Dollars Of Income In The Entire

The Greek crisis has been solved…again. Let’s see…that’s probably about 24 “solutions” during the last 24 months. But since these solutions never seem to solve anything, Europe’s central bankers, technocrats and politicians get to huddle together every few weeks and solve the crisis over and over again. It’s kind of like Disneyland for euro-meddlers. They get to keep going on their favorite ride over and over again. Sure, they have to wait in line for a while each time, but the ride is so worth it! Lots of meddling, lots of intervening, lots of “tough negotiations,” lots of prescribing what’s best for others, while spending lots of money that belongs to someone else. If that’s not an “E-Ticket,” what is? The newest Greek solution — approved Monday by the fully employed politicians in ...

“America is back,” said the President of all the Americans, “Anyone who tells you America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about.” Well, Dear Reader, we’re here to tell you: America is in decline. We can give it to you straight because we’re not running for public office. And if we were elected, we would immediately demand a recount. Anyone who tells you America is not in decline is either running for office…or not paying attention. In 1969, more than one out of every three dollars of income in the entire globe was earned in the US. That’s what the IMF’s World Economic Outlook tells us. By 2000, that number had fallen…but not by much. The US still took home 31% of global income. But in the last 10 years, the US share has fallen hard — ...

The numbers tell us America is in decline… if not outright collapse. I say “the numbers tell us” because I’ve become very sensitive to the impact this kind of statement has on people. When I warned about the impending bankruptcy of General Motors in 2006 and 2007, readers actually blamed me for the company’s problems — as if my warnings to the public were the real problem, rather than GM’s $400 billion in debt. The claim was absurd. But the resentment my work engendered was real. So please… before you read this column, which makes several arresting claims about the future of our country… understand I am only writing about the facts as I find them today. I am only drawing conclusions based on the situation as it stands. I am not saying that these conditions can’t improve. Or that they ...

Yesterday when the markets closed the price of oil was only 66 cents shy of $100. What a come back. We expected oil, stocks and gold to sink down deep…and not come back for a long time. So far, we’re wrong a about that. People are still sending money to Wall Street to buy stocks and gold. Where is all this money mail coming from? We don’t know exactly, but there are foreign stamps on many of the envelopes. Foreign stock markets are down. Many of the leading foreign bonds are down too. Investors look at Italy; they see Vesuvius. They look at France; they see Dunkirk. They look India; they see a Black Hole. Investors are afraid. They look to the USA for safety. But oil? Hmmm… We don’t know the cause, but we have a pretty clear idea of the consequence. High oil prices make it harder for ...

NEW YORK (Reuters)- For the small club of companies who trade the food, fuels and metals that keep the world running, the last decade has been sensational. Driven by the rise of Brazil, China, India and other fast-growing economies, the global commodities boom has turbocharged profits at the world's biggest trading houses. They form an exclusive group, whose loosely regulated members are often based in such tax havens as Switzerland. Together, they are worth over a trillion dollars in annual revenue and control more than half the world's freely traded commodities. The top five piled up $629 billion in revenues last year, just below the global top five financial companies and more than the combined sales of leading players in tech or telecoms. Many amass speculative positions worth ...

Jeff Clark, editor of BIG GOLD, caught up recently with Mike Maloney, founder of GoldSilver.com to get his latest thoughts on the gold and silver market. Was the recent selloff in the precious metals sector the beginning of the end of the Great Gold Bull Market? Or merely the end of the beginning? Mike’s perspective may surprise you… Jeff Clark: For those who don’t know you, why is Mike Maloney such a big believer in gold and silver? Mike Maloney: Around 1999, my mother needed help with the estate my father had left her. My sister and I interviewed a dozen financial planners and picked the one that had the most glowing recommendations and gave him control of the assets. He lost about 50% of them in the next year and a half. What I’ve found is most financial planners get it wrong. They’re ...

Cash is king. Ai yi yi… Last week was the worst for investors in 3 years. Even gold melted down, as we thought it eventually would. The only things to go up were US Treasury debt and the dollar. As expected, the Great Correction is doing its work. So far, the stock market has held up as well as it has. But now it seems to be selling off. And gold is selling off too. Rich people buy gold. They can afford to. They know the end of the dollar is coming — sooner or later. They can wait. But the middle classes need dollars. Debtors need dollars. Consumers need dollars. Almost everybody needs dollars. In a correction, cash is king. And the king of kings is the dollar. Here’s CNN confirming what Dear Readers already know: …the data gave the first glimpse of what happened to middle-class ...

“World stock markets rallied on Wednesday,” the Associated Press explains, “as investors hoped that the Federal Reserve would respond to mounting signs of weakness in the global economy by providing more stimulus to the US economy.” In other words, the worse the outlook for the economy, the brighter the prospects for the stock market. Such is the tortured logic that has been powering the Dow’s 1,000-point advance over the last three weeks. Day after day, the Associated Press — along with every other financial news outlet — trots out some version of the “bad is good” storyline to explain the rallying stock market. But don’t blame the messengers for publishing and promulgating this popular fairy tale. The media outlets are merely parroting what the professional investors, professional ...

As expected, investors were worn out by last week’s wild ride. This week, they need to slow down. Take a rest. Try to figure out what is going on. After taking about 10 minutes over the weekend to think about it, everyone seems to have decided that all is well. The Dow rose a healthy 213 points yesterday. Gold went up $17. Investors are still bullish. The press is bullish. Warren Buffett is bullish. What are the odds that all this bullishness will pay off? About zero, in our opinion. Not that stocks might not go up for a while. But they’re not likely to go up far enough or for long enough to make owners much money. Why? You know why, Dear Reader. Because the debt is still there. And it’s getting bigger. Debt weighs down a household…or an entire economy. With gross US government debt ...