow and the mule toiling under the yoke.
These days, his task masters just oil him nightly with beer and place him in front of a hypnotic television, until his very existence no longer has any meaning or value.
His masters keep him cold on the outside and heartless on the inside in order to control any emotion or feeling that might arise.
The Cowardly Lion was always too frightened to stand up for himself. Of course, he was a bully and a big mouth when it came to picking on those smaller than he. (Have you ever noticiced how bullies are really the biggest cowards? They act as though they have great courage, but, in reality, have none at all. They roar, but with no teeth of authority to back them up.)
When push came to shove, the Cowardly Lion always buckled under and whimpered when anyone of any size or stature challenged him.
He wanted courage from the Grand Wizard, so he was awarded a medal of "official" recognition. Now, although remaining a coward, his official status allowed him to be a bully, but with officially recognized authority. (He's not unlike the Attorneys who hide behind the Middle Courts of the Temple Bar.) et al ad infinitum.
What about the trip through the field of poppies? Did you notice how this had no narcotic effect on the Straw Man (no brain) or the Tin Man (no heart or soul)?
They weren't real people, so drugs could not influence them.
The Wizard of Oz was written at the turn of the century, so how could the author have known America was going to be drugged?
The Crown has been playing the drug cartel game for centuries.
Just look up the history of Hong Kong and the 'Opium Wars' ... The Crown already had valuable experience conquering all of China with drugs, so why not the rest of the world?
What was the Emerald City? The Federal Reserve System.
Who finally exposed the Wizard for what he really was?
Toto, the ugly (or cute, depending on your perspective) and somewhat annoying little dog. Toto means "in total, all together; Latin in toto."
What was it that the witch wanted after she alleged that the little dog had bitten her?
TOTO, meaning ... EVERYTHING.
Notice how Toto was not scared of the Great Wizard's theatrics, yet he was so small in size, compared to the Wizard, that no one seemed to notice him?
The smoke, flames and holographic images of Oz were designed to frighten people into doing as the Great Wizard commanded.
Toto simply padded over, looked behind the curtain (the COURT, etc.), saw it was a scam, started barking until others paid attention to him and came to see what all the barking was about. Who was behind the curtain?
Just an ORDINARY PERSON controlling the levers that created the illusion of the Great Wizard's power and authority.
When Toto pulled back the curtain and completely exposed him, the charade was at an end. (The veil hiding the corporate legal fiction and its false courts was removed.)
The Wizard's game was UP. What was he after all? ... a con-man. A FRAUD.
We can see, in this tale, just how loud the bark from a little dog can be.
How about YOUR bark? How big is it?
Most of us remain silent and wait to be given whatever food and recognition, if any, by our legal master.
Let us not forget those pesky flying monkeys. What perfect mythical creatures to represent the Bar Association Attorneys who attack and control the little people for the Great Crown Wizard, the powerful and grand Bankers of Oz: GOLD!
How, finally, was the evil witch destroyed? .... pure, clean water LIQUIDATION!
How, at last, did Dorothy get home? She simply clicked her heels.
She always had the power, and SO DO WE!
What would it take to expose the Wizard for what he is, tearing away his veils?
We each need only a brain, a heart and soul --- and COURAGE.
Then, and perhaps of the greatest importance, we need to learn HOW to WORK TOGETHER.
Only "in TOTO," WORKING TOGETHER as ONE Body of the King of Kings, (whatever name or form that may take for each of us), can we have the freedom given under OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC!
“Eye Of The Phoenix: Secrets Of The Dollar Bill”
Slavery Behind Barbedwire
The Bankers Manifesto of 1892: (History Repeated)
Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr. revealed the Bankers Manifesto of 1892
to the U.S. Congress somewhere between 1907 and 1917.
We (the bankers) must proceed with caution and guard every move made, for the lower order of people are already showing signs of restless commotion. Prudence will therefore show a policy of apparently yielding to the popular will until our plans are so far consummated that we can declare our designs without fear of any organized resistance.
Organizations in the United States should be carefully watched by our trusted men, and we must take immediate steps to control these organizations in our interest or disrupt them.
At the coming Omaha convention to be held July 4, 1892, our men must attend and direct its movement or else there will be set on foot such antagonism to our designs as may require force to overcome.
This at the present time would be premature. We are not yet ready for such a crisis. Capital must protect itself in every possible manner through combination (conspiracy) and legislation.
The courts must be called to our aid, debts must be collected, bonds and mortgages foreclosed as rapidly as possible.
When, through the process of law, the common people have lost their homes, they will be more tractable and easily governed through the influence of the strong arm of the government applied to a central power of imperial wealth under the control of the leading financiers.
People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders. History repeats itself in regular cycles. This truth is well known among our principal men who are engaged in forming an imperialism of the world. While they are doing this, the people must be kept in a state of political antagonism.
The question of tariff reform must be urged through the organization known as the Democratic Party, and the question of protection with the reciprocity must be forced to view through the Republican Party.
By thus dividing voters, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance to us, except as teachers to the common herd.
Thus, by discrete actions, we can secure all that has been so generously planned and successfully accomplished.
Morgan Stanley Bankster - Hits Pedestrian, Then Drives Off - NOT Charged W/Felony! It Seems As Though SOME People ARE More 'Equal' Than Others ... Morgan Stanley banker escapes felony charges for hit and run, “because it could jeopardize his job ...” A financial manager for wealthy clients will not face charges for a hit-and-run, because it could jeopardize his job, it's been revealed. Martin Joel Erzinger, 52, was set to face felony charges for running over a doctor, who he hit from behind in his 2010 Mercedes Benz, then sped off. But now, he'll simply face two misdemeanor traffic charges from the July 3 incident in Eagle, Colorado. (What Do You Think Would Happen, If YOU Did That?!)
The BANK$ER$ Gorged, On A Record $144 BILLION Dollars
In X-mas Bonuses In 2010 -- And No One Bothered To Notice ...
Shut Down The "Fed" ... The 'Federal' Reserve Is NOT Federal ... Arrest The Banksters!
God Help America.
Know That Reality Is, (Indeed) Stranger, Than Fiction ...
Know That Reality Is, (Indeed) Stranger, Than Fiction ...
.....NOW WE TRAVEL TOWARDS DECEMBER 21 2012...
ONE YEAR TO GO....
GOT SILVER?????
ONE YEAR TO GO....
GOT SILVER?????
VOICES OF VETERANS
http://www.linktv.org/video/7156/voices-of-veterans
Leaping Real Eyes
http://www.facebook.com/leaping.realeyes
OCCUPY TUCSON
http://occupytucson.org/
THE OTHER 99
http://www.ustream.tv/theother99
HARVEY ORGAN
http://harveyorgan.blogspot.com/
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