Saturday, October 11, 2008
VOTER BOMB GRAPHICS...
PRINT THESE OUT AND MAKE T SHIRTS, ETC, OR ENLARGE AND PUT ON YOUR CAR
OR WHERE EVER THEY WILL BE HIGHLY VISIBLE.
YOU CAN TAKE THESE GRAPHICS TO A LOCAL SILK SCREENER OR T SHIRT SHOP
AND THEY CAN TRANSFER THEM TO A PLAIN WHITE T SHIRT, OR SWEAT SHIRT (it's getting cold now!)
URL: http://www.voterbomb.com/graphics-1/
HELP WITH THE VOTER BOMB...SEE DETAILS
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/68252
Help me build the Voter Bomb Blog Roll
Posted October 10th, 2008 by Michael Nystrom
Cross posted at the Voter Bomb!
As some of you know, I'm trying to build another site called the Voter Bomb. The mission of the Voterbomb is to re-empower Voters, not money in the electoral process.
We have 24 days before the general election. I'd like to see every incumbent Congressman (with a couple notable exceptions - Dr. Paul and D. Kucinich) held responsible for the mess they've created and voted out of office on November 4th. It may be ambitious, but it is a worthy goal to let our representatives know that we're no longer asleep, and it is we the people who hold the real power.
I am attempting to model the project on what we achieved during the r3VOLution. The project is meant to be peaceful, patriotic, educational, revolutionary, free, fun, non-partisan and completely open source. I'm not doing this to make a buck, and in fact, I'd just as soon go back to my normal life. There is just one problem. Like many of you, I took the red pill. And as Dr. Paul has informed us, those of us who are awake have a greater responsibility. There is no going back to sleep.
USE URL LINK ABOVE for entire article
APMEX NEWS BLOG ON MINT SUSPENSION OF GOLD EAGLES
http://apmexdealer.blogspot.com/2008/10/us-mint-halts-gold-and-platinum.html
The US Mint memo reads:
October 6, 2008
MEMORANDUM TO ALL AMERICAN EAGLE AND AMERICAN BUFFALO AUTHORIZED PURCHASERS
SUBJECT: 2008-Dated Bullion Products
Due to the extreme fluctuating market conditions for 2008, as well as
current market conditions, gold and silver demand is unprecedented and the demand for platinum is unusually high.
The United States Mint has worked diligently to attempt to meet demand, however, blank supplies are very limited and it is necessary for the United States Mint to focus remaining bullion production primarily on American Eagle Gold One Ounce and Silver One Ounce Coins.For the remainder of 2008 bullion inventory, the following will apply:
American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins
One Ounce Coins will remain on allocation each week. Allocation amounts are based on available quality blanks each week.One Half Ounce Coins: Inventory was depleted last week. No more coins will be produced for 2008.
One Quarter Ounce Coins: Inventory was depleted last week. No more coins will be produced for 2008.
One Tenth Ounce Coins: Inventory was depleted last week. More coins will be produced based on current blank supplies, however, once that remaining inventory is depleted, no more coins will be produced for 2008. You will be notified when these are available for sale.
American Buffalo One Ounce Bullion Coins
Inventory was depleted and sales were suspended in late September. More coins will be produced based on current blank supplies, however, once that remaining inventory is depleted, no more coins will be produced for 2008. You will be notified when these are available for sale.
American Eagle Silver One Ounce Bullion Coins
American Eagle Silver One Ounce Coins will remain on allocation each week. Allocation amounts are based on available quality blanks each week.
American Eagle Platinum Bullion Coins
All denominations were depleted last week. More coins will be produced based on current blank supplies, however, once that remaining inventory is depleted, no more coins will be produced for 2008. You will be notified when these are available for sale.We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.
SEE URL LINK for entire article
JIM SINCLAIR COMMENTS AND A WARNING
Posted On: Friday, October 10, 2008, 7:06:00 PM EST
The Frying Pan or the Fire?
Author: Jim Sinclair
Dear Friends,
Stay the course or jump directly into the fire! That's the soundest advice I can give you in this highly volatile market period. I told you that you would see volatility in gold beyond your wildest imagination. That statement usually went along with my warning that by margining anything gold you were putting yourself in great financial risk.
Today has to seal the veracity of that advice. Now get a hold of yourself. There is absolutely no way governments can make a problem of this size go away over a weekend. Those that question me on this issue are the same ones that laughed in 2000 when I said the growth of OTC derivatives was going to break the world. I told the lead director of Bear Stearns at the time that OTC derivatives were going to break his firm but the profits from them was simply too intoxicating for anyone to listen. Now I am asking you to listen.
Whatever is done to resolve this global financial crisis is going to inject incomprehensible amounts of new money into the global financial system.
Academics see the world as a 'Picture In Time." That means they are static thinkers who can't perceive motion. Visionaries like Harry, Monty, Trader Dan & Tony are "Dynamic Thinkers." At present, some academics are promoting the dumbest line I have ever heard. They say that all this new money going into the system is not monetary inflation because it is simply replacing all the money lost and therefore is a wash. That is part of the thinking pattern I am talking about and it's dead wrong.
Dynamic thinkers know that the outflow of these losses has existed from the time of transaction and therefore prior to truer valuation as mandated by Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
The day the FASB mandated truer value had existed for years but was not recognized as such because it was generally accounted for off balance sheet. Just because financial institutions tried to hide their losses, those capital depletions were already a growing cancer inside their organizations.
You can be certain that a repetition of Germany's Weimar crisis is coming soon. There is nothing that can be done to make matters better - even if done by governments unilaterally in a unified action. In fact, such action will only serve to make matters worse.
The larger the financial action, the deeper the financial fall. The G7 still thinks they run the world. That should tell you something about the degree of what they can do.
Gold is honest money that will push all crappy paper out of its way. Why do you think so much intervention took place in gold in US market hours today?
All I can tell you is to stay the course or jump directly into the fire! If the heat in the kitchen is too hot for you, there is nothing I can do for you.
Regards,
Jim Sinclair
JIM RODGERS ON CNBC FRIDAY MORNING
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Find-Freedom.htm?At=039506
Notice how the British interviewer completely misses the point of
what Rodgers has just told him and persists in asking if there is
some way to get out of this mess easily.
Nobody in the media, or in Guv'mint seems to get THE POINT...
THEY COMPLETELY FUCKED UP THE SYSTEM AND IT'S BANKRUPT!
This means that THE MONEY IS GONE!
The ONLY way to move beyond this mess is to ACCEPT THE LOSS, PICK UP THE PIECES,
and create an HONEST, WORKABLE SYSTEM.
This means that THERE ARE LOSERS, AND THERE ARE WINNERS, depending on what each
did with their assets BEFORE the collapse finally took place.
THERE IS NO GOING BACK TO BEFORE THE PHONEY PAPER WAS CREATED...
Just like there is no taking poison out of the water after you drink it.
Friday, October 10, 2008
TODAY WAS A COMPLETE DISASTER
I feel like I just ran a Triathalon backwards.
Just an unbelievably dishonest, manipulated catastrophe for all
the people who moved into gold to survive and preserve what little they have.
One point made today by one speaker on CNBC was that the participants of the G7
are the biggest gold holders in the World and would have sold their gold today
before the meeting if they knew in advance what they would do to prop up this
crippled, on life support World Economy.
Thus the harsh sell off with no respite of over $100 down without any upticks of significance.
Talk about Insider Trading.
Read Dan Norcini's comments...he's furious about what is going on at the Comex.
More later as I have to have a drink and go tightrope walking over a deep canyon.
READ DAN NORCINI'S REMARKS TODAY AT JSMINESET
Dan's remarks on his afternoon chart explain much about today's actions.
FROM CASEY RESEARCH ON YESTERDAY'S PM MARKETS
From Ed Steer:
There was so little volume in Far East precious metals trading yesterday morning, that the prices could have moved significantly in either direction if there had been some serious buyers or sellers around. Ted Butler said it was the lowest volume day he can remember...certainly the lowest this year. Gold drifted from a high of about $909 in early Thursday morning trading in Sydney...down to its low of around $883 just after the Comex close in New York yesterday afternoon. Then, out of the blue, came a $38 dollar rally over a two hour period. My guess would be that this was a short covering rally by the boyz. I doubt this data will be in Thursday's o.i. numbers that will be reported later this morning. We'll probably have to wait until after the long weekend.
Silver had a nice rise during yesterday's trading, but the volume was virtually non-existent...as only 12,500 contracts in silver were traded...and only 85,000 in gold. The Comex precious metals were trading on fumes yesterday.
Gold open interest on Wednesday fell a whopping 8,459 contracts...and silver o.i. dropped a minuscule 23 contracts. The new COT will be out at 3:30 Eastern time today. As I said earlier this week..."it should be a sight to behold!" I'll be talking about it tomorrow.
Some tidbits from the gold world on Thursday. The first item of note was taken from Bill Murphy's commentary over at lemetropolecafe.com...German gold dealers have stopped taking new orders for the precious metal as demand has skyrocketed. This is one sentence from a news story on the web site of Deutsche Welle...a German TV station. And according to the usual NY gold commentator..."The ECB (European Central Bank) reported that they had sold 7.79 tonnes" under the new year of the Central Bank Agreement on Gold. GLD was up about 60,000 ounces and there was no change in the SLV ETF.
But the real gold news yesterday came from UBS gold analyst, John Reade...another story that I picked up at lemetropolecafe.com....and it's a dandy. First, the story that triggered Reade's comments...
Record Dubai Commodity Exchange physical gold settlement (Reuters) "Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) completed its largest-ever physical settlement of gold and steel reinforcing bar futures contracts with a total value of $25.2 million, it said on Wednesday. The settlement involved the delivery of 908 kg of gold and 40 tonnes of steel rebar for Oct 2008. No further details were available. Gold prices rallied more than 3 percent on Wednesday as investors rushed to purchase safer assets, while the worst financial crisis in nearly 80 years battered global stock markets. DGCX, which offers futures contracts in gold, silver, steel, fuel and crude oil and currencies, aims to become a major commodities centre in the region. Its activities almost doubled in 2007."
Then Reade's comments: "This is a very interesting story that merits further investigation. We have heard investors, unable to get physical investment bars due to the safe-haven induced credit crunch, have bought Dec Comex futures with an intention of holding them to expiry. It seems that a similar trade took place on the DGCX. Historically we have discounted the chances of a physical squeeze of Comex gold because so few futures investors take physical delivery and, if they did, metal would be shipped in from London and Zurich. But the shortage of Comex-eligible bars may make the physical settlement of large deliveries ‘complicated’ to say the least. We will be closely monitoring this situation: if the market remains tight for kilobars over the next month or two then a squeeze in Comex gold could materialise. And if gold lease rates keep heading higher due to a supply/demand mismatch in the loco London market, the gold market could get very interesting into the end of the year."
Yes it could...and probably will...if the gold and silver prices haven't already blown sky high before then.
TRADE BALANCE REPORT
U.S. trade gap narrows in August
By Greg Robb
Last update: 8:32 a.m. EDT Oct. 10, 2008
Comments: 2
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. trade deficit narrowed by 3.5% in August to $59.1 billion, the Commerce Department said Friday. The trade deficit was above the consensus forecast of Wall Street economists of a deficit of $58.5 billion. Both imports and exports declined in August, but imports fell faster than exports in August. However, the 2.0% drop in exports was the biggest since June 2004. Auto imports were the lowest since March 2005. Imports of crude oil dropped for the first time in six months. The U.S. trade deficit with China widened to $25.3 billion in compared with $22.5 billion in the same month last year. This is the highest deficit since last October. Imports from China hit a new record of $31.8 billion.
JIM SINCLAIR COMMENTS AND A WARNING
Posted On: Thursday, October 09, 2008, 10:17:00 PM EST
Gold and Dollar Market Summary
Author: Jim Sinclair
Dear Friends,
Gold is about to VAULT UP.
I am reliably informed that the paper versus bullion gold war is lost by paper gold at a $930 close.
Gold will vault to slightly under $900 then get pushed back, but not much at all. Directly after that we are off to $1200.
A Bank Holiday is moving from possible to PROBABLE.
* Have you fully protected yourself?
* Have you distanced yourself as much as possible away from financial agents holding your assets?
* Have you gotten paper certificates for your shares or became a direct registration book entry at the transfer agent?
* Have you protected your retirement accounts the same way as your shares above but in the name of the retirement account and the trust holding them?
* Have you closed your Money Market fund accounts regardless of what assurances your bankers offer?
* Have you withdrawn from your Credit Union?
* Have you exited your corporate retirement fund?
* Do you have significant gold and related shares investments?
It is getting UGLY out there as each day an attempt to postpone a bank holiday fails. Almost every other day lately financial leaders of the world have announced new plans that were "the final answer" to the super-glued credit market. All these plans have had no effect. The Dow fell like a rock off a cliff.
This says all efforts have failed.
Libor Holds Central Banks Hostage as Credit Freezes (Update2)
By Gavin Finch and Ben Sills
Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Danilo Coronacion oversees 15 percent of global coconut oil production at CIIF Oil Mills Group in the Philippines. These days, he spends a lot of time worrying about events half a world away in London. The name of his pain? Libor.
CIIF has more than $60 million of debt, or 70 percent of its working capital, linked to London interbank offered rates that have soared since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed on Sept. 15. The cost of borrowing in dollars for three-months in London jumped 23 basis points today to 4.75 percent, the highest level since December.
4:13AM PDST A REAL GOOD MORNING GOLD BUGS!
TODAY'S REPORTS:
Trade balance
Import price index
(LIKE THEY MATTER ANYMORE!)
Quite an end of market stock close yesterday and overnight!
Nothing like watching the World collapse in real time on TV
while watching all the lying spinmeisters keep blathering their bullshit non-stop.
MW comments are back up, to give "the masses" a pressure relief value to express their outrage at what their pathetic, criminal leaders have done to the World's Economic System.
These people should all be hunted down and turned into field slaves for eternity.
Jim Rodgers was on CNBC Europe last night. It was pure joy to hear him answer the British doofus who only wanted to know how a smooth transition could be made back to some semblance of normalcy.
Rodgers flat out told everyone..."You let the failures go BANKRUPT, and those who know what they are doing to pick up the remains".
He said the G7 members should just go to the bar and stay out of the way.
PURE GENIUS...
There is no answer to this mess except to let the chips fall where they SHOULD (not may...like on the common man!)and just let the system collapse quickly and then
restructure...of course with some type of humanitarian attempts to alleviate the suffering of the masses who will be starving and thus becoming violent in their search for food and shelter.
I sure hate to see that everything I've been telling everyone for over 35 years is EXACTLY CORRECT....
BUT....
I TOLD YOU SO!
Be sure to grab your survival supplies before they all run out!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
READ CULTUREOFLIFENEWS.COM EVERY DAY
http://elainemeinelsupkis.typepad.com/
READ AND LEARN EVERY DAY.
THE LATEST BOB CHAPMAN ARTICLE
Massive Gains Wiped Out in Markets Despite Everyone Being Warned
Subscribers to the IF were warned for serveral years about the financial crisis that is now upon us,five years of gains wiped out, Congress approves the Paulson Ponzi Plunder Plan, there is no intention of supporting the stock markets, credit default swaps are at the root of the big losses, Plan was approved only by adding 150 billion in pork to thelegislation
http://theinternationalforecaster.com/
AND READ THIS ONE TOO!
I just didn't have time to post it during my physical problems.
Bailout Creating a Financial Black Hole to Suck Us All In
October 4th, 2008 - A dish of Bailout with a side of pork, shareholders vaporized by Derivatives Death-Star, We all await the financial markets implosion, No problems solved by the bailout, Stay prepared for a full shutdown of the financial system with some cash on hand, Credit default swaps unregulated point in the chain
http://theinternationalforecaster.com/International_Forecaster_Weekly/Bailout_Creating_a_Financial_Black_Hole_to_Suck_Us_All_In
JIM SINCLAIR COMMENTS AND A WARNING
Posted On: Wednesday, October 08, 2008, 8:56:00 PM EST
Gold and Dollar Market Summary
Author: Jim Sinclair and Dan Norcini
Dear Friends,
The Big Gun was rolled out today. The equity market had steadied from its recent drastic action and Paulson picked up the baton and ran with it. He is considered to be the best public speaker of the Money Men.
The Bloomberg ladies were in total glee as the market was up about 125 points. As Paulson said that not all financial failures would be bailed out (now a major fib) the equity gang lost their instructions. In the blink of an eye what was up 125 points was then down almost 200.
I imagine being a good public speaker does not carry much weight in a situation that can be described as "OUT OF CONTROL."
If the Washington gang really does not want the financial calamity now in progress, statements that suggest another major financial entity could go bankrupt without a bailout should be avoided. If all powerful Money Man persists in bringing up thoughts of Lehman's Chapter 11, the equity market will have no bottom. Letting Lehman go after instituting bailouts of others is the event that has given way to this "Out of Control" condition.
Out of Control means just what it says. If things were under control the equity market would not have given a Brooklyn Cheer to the President of the USA and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and there would not have been an unprecedented drop of interest rates today.
Bank holidays are on the way.
Every major retirement fund is stone broke.
Most money management entities are full of treasury OTC derivatives, not treasury instruments, and are therefore also broke.
The local banks are in the web of the Money Center banks and are therefore in trouble they do not even know about yet.
The paperwork behind OTC mortgages is a total disaster, adding more mess to an already major financial planetary killer.
I am sorry to say that there is no way to make this process go away. The downward spiral will make its way to the bottom.
Gold will be the tool that finally stops the plague in the form of the Federal Reserve Gold Certificate Ratio, revitalized and modernized, but not until the public is in such a condition that it cries out to God to stop the carnage. That will happen sometime before January 14th 2011.
Protect yourself, this is out of control!
Respectfully yours,
Jim
4:40AM PDST GOOD MORNING GOLD BUGS!
TODAY'S REPORTS:
Jobless claims
Wholesale inventories
Well, gold got pushed down overnight against all possible logic, as the Euro
was rising the whole time.
All those idiots on the public comments at MarketWatch, especially "mos" who
derided me and others who claimed our cries of MANIPULATION were part of our
mental problem, should be thoroughly ashamed and beg for our forgiveness.
Many who pummeled us with insults day after day are now losing their ASSets
by the minute. I know of one particularly vocal poster who says he is "hanging on"
to his stock positions, and has a "secure job".
We shall see just how secure anything is pretty soon.
This economic crisis has the ability and potential to take the ENTIRE WORLD
down to step one and turning us into cave dwellers.
It is even going to test the rich, who don't seem to be able to live except upon
the backs of others.
So when those "others" simply say "fuck you" to them, it will be interesting to
see the rich foraging for food by the side of the highway.
I am not in a good mood today, am in pain again from this abdominal problem which the
medical community seems to think can be handled any old time at their leisure.
I have an appointment this morning at 7:30am pdst for an UltraSound which means
I will leave no later than 6:15am pdst and not be able to comment or post charts
until I get back...
unless they find they have to operate, in which case it should be a day or more
before I can follow the market and post from my lap top while in recovery.
Gold should not be able to drop much lower...
But I'm simply amazed that they have been able to push it lower on such low volume overnight...
It's been like water torture (drip, drip, drip) watching it slip all night long.
I also have to stop and get my truck lights fixed after my doctor appointment, so
that will take some time too.
It should be fun trying to get to my appointment with only my high beams and flasher
as the sun is rising here at 7:00am pdst now.
Everything always happens at once, doesn't it?
Oh, has anyone else noticed that the MARKETWATCH comments are no longer, at least
out on the public articles?
I see that MattDragonSilver still has some of our members posting now and then and
that his group has grown a bit.
I would be nice to hear from any of the old GROUP members to see how they are fairing
as this crisis comes to a head.
Is anyone complaining now about all the effort I went through to get you folks into
PHYSICAL CASH GOLD now?
Especially as we are now finding it harder to acquire?
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
MOGAMBO GURU MONDAY OCT 6, 2008
The Daily Reckoning PRESENTS:
As Wall Street gets smaller, the government gets bigger. This week, the Mogambo Guru explores the greedy underbelly of government spending...and what you should do about it. Read on...
GOVERNMENT SPENDING SPREE
by The Mogambo Guru
If you want to know the Real, Real Reason (RRR) why we are being subjected to a $700 billion bailout of the economy, which is just the beginning, it is because the despicable Alan Greenspan, during his foul 18-years as chairman of the loathsome Federal Reserve, created all the money and credit that financed the stock market boom, the bond market boom, the housing boom and (worst of all) the growth-in-government boom.
And now, all those things are bid up waaaAAAaaaayyyyy past their real values, and buyers are scarce while sellers are many. So the owners of those depreciating assets suddenly realize that they either have to hold onto them and go bust, or find some moron with a lot of money to buy them. Oops!
Tragically, while stocks can go bust, and bonds can go bust, and houses can go bust (and they are), the growth-in-government boom cannot be allowed to go bankrupt, because half of the people in the country now receive a government check of some kind as their income every month (Social Security, welfare, etc.), AND the governments collectively “employ” half the workers in the country because half the nation’s workers have incomes that derive from government spending either directly or indirectly!
So, the real reason is: Governments need the money! It’s as simple as that!
I know you find it hard to believe me, since Total Payrolls is officially listed as $145.5 million, while government payrolls is shown as $22.5 million - but it’s true, nonetheless.
Firstly, these “government payrolls” do not variously count such things as firemen, policemen, teachers or any of myriad “contracted out” services, which means that the contracting private-sector provider is a private company that gets all of its income from government, thus they are indirectly, but totally, employed by government.
Now, add in ALL of those “contracted” services that government buys, such as building maintenance, lawn services, office supplies, equipment providers, equipment servicing contractors, rented office space, security services, pornography downloads, storage space, and parking areas, all of which is counted as being “private employment”, when in fact it is Pure Public Payroll (PPP).
Now, we apply the multiplier as these incomes provided by the government are received and then spent, providing another income to someone else, which is also spent, providing another income to someone else, which is also spent, providing another income to someone else, over and over, all the while being whittled down by taxes.
Since all multipliers range between 3 and 7, even a multiplier of 3 will be enough to enlarge the official 22.5 million government employees to 67.5 million, which is almost half of the total 145.5 million employed in the whole freaking country!
As proof, I offer the Energy & Scarcity Investor newsletter, where we get the report that “Last year, the Pentagon spent $316 billion on contracts with private firms”, which is “more than it spends on actual weapons to fight wars.”
So, not only do “military contractors account for more than half of all Defense Department spending – 57.6%”, but there are a lot of these “private employees” in the “47,000 companies to choose from – running the gamut from blue chips to start-ups” that are getting, and living on, government money.
Ergo, the government desperately needs money, the Federal Reserve will create the money the government wants, the fresh government debt will be bought up, the money supply will increase, the value of the dollar will continue to fall, and gold will rise along with, and almost certainly more than, the rise in all other prices! Whee! This investing stuff is easy!
Until next time,
The Mogambo Guru
for The Daily Reckoning
FROM THE DAILY RECKONING TUESDAY OCT 6, 2008
The Daily Reckoning PRESENTS: A cascading collapse of international finance is underway. While many fixers may jump heroically into the tumbling wreckage hoping to rescue this-and-that, James Kunstler believes that the outcome by Friday is liable to be an unrecognizable smoldering landscape of the G-7’s hopes and dreams. Read on…
ALL FALL DOWN
by James Howard Kunstler
God knows what manner of deals went down this past weekend in the Hamptons’ wine cellars and below-decks among the Chesapeake Bay sailboat fleet. All these hidey-holes must have been dank and fetid with the sweat of mortal fear. Will the U.S. government declare itself a subsidiary of General Electric? Will Vlad Putin be roped in to save Goldman Sachs? Meanwhile, the whole noisome rat maze of international counter-party deals was taking on sewer water and rodents of every nationality were seen leaping for daylight all over the fusty old motherlands of Europe. A cascading collapse of international finance is underway. While many fixers may jump heroically into the tumbling wreckage hoping to rescue this-and-that, the outcome by Friday is liable to be an unrecognizable smoldering landscape of the G-7’s hopes and dreams.
Some big questions for the week: will the Euro survive as a currency? Will the rush into the U.S. dollar continue even as the U.S. financial system dematerializes in a Fibonacci fever of accelerating de-leveraged infinitude? Will the remaining Big Boyz, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan succumb to the counter-party hemorrhagic fever? Will great rows of lesser banking dominoes now start clacking onto their faces? Will all fifty states follow the leads of California and Massachusetts and line up at the U.S. Treasury’s hand-out window. Will the entity that calls itself the civilized world be left at week’s end with anything resembling money?
Your guess is as good as mine. We’ve entered the realm of phase change, where everything is slipping and nothing has settled. The final result, when the dust settles – and that may not be for weeks to come – will certainly be a poorer western world. Will it be so poor that it can no longer afford to import anything? Including oil from the land of the date palm? If so, we are really in for a rough ride, poised as we are at the edge of the heating season here in the temperate regions. Notice, by the way, that the $700 billion just approved by congress to bail out Wall Street is exactly the same sum of money that we send to the oil exporting nations this year.
Will millions stop receiving paychecks due to the turmoil in banking? It’s certainly possible, starting with the poor drones in Mr. Schwarzenegger’s motor vehicle bureau and eventually ranging to every payroll office in the land. Will Sarah Palin’s fellow Six-packers line up around the parking lagoons of the suburban banks trying desperately to withdraw the last seventy bucks in their checking accounts? (And will their thoughts in the event be: this economy is fundamentally sound....) Will the supermarket shelves of chipotle-flavored crunchy snacks and power drinks go empty as truckers refuse to deliver their loads without up-front payment? And how long does it take a hungry public to turn mean?
We could see a parallel problem in the motor fuel supply sector. So far, gasoline shortages have only appeared in parts of the Southeast USA, due to interruptions caused by two hurricanes. If the oil tankers quit offloading now for lack of credible payment, then the whole nation will get an interesting lesson in the shortcomings of the suburban development pattern.
The candidates’ debate Tuesday night should be interesting. I don’t expect too much give-and-take on the subject of East Ossetia this time around.
Even at this point, the current crack-up in world finance makes the 1929 crash and the events of the 1930s look in comparison like an orderly small town auction of somebody’s grandmother’s effects. Back in that sepia day, America had plenty of everything except ready cash. We had, especially, plenty of our own oil, and – you’re not going to believe this but it’s true – the stuff was selling for as little as ten cents a barrel, it was so abundant. And yet still, America in the 1930s plunged into a dark depression of inactivity, loss of confidence, and impoverishment.
This time around, things could get more disorderly. Personally, I think we may be beyond the reach even of fascist authoritarianism, because unlike the programmed industrial masses of the 1930s, we are unused to regimentation, to lining up at the factory gates and the movie theaters. Back then, society was so regimented that everybody wore uniforms in-and-out of the military. Look at movies from the 1930s. Every man-jack wore either a necktie and hat or overalls. The industrial masses behaved like termites. Once unemployment hit, they were waiting to be told what to do, to line up for something. It worked fabulously for Hitler, who took every advantage of this mentality. Luckily, the US went for Roosevelt (both FDR and Hitler entered office the same winter of 1933, by the way). FDR was more like everybody’s kindly Uncle Frank, and his reassuring persona enabled Americans to suck up their bad luck and altered circumstances. Many of them retreated to the family farm (which still existed then) and waited things out – and, anyway, the melodrama of the Great Depression soon resolved in the Second World War when Hitler’s love of regimentation led him into military misadventure. He shouldn’t have picked a fight with someone who had so much petroleum – end-of-story.
Okay, what happens here and now? To this point (9 AM Monday October 6, 2008) events have been proceeding under a veneer of still-just-barely-credible authority. We (as represented by Congress) have allowed Mr. Paulson to advance and activate his remedies. As things unspool further, he will be out of credibility, perhaps in a few days, and it’s unlikely that his successor will have any either. Mr. Bernanke has simply gone AWOL. Notice, he has vanished from the media landscape. We may soon be hearing the declaration of various “emergency” measures involving the allocation of food and the rationing of oil products. The Big Bailout of last week may be partially rescinded as it becomes obvious that it has had no effect – I believe about half the $700 billion has already been allocated, which is to say: lost.
I realize these things sound pretty extreme. But forces have been set in motion and momentum rules. One thing for sure: the American public is about to undergo a severe mood adjustment. There will be fewer American Idol fans and worshippers of Donald Trump by the close of business on Friday.
Regards,
James Howard Kunstler
for The Daily Reckoning
READY TO RETIRE...THINK AGAIN
Retirement accounts have lost $2 trillion so far:
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer Tue Oct 7, 7:27 PM ET
Americans' retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months - about 20 percent of their value - Congress' top budget analyst estimated Tuesday as lawmakers began investigating how turmoil in the financial industry is whittling away workers' nest eggs.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081007/ap_on_bi_ge/meltdown_retirement
SUICIDES ON THE INCREASE AS ECONOMIC CRISIS CONTINUES
'Economic 9/11' exacting grim psychological toll in US
8 Oct, 2008, 0718 hrs
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/International_Business/Economic_911_exacting_grim_psychological_toll_in_US/articleshow/3572068.cms
LOS ANGELES: The murder-suicide of a Los Angeles financial manager who shot dead five members of his family before killing himself has highlighted the psychological toll of the economic meltdown.
THE EUROPEAN UNION COULD FALL TOO!
The financial crisis could be the euro's death knell
and even end the shambolic EU
By Christopher Booker
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20973.htm
08/10/08 "Daily Mail' -- At the very moment when Europe's banking system is teetering on the edge of collapse and national economies are in freefall, we might, perhaps, have expected the EU finally to live up to its more grandiose pretensions as the ' government of Europe'.
Yet what have we seen by way of the EU's response to what is undoubtedly the most testing crisis in its history?
A few perfunctory fine words and empty gestures - and then the national leaders flapping off like so many headless chickens to pursue their own national interests, regardless of all those laws and principles which in easier times they were apparently so happy to sign up to.
The truth is that this massive banking crisis has exposed the hollowness, the impotence and the hypocrisy of the European Union like nothing before in its history.
AS OF OCT 1, 2008 MILITARY UNITS WILL BE USED FOR CIVIL INSURRECTIONS ABLE TO USE DEADLY FORCE
A little-noticed story surfaced a couple of weeks ago in the Army Times newspaper about the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team. “Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months,” reported Army Times staff writer Gina Cavallaro, “the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.” Disturbingly, she writes that “they may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control” as well.
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2008/10/2/amy_goodmans_latest_column_invasion_of_the_sea_smurfs
AND...
Thousands of Troops Are Deployed on U.S. Streets Ready to Carry Out "Crowd Control"
By Naomi Wolf
08/10/08 "AlterNet"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20975.htm
JOHN McCAIN'S RAGE...THE MAN IS COMPLETELY NUTS!
I didn't think we could do worse than Bush....but....
Short video from Robert Greenwald...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAyK-enrF1g
FROM JSMINESET.COM
Bullion lending by central banks all but dries up
By Javier Blas in London , Financial Times, 7 Oct 2008
Central banks have all but stopped lending gold to commercial and investment banks and other participants in the precious metals market, in a move that on Tuesday sent the cost of borrowing bullion for one-month to more than twenty times its usual level.
The one-month gold lease rate rocketed to 2.649 per cent, its highest level since May 2001 and significantly above its five-year average of 0.12 per cent, according to data from the London Bullion Market Association.
Gold lease rates for two, three and six months and for a year also jumped to levels not seen in the last seven years.
Traders said the jump reflects the fact that central banks – mostly European – have almost completely stopped lending gold in the last few days and are not rolling forward old leases after maturity. This is because of fears that some borrowers might not repay their bullion loans if they are engulfed by the financial crisis.
"A number of central banks have been cutting back on their gold lending," said Tom Kendall, a precious metals strategist at Mitsubishi in London.
http://money.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=643285
CENTRAL BANKS CO-ORDINATE RATE CUTS
Fed, major central banks slash rates
By William L. Watts, MarketWatch
Last update: 7:48 a.m. EDT Oct. 8, 2008
LONDON (MarketWatch) - The world's major central banks moved in concert Wednesday to slash key interest rates as policy makers struggle to head off global financial turmoil that has threatened to throttle world economic growth.
In coordinated announcements, the Fed said it had cut its key lending rate by a half point to 1.5%.
The Frankfurt-based European Central Bank trimmed its key refi rate to 3.75% from 4.25%, while the Bank of England cut its key rate to 4.5% from 5%. The Bank of Japan sat out the move, but issued a statement backing the action
4:26AM PDST GOOD MORNING GOLD BUGS!
TODAY'S REPORT:
Pending home sales 7AM PDST
Set my alarm for 1:00am pdst, as I suspected some overnight activity to the upside.
Well, when it went off, I see that gold took off just minutes after I closed my eyes last night, in great pain, at 10pm pdst.
Hadn't eaten anything since my pains started on Sunday evening, spent yesterday afternoon at the doctor and doing some blood work at the hospital where I am scheduled for an ultra sound at 7:30am on Thursday.
Well I felt OK coming home last night, except I found out I had no headlights or running lights on my new truck that I just gave to Ford to fix another problem last week. I still had my hand held high beams and flashers and brake lights, and it was getting dark quick, but I made it home with out a ticket. Surprising how many people don't turn on their headlights until way after sunset, especially truckers.
Anyhow, got home and ate some zucchini from the garden with onions, garlic and a bit of cheddar cheese and some Parmesan cheese sprinkled on it. How tough can that be on your intestine?
Well, I found out a couple of hours later.
The pain came back and I thought about going to the emergency room I had just been next to. But now it's dark and I don't have headlights.
So I rolled over and somehow went to sleep only to wake up and see that gold exploded just as I had tuned out for the night in pain.
Well, I set the alarm for 3:00am, then for 4:00am. At 4, the market fell about 27 dollars, apparently on the news of these "co-ordinated" rate cuts, but has also just
rallied back almost to the top and is now giving back some of that.
I can't believe how much money I've missed making while I'm either screwing around
trying to keep this old body from hurting, or just sleeping for a couple of hours.
It's like I'm being played with.
Did anyone else notice that the "COMMENTS" at MarketWatch have disappeared?
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
THE CONSTITUTION IS HISTORY
Rumsfeld Updated Army's Continuity of Operations Plan before 9/11
By Tom Burghardt
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20960.htm
07/10/08 "Antifascist" -- - Ten months before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld approved an updated version of the U.S. Army's secret operational Continuity of Government (COG) plans.
A draft document published by the whistleblowing website Wikileaks entitled, "Army Regulation 500-3, Emergency Employment of Army and Other Resources. Army Continuity of Operations (COOP) Program," dated 19 January 2001, spells out changes in Army doctrine.
JIM SINCLAIR...THIS IS IT...TIME HAS RUN OUT...PROTECT YOURSELF NOW, OR LOSE IT ALL!
The Federal OTC Derivative Dealers
Author: Jim Sinclair
Dear Friends,
Please understand that the Fed reacts to circumstances rather than acting before potential problems happen.
If the Fed hadn't taken the rather strange action they took today by becoming OTC derivative dealers themselves this would have been the day the USA banking system imploded.
Watch Libor rates to signal the point of detonation.
Circumstances appear as if there were many problem Angels dancing on top of a pin that is being balanced on the nose of just those people who created the problem in the first place.
An implosion of the banking system is coming, which means a bank holiday will occur.
You now must have enough cash in hand to last a month or two.
If you have not distanced yourself from financial agents then you have a financial death wish.
If you have NOT made absolutely sure that your custodian account is a real custodial- ship you are probably in for a surprise.
I took a call yesterday from a mature lady who told me she feels her money market fund that is only in Treasuries will not pay her out. They did tell her they intend to in seven days. I asked her to call me back in eight days. How does she know that this money market fund is not in OTC derivatives based on the movement of Treasuries?
I do not want you to make that call to me.
If you can retire from your retirement program at some reasonable discount do it NOW.
This is it and it is NOW. Gold is going to $1200 and $1650. The US dollar rally has NO fundamental legs.
Why are so many of you sitting there like a deer caught in the headlights? Protect yourself and do it TODAY!
Respectfully,
Jim
MONTY GUILD (jsmineset.com) RECOMMENDS THIS ARTICLE
Blocked pipes
Oct 2nd 2008 | LONDON AND NEW YORK
From The Economist print edition
When banks find it hard to borrow, so do the rest of us
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12342237
WHO SAYS THERE ARE NO JOBS?
Treasury Announces Solicitations for Financial Agents
October 6, 2008
hp-1185
Treasury Announces Solicitations for Financial Agents under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act
Washington, DC--The Treasury Department posted today three solicitations for financial agents to provide services that are needed for the effective implementation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program authorized under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. The three services being sought are:
Custodian, Accounting, Auction Management, and Other Infrastructure Services
Securities Asset Management Services
Whole Loan Asset Management Services
All interested and eligible parties that meet the requirements and guidelines required of each service should submit requests by the 5 p.m. (EDT) on Oct. 8, 2008. Treasury expects to announce the results of initial selections from these three competitions next week. In some cases more than one financial agent may be chosen.
These services are being obtained through the Treasury's authority to retain financial agents to provide services on its behalf as provided for under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. These are not contracts governed by the provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. More information on Treasury's procurement authorities under this Act can be found at: http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/hp1179.htm.
MO' MONEY, MO' MONEY!
Global central banks set regular dollar auctions: Fed
By Greg Robb
Last update: 8:15 a.m. EDT Oct. 7, 2008
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Global central banks have set a schedule for dollar liquidity auctions that will take place every two weeks through the end of the year, the Federal Reserve announced Tuesday. These auctions include 28-day and 84-day loans and "forward auctions" of cash loans designed to bridge over the year-end. As part of the coordination, the Fed announced its schedule for cash auctions.
Yesterday, the Fed said it planned to double the size of its lending to the banking system to a possible $900 billion at the end of the year
5:09AM PDST GOOD MORNING GOLD BUGS!
TODAY'S REPORTS:
NOTHING THIS MORNING
Retail chain index AT 5:45AM PDST
Consumer credit AT NOON PDST
Gold rallied overnite up to the 61.8% fib line of the whole move down from 932 to 82250.
Dollar is slipping a bit, Euro is coming back up. Stocks are a disaster.
Bonds are flopping around, but mainly being bought as a safe place to park money (for what? you almost have to pay them interest!)
I am still in a good deal of discomfort as my "Ass Blaster" decided to work first thing this morning. With that and some cramps I'm barely able to keep my mind on the market and post.
At 7:30am pdst, I call the doctor for an appointment. It's a 25 mile trip to town
with no toilets for miles. fun, huh?
Plus it's raining today.
You can see the stair step pattern gold is making.
Over night it waits until past midnight my time to move up another level.
I may have to start trading nights which will make it very hard to post during the
day. It's easier in some ways to trade at night, but much slower and with fewer signals and news available to me.
A little pre-opening rally at 4.54am thru just now and the pull back.
Well, lets's see what today brings us...
It appears we are heading up in convulsive pulses to $1000 and beyond.
READ SINCLAIR TO KEEP UP TO DATE!
Monday, October 6, 2008
1:40PM PDST GT IS BACK WITH NOT MUCH ACCOMPLISHED
Spent 3 hours finding out that our Medical Community is filled with money hunger pricks.
My doctor was filled up today, emergency room is $200-500 entry fee depending on which chute they send you down, and usually not much gets accomplished.
I went to the pharmacy and bought a bottle of "Ass Blaster" Phosphate Laxative that they give you before a colonoscopy.
No free cork included!
Forgot to get some adult diapers, but a towel will have to do.
The directions say it should go to work with in 30 minutes to six HOURS!
Must be produced by the Cable Company...(we'll be there sometime between 8 and 5)!
I hope this is just the result of eating too much white flour in the vanilla and lemon oreo cookies I've been having with my coffee in the morning.
Just sitting in front of a computer all day doesn't exercise the old Tube very much.
Also went to the health food section of our Fred Meyer Store and got some Bran, some Brewer's Yeast, and a bag of apples and some cantaloupe.
Ate one of the apples on the way home and the pain came back big time. I was almost ready to turn around and go to the emergency room, but by the time I got home and stood up the pain has now subsided.
I sure hope this is something minor, but at my age, I've been wondering what is going to finally get me.
I see that I should have made $5000 per contract on this morning's move, but instead, I only got $500 each.
Hell, I could have bought a new intestine if I'd hung on!
7:55AM PDST GOOD MORNING GOLD BUGS!
Well, I feel much better this morning, physically, but I managed to screw up on my trade.
I had trouble getting to sleep last night as I stayed in bed until after 1pm Sunday morning with a small headache, the kind you have just before you think you're going to puke. Didn't have much of an appetite but need something besides my coffee, so I had a mini-pizza, some garden tomatoes with Italian dressing, and a glass of red wine.
Felt pretty good until the pain began.
Thought it might be appendicitis, but the internet dispelled that.
It's great to have all that info at your finger tips, because your doctor never tells
you anything anymore.
Anyway, I went to bed about 11:00pm and couldn't really sleep and was very uncomfortable but not in pain.
I had to watch the market because my contracts (at the green line on my charts) were losing, and gold was looking very weak.
Well, I finally fell asleep about 1:00am or so, and at 3:30am, I opened my eyes and was almost to tired to roll over and look at the laptop.
But I did, thankfully, and saw that gold has jumped up above my contract price.
Well, this happens all the time and then it falls back immediately and you are a loser again, and still sleepy.
Well, I managed to organize my screens quickly and hit the SELL BUTTON and was happy to be out of what I thought was a weak market right when I have to be away from the computers while I go to the doctor.
Right after I hit the Sell button, gold just kept going, and within minutes I would have had at least 5 times the profit I took.
Well, that's the way it goes. At least I'm out with a profit, I thought and can go do what I have to do without having to worry about the market collapsing on me while I'm away...(I hate using stops!)
So I rolled over and went back to sleep.
The alarm goes off at 4:00am, but I switched it to 5:00am because I figured, I can't trade this morning, and I need some more sleep, or I'll be dragging later this afternoon when I'm at the doctor or in the hospital.
Well, the alarm went off at 5:00am and I looked at the market and saw that it had moved up another step...but what could I do? So I rolled over again.
Well, around 7am or so, I felt well enough to get up and the cats needed feeding (I feed them regularly at 5:30am and pm, and they usually let me know when I'm tardy, but this morning they let me sleep...animals are very intuitive.
Well by now you can see where the market has gone and I made maybe a fifth or less of what I could have made.
I wait for days for these moves and even get upside down in the trades, and wait them out with some degree of anguish, then manage to jump out just before they take off. Damn!
Well, it looks as though gold has disconnected from everything so far.
Dow is collapsing along with the rest of the World, Euro is way down, Oil fell to 88 but has come back up, Bonds are way up at 122s (ridiculous, because they are going to crash, and they don't pay anything, but that's where money goes for safety...Guv'mint Safety, hahaha!)
Gold knows what it's doing, and Sinclair is right as usual that gold will go up no matter what happens elsewhere, as it is the UNIVERSAL SAFETY HEDGE and is REAL MONEY!
You are now going to see gold moving up with shorter pull backs, like stair steps, as it pauses to consolidate to build energy for the next up moves (called "coiling").
You buy the dips and only sell PART of your CORE POSITION on really big run ups, and maybe not even then, as gold could just keep going as this whole nasty mess collapses like a volcano's crater does after it explodes, or like a giant sink hole collapses getting deeper and deeper as it sucks in everything around it.
I am leaving for a quick run to the vet with my cat now, and then will watch the market unless I can get a quick doctor appointment and get my guts checked out.
I probably get to have the hose stuck up my bumm to see what has died in there.
Hang on gang...I think we are the winners after all!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
MILITARIZING THE POLICE
Militarizing the Police
by William Norman Grigg
http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w49.html
EXCERPT:
"The seamless integration of the military and law enforcement into a single "Internal Security Force" is the defining characteristic of a fully realized police state. Once this fusion is accomplished, the question becomes not "whether" a police state exists, but rather how acute its institutional violence against the subject population will become."
7: 40PM PDST SUNDAY WARNING TO MY READERS...
I am having some distressing pains this evening that require me to
go to the doctor tomorrow after the day market closes, unless they
become too severe before then.
I also have to take one of my cats to the vet between 8 and 8:30am pdst for
a minor surgery on the eye that was removed a month ago due to a tumor.
The biggest problem is that I have contracts open that are not in profit, and
I don't want to take a loss on them or let them fall any further.
I can always do a spread on them with another contract month, but that month is
Feb09, a very low volume month right now.
Whatever happens, I will post charts and comments until I have to leave and
will tell you when my last chart is.
If for any reason I have to have surgery, I will take my laptop with me to the hospital and continue to the best of my ability.
This all could be nothing, but it sure hurts.
It's a pain in my left abdomen, so it's not appendicitis, which is on the right.
It's more than likely an intestinal problem such as diverticulitis.
Diverticulitis is a condition in which diverticuli in the colon rupture. The rupture results in infection in the tissues that surround the colon (large intestine).
For further info on this condition, go to:
http://www.medicinenet.com/diverticulosis/article.htm
MORE FROM JSMINESET.COM
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3123775/Financial-Crisis-Rush-for-gold-as-savers-queue-for-bullion.html
Financial Crisis: Rush for gold as savers queue for bullion
Savers have been queuing in the street to buy gold bars and coins, as they search for a safe place to invest their money.
By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 6:26PM BST 02 Oct 2008
Gold nuggets and bars
Traditionally, gold has been one of the safest investments during times of financial turmoil
London's two leading bullion dealers, ATS Bullion and Baird & Co, have reported a rush of interest from savers, many of whom have hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of savings they want to convert into the precious metal.
At least two customers have invested the entire proceeds from selling their houses into gold, each buying up more than £500,000-worth of gold bars, according to one dealer.
Savers have been queuing in the street at ATS Bullion, whose offices are just off the Strand in London's west end.
Sandra Conway, the company's managing director, said: "We've had to turn people away. The queues have been right out of the door and it's been really hectic at times.
"Ever since Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, the phones have been going off the hook."
Traditionally, gold has been one of the safest investments during times of financial turmoil. In 1973 gold cost just $60 an ounce and hit $650 in 1981.
However, since the summer the price of gold has fallen as the dollar has strengthened – the two are linked quite closely.
But the fact that gold has not performed well in recent months has not deterred thousands of investors.
"They don't think of gold as a way of making money. They think of it as a safeguard in these turbulent times. You can move gold quickly, in a way that you can not with shares or cash in a bank account," Ms Conway said.
The average investor is buying up between £10,000 and £50,000 in bars on each visit, but it is possible to buy as little as a half sovereign coin, which costs about £70.
Some analysts say that while it may be romantic to buy bars of gold, there is a far more practical way to investing in gold. Investors can buy Exchange Traded Funds, which are like shares – they trade on the stock market – and they are directly linked to the price of gold.
Mick Gilligan, at stockbrokers Killik & Co, said that his clients had been asking about investing in gold in far greater numbers in recent weeks.
"It's lot easier to sell than the gold you keep in your sock drawer," he said.
CHARTS BY DAN NORCINI FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON
ALWAYS...ALWAYS...ALWAYS...
Study Dan Norcini's charts each afternoon after the market closes,
and on Friday evening or Saturday, if he is swamped with market duties
The Dollar is showing very heavy BEARISH divergence between the price
action and some of his studies.
LINK: from JSMINESET.COM
http://www.jsmineset.com/cwsimages/Miscfiles/6626_Charts_for_10-3-2008.pdf
FROM JSMINESET.COM
Jim Sinclair's Commentary
Be cautious of the "set in cement" opinion that the negative economic conditions in Europe will exceed the size of the unwind in the USA, the largest economy on the planet and the one who wrote over 75% of all OTC derivatives. This opinion is over discounted in the markets which tends to vote against it or at the least vote for overstatement.
The European situation may come all at once, giving a scary visage, but in the final analysis will be considerably smaller in financial terms than the many trillions already fried in dollar based financial entities.
IMF Says U.S. Faces `Sharp Downturn' as Market Crisis Worsens
By Christopher Swann
Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. may fall into a recession as the financial rout deepens, the International Monetary Fund said in its most pessimistic outlook for the world's largest economy since the credit crisis began last year.
``The financial turmoil that began in the summer of 2007 has mutated into a full-blown crisis,'' the fund said in a section of its semiannual World Economic Outlook released in Washington today. There is ``a substantial likelihood of a sharp downturn in the United States,'' the fund said.
By contrast, the IMF in July projected the U.S. would ``contract moderately'' in the second half of 2008 before recovering in 2009. Officials also said in a July update of economic forecasts that the global growth outlook was more ``balanced.''
``Strong actions by policy makers to deal with the stress and support the restoration of financial system capital seem particularly important,'' the lender said today. Next week, the IMF will release updated projections for gross domestic product for the U.S. and other economies.
The warning came as the U.S. Congress worked to pass a $700 billion bank rescue package to reassure financial markets. The Senate passed the legislation late yesterday, and the House of Representatives may vote tomorrow after rejecting a different version three days ago.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aNeRYv3hytE0&refer=home
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