GEORGE CARLIN PUTS IT ALL INTO PERSPECTIVE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw&feature=related ENJOY!

KARL DENNINGER DESTROYS THE O'BOMB'A MORTGAGE STIMULUS PROGRAM

LINK COURTESY OF GEIST... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmKHUUkhkzM&feature=subscription 10 minute video

BEN FRANKLIN QUOTE

I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such, because I think a general government necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other. - Benjamin Franklin, speaking on the last day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787

LATEST BOB CHAPMAN ARTICLE

World Financial System In A State Of Insolvency Posted: February 21 2009 Gold now represents a flight to quality, banks being nationalizied, financial system in a tailspin, the depression we are now in is stage 2, inflation is a hidden tax, dollar stability being debauched, China wants out of the dollar, stability of EU at risk, Dow hiding its worst stocks from its index, Housing bubble now burst puts prices back in line with incomes... INTERESTING EXCERPT FROM THE ARTICLE: "For those of you who missed it the Dow Jones removed all stocks in the industrial average priced under $10.00, effectively eliminating the crippled financial sector. Had they been left in the Dow would be lower and would have broken down below 7286. This is just more flagrant manipulation. Almost every day we see it in a number of markets. This week the Fed and the Treasury tried to push the stock market up and the commodities and gold and silver markets down but to no avail. Downside stock market volume has been some 65% of total volume and there are over 300 new lows almost every day." GT sez: Didn't see that in the news anywhere, did you? http://www.theinternationalforecaster.com/International_Forecaster_Weekly/World_Financial_System_In_A_State_Of_Insolvency You should read as many of the preceding articles as possible.

TO THOSE WHO HAVE JUST LOGGED ON AS 'FOLLOWERS' OF THIS BLOG

Thanks for logging on Flarph and Goldmelter

GT REPOSTS FROM TALKBACK TO GOLDTRADER

GT said... To all... Regarding the Rick Santelli Rant... His position has much logic...IF... this country's economic system (and thus, the World's) hadn't become so crippled that a vast MAJORITY of its population weren't now in an imminent position of suffering MASS STARVATION and much violence. There are times when those members of a society (who still have some assets of such magnitude that allow them to exist in a manner far above mere subsistence) have to SACRIFICE some of their own assets, time and energies to care for those who don't have the ability any longer to cope with a situation of this magnitude. THINK KATRINA! I AM NOT SPEAKING OF SOCIALISM! I am talking about TEMPORARY MEANS to cope with the unavoidable consequences of this CRISIS that was CREATED BY OUR VERY GOVERNMENT AND FEDERAL RESERVE POLICIES and Alan Greenspan (with the consent of many other very powerful people) in particular. If what Mr. Santelli says is the way things SHOULD BE... that the productive folks should not be required to help out the people who have acquired their homes and other assets by virtue of the FREE MONEY created by Alan Greenspan's fraudulent interest rate policies, the GREED of the lending institutions making LIAR LOANS to people who were both greedy and STUPID to involve themselves in such contractual arrangements, and having the ability to READ A CONTRACT, and therefore having the FACTS of what would certainly happen when these adjustable mortgages finally reset... would make some sense if the RESULTS created by Mr. Greenspan and the large banks/lenders/government had not become so MONSTROUSLY LARGE that an unworkably LARGE number of the country's population will be thrown into the streets with NO HOPE of finding any type of work or employment that would allow them to survive in any acceptable manner not likened to destitution. When, not if, that happens, those who still have some type of income or savings that are worth anything, which can still be exchanged for the goods and services they need for their survival, will be more concerned with protecting themselves and their property from the wandering herds of new poor and desperate who will be willing to DO ANYTHING to find sustenance and shelter for themselves and their loved ones. The Government should, RIGHT NOW, be setting up facilities (NOT concentration camps) that will care for the present homeless of our nation, and those becoming homeless by the minute so that we can realize some type of CIVILIZED transfer of our population from this calamity to what lies on the other side of it without realizing massive casualties in the process. Just my thinking on what it means to be a TRUE member of a society. February 21, 2009 1:47 PM

SATURDAY 2/21/09 VERY IMPORTANT TO READ ELAINE MEINEL SUPKIS' BLOG CULTURE OF LIFE NEWS

Any moment now two very BIG banks may go under according to Elaine. http://emsnews.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/nationalize-the-federal-reserve/#more-2018

GT sez:

Well, it's been a very exciting day in gold and I see that the gold threads on MarketBotch have over 1100 comments. So many lonely people who have nothing better to do than spend their lives posting non-sense and arguing with other people who either know NOTHING, or know just enough to be dangerous to themselves and others who depend on them to do the correct things necessary for survival. I'm so glad I am not any longer associated with anything MarketBotch. I'd rather have a few of you loyal followers than a million of the assholes that infected our group site. The end days are rapidly approaching and Mother Nature and The Laws Of Economics (the REAL Laws) SHALL PREVAIL. It will be interesting to watch all the idiots who don't understand the purpose of GOLD suddenly become ABUNDANTLY AWARE of its properties and VALUE when their paper assets become fire starter or toilet paper as their final and only use.

CHARTS WERE POSTED HERE BY ACCIDENT GO TO GOLDTRADER'S GROUP FOR THE REST OF TODAY'S CHARTS

FEB 20, 2009

6:03AM PST BONDS MOVING UP, DOW AND OIL DOWN, YEN AND EURO DOWN

DOLLAR HITS .8829 CNBC IS SAYING GOLD IS NEAR $1000...IT'S NOMINAL HIGH! IT'S BEEN HIGHER THAN THAT ON THE APRIL09 CONTRACT BY $50 BUT THEY ARE PROBABLY TALKING ABOUT SPOT GOLD ACCORDING TO MY DATA GOLD JUST HITS $1000.30 AND DROPS TO 997 THEN RISES AGAIN THIS IS AN EMOTIONAL LEVEL FOR MANY PEOPLE AS THEY DON'T WANT TO GET LEFT BEHIND AND LOSE THE VALUE OF THEIR PAPER ASSETS, BUT THIS IS WHERE MANY WILL BUY ON MARGIN AND GET CREAMED WHEN THE PROS DROP THE MARKET ONLY TO RUN IT BACK UP AGAIN!

5:58AM PST GOLD CREEPS UP TO 999.40, STRONG MIXED VOLUME HERE

VERY CAUTIOUS TRADING HERE. GOLD may inch up to 999.99 and either sell off big time, or explode

5:46AM PST ANOTHER NEW HIGH FOR GOLD AT 99890

VOLUME AT THESE LEVELS IS LIGHT I hate to buy tops, but I've seen gold inch higher so many times when I didn't buy it, it makes me sick. Still, I'm standing aside at this level unless I see a spike building. There was a 300 contract bid at 99760 that just got filled, but the market didn't explode on it because it was a limit order at a fixed price. Gold is hugging the highs which are too near $1000 for me to buy, Bonds are forming a long term HEAD & SHOULDERS pattern, building the right shoulder. That resolves DOWN. The bond market will eventually collapse driving interest rates SKY HIGH!

5:35AM PST GOLD LOOKING VERY TOPPY, BUT ANY HEALTHY PULLBACK WILL BE BOUGHT STRONGLY

DOWN VOLUME GETTING STRONGER

5:25AM PST VERY SHAKEY NY OPEN, GOLD CONSOLIDATING HERE, COULD GET POUNDED DOWN BY BULLION BANKS OR EXPLODE HIGHER

5:14AM GOLD MAKING NEW HIGHS, BOND MOVING UP, EURO DROPPING GRADUALLY

GOLD INCHES UP TO 99850 ON STRONGER VOLUME AND IS NOW PULLING BACK SOME JUST BEFORE THE NY OPEN DOLLAR MOVES UP TO .8821

5:09AM PST GOLD MAKES A NEW HIGH, THE H&S PATTERN IS VIOLATED

VERY LIGHT VOLUME ON THESE UP MOVES. NEXT TWO OLD HIGHS TO EXCEED ARE: $1001.20 $1005.30 THE ULTIMATE HIGH FOR THE APRIL09 CONTRACT IS AT $1050.00

5:05AM PST GOLD MOVING UP VERY GRADUALLY ON LIGHT VOLUME, THE NY OPEN SHOULD BE INTERESTING

MOVING AVERAGES ON A DAILY CHART FEB 20, 2009

The higher the gold price goes above all the MAs, the more they want to pull back to seek equilibrium.

4:55AM PST TWO PULL BACK SCENARIOS

4:58AM PST WARNING!!! A SHORT TERM INVERSE HEAD & SHOULDERS PATTERN HAS FORMED, RESOLVES DOWN

4:47AM PST GOLD PULLS BACK ON LIGHT VOLUME

Notice that gold has broken out of the dark blue down flag and has reached all the way up to the top line of the dark green intermediate trend channel and is now dancing around on the line looking for support. The low volume on this move concerns me, but that will all change as we near the NY open. They, of course, will do everything possible to keep gold BELOW $1000, but that round number is NOT as big a deal, having already been exceed months go, and can be exceeded easily by tens of dollars before pulling back to that level, which should logically become a support level just by virtue of it's round number significance.

4:35AM PST GOLD TOPS AT 9957 FOR NOW AND PULLS BACK

The other indicator markets don't mean much right now. This rise was on only 1200 contract up volume in the last 30 minutes (4am to 425am pst) and even less in the 30 minutes previous to that time segment (3:30am to 4am pst) Nothing really explains this rise in gold except PANIC RUSH INTO GOLD AS A SAFE HAVEN! Dow is down over 135 points but just turned up a bit Bonds rose with gold but have dropped with a slight up turn Oil has been trending down short term to the 38s Yen and Euro just don't matter In fact NONE of these markets' movements would help you predict gold's movement. The Dollar's high on Feb 20, 2009 was .8886. It is currently at .8804 moving up from a low of .8774

4:26AM PST FRIDAY GOLD ZOOMS TO 995

30 MINUTES before I wake up gold explodes above 990.\ Then I have trouble making my remaining computer work. I'm online now and have a working order placing system on my last computer. I wonder what the gods will throw at me next.

FROM MARKET WATCH THIS MORNING 2/19/09

ciscokid New US stock market terminology. > CEO --Chief Embezzlement Officer. > > CFO-- Corporate Fraud Officer. > > BULL MARKET -- A random market movement causing an investor > to mistake > himself for a financial genius. > > BEAR MARKET -- A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no > allowance, the > wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex. > > VALUE INVESTING -- The art of buying low and selling lower. > > > P/E RATIO -- The percentage of investors wetting their > pants as the market > keeps crashing. > > BROKER -- What my broker has made me. > > STANDARD & POOR -- Your life in a nutshell. > > STOCK ANALYST -- idiot who just downgraded your stock. > > STOCK SPLIT -- When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your > assets equally > between themselves. > > FINANCIAL PLANNER -- A guy whose phone has been > disconnected. > > MARKET CORRECTION -- The day after you buy stocks. > > CASH FLOW-- The movement your money makes as it disappears > down the toilet. > > > INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR -- Past year investor who's now > locked up in a nuthouse. > > PROFIT -- An archaic word no longer in use.

7:00AM PST GT IS DOWN WITH COMPUTER PROBLEMS FOR A LONG TIME

I can't log on to any of my order placing platforms. I may have to do a complete restore to all my computers as none of the tech support people can figure out the problem, so I have to go back to square one and start fresh to eliminate all possible problems. Should take a long time.

FROM MARKET WATCH THIS MORNING 2/18/09

Gold demand surpasses $100 billion last year: WGC By Moming Zhou Last update: 9:08 a.m. EST Feb. 18, 2009Comments: 3 NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Demand for gold surpassed $100 billion last year for the first time ever on increased industrial and jewelry consumption and as investors bought into the metal as a safe haven, the World Gold Council reported Wednesday. Gold demand, including jewelry consumption, industrial demand, and identifiable investment such as bars, coins, and gold exchange-traded funds, hit $102 billion in 2008, up 29% from a year ago. In tonnage terms, gold demand rose 4% to 3,659 tons, the WGC said.

VIOLENCE COMING LATE THIS YEAR AS POPULATION REVOLTS?

LINK CREDIT TO JSMINESET.COM RT Guest February 11, 2009, 4:40 Gerald Celente In 2009 we’re going to see the worst economic collapse ever, the ‘Greatest Depression’, says Gerald Celente, U.S. trend forecaster. He believes it’s going to be very violent in the U.S., including there being a tax revolt. http://www.russiatoday.com/guests/detail/2114

MIKE WHITNEY ARTICLE

Trouble at Treasury Geithner gets the keys to the henhouse By Mike Whitney http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22025.htm February 17, 2009 "Information Clearinghouse" --- The Obama Team has a big problem on their hands; Timothy Geithner. Geithner was picked as Treasury Secretary because he is a trusted ally of the big banks and has a good grasp of the intricacies of the financial system. The problem is that Geithner can't handle the public relations part of his job. His big debut in prime-time last Tuesday turned out to be a complete dud. He was thoroughly unconvincing and looked like a nervous teenager at a speech contest. He fizzled on stage for 25 minutes while the little red box in the corner of the TV screen--which shows the current Dow Jones Industrials--plummeted nearly 400 points. It was a total disaster and one that is sure to be repeated over and over as long as Geithner is at Treasury. Not everyone can be a charismatic orator like Obama and nothing short of a personality transplant will fix Geithner. He lacks gravitas and doesn't inspire confidence. That's a problem since, the administration's main objective is to restore public confidence and get people spending again. They're just shooting themselves in the foot by using him as their pitchman. Eventually, Geithner will either have to be tossed overboard or strapped to Obama like a papoose so he can share in the president's popularity. Otherwise he will continue to be a millstone.

PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS ARTICLE

The People Be Damned The President of Special Interests By Paul Craig Roberts http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22018.htm February 17, 2009 "Information Clearinghouse" -- - The Bush/Obama bailout/stimulus plans are not going to work. Both are schemes hatched by a clique of financial insiders. The schemes will redistribute income and wealth from American taxpayers to the shyster banksters, who have destroyed American jobs, ruined the retirement plans of tens of millions of Americans, and worsened the situation of millions of people worldwide who naively trusted American financial institutions. The ongoing theft has simply been recast. Instead of using fraudulent financial instruments, the banksters are using government policy.

I RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE TO YOU...READ IT FROM THE LINK PROVIDED AND READ ALL THE LINKS WITHIN IT

Warning To All Americans.You Are About To Be Destroyed http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/indexnow.htm -- Sorcha Faal GT sez: As I explained previously... I don't believe everything Sorcha Faal writes... but you have to admit that it piques your interest to consider that many of the things he/she has said in the past that seemed 'way out there', HAVE COME TRUE. Did anyone believe THE HOLOCAUST at the outset? Very strange and despicable things will come to light very soon. DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES OR COVER YOUR EARS.

FROM GARY NORTH: THE COLLAPSE OF EUROPEAN BANK SYSTEM

Gary North's REALITY CHECK Gold's price: http://www.GaryNorth.com/snip/300.htm The Federal debt: http://www.GaryNorth.com/snip/544.htm To subscribe to this letter: http://www.snipurl.com/subscribenow Issue 833 February 17, 2009 THE LOOMING COLLAPSE OF EUROPEAN BANKING The banking system of Europe is at the edge of the abyss. A brief story by "The Telegraph" revealed this last week. The original was almost immediately deleted. A new version was substituted. You can see the original headline on Google: European banks may need £16.3 trillion bail-out, EC document warns ... http://www.garynorth.com/snip/790.htm There are dozens of these links. I read the story last week. I saved the link. But, lo and behold, when I clicked my saved link on Monday morning, the story did not mention a specific figure. There was a reason for this. The editors at "The Telegraph" had taken out the following paragraphs: European Commission officials have estimated that impaired assets may amount to 44pc of EU bank balance sheets. The Commission estimates that so-called financial instruments in the trading book total £12.3 trillion (13.7 trillion euros), equivalent to about 33pc of EU bank balance sheets. In addition, so-called 'available for sale instruments' worth £4trillion (4.5 trillion euros), or 11pc of balance sheets, are also added by the Commission to arrive at the headline figure of £16.3 trillion. http://www.garynorth.com/snip/794.htm Fortunately, web sites around the globe have posted the deleted paragraphs. Converted into dollars, £16.3 trillion euros are the equivalent of $25 trillion. The original paragraphs can be found in several links in the Google list of headlines. Why did the editors do this? A call from some government bureaucrat? Or the realization that the article might start a bank run? I think the latter. In either case, it's scary. The current article begins with a lie: "Last updated: 6:34 GMT, 11 Feb 2009." WHAT THE EUROPEAN ESTABLISHMENT IS FACING NOW The original February 11 story was a shocker. The author claims to have seen a secret European Commission report. The report estimates that losses (write-downs) by European banks will be in the range of $25 trillion. If true, then to save the banking system, European governments will have to find an extra $25 trillion, fast. There is only one source of such funding: the central banks, mainly the European Central Bank (ECB). For comparison's sake, consider the $700 billion banking bailout in the United States last fall. Of this, only about half has been spent. That was sufficient bailing wire and chewing gum to keep the American banking system going. More will be needed, but so far, this has sufficed. The Federal Reserve did a lot of asset swaps in 2008 -- Treasury debt for toxic assets -- and pumped in an extra trillion dollars or so. But the system has held. Adding these together -- the increase in the monetary base and $350 billion in bailout money -- the total is around $1.5 trillion. Then think "$25 trillion." This is a sobering thought for some, and a reason to get unsober, fast, for others. The European Central Bank will have to serve as the lender of last resort. There are over a dozen national EC governments. How will they coordinate their respective bailouts? Think of a dozen Barney Franks and a dozen Nancy Pelosis. Think of a dozen Henry Paulsons. Think of a dozen Gordon Browns. Terrifying, isn't it? Here is the story, as airbrushed by the editors. "Estimates of total expected asset write-downs suggest that the budgetary costs -- actual and contingent -- of asset relief could be very large both in absolute terms and relative to GDP in member states," the EC document, seen by The Daily Telegraph, cautioned. Very large? That's it? Just very large? Twenty-five trillion dollars in losses is merely very large? That is twice the size of the gross domestic product of European Community. It is not as though there is a lot of time to deal with this. Bank runs can take place very fast. What if Europeans try to pull out currency? There will not be enough currency. So, they will move their assets to American or Japanese banks. They will have to sell their domestic currencies to buy dollars and yen. Their currencies will crater. "It is essential that government support through asset relief should not be on a scale that raises concern about over-indebtedness or financing problems." Wait a minute. If asset relief is not on this scale, then what will sustain a bankrupt European banking system? You are telling me that these banks are sitting on top of $25 trillion in losses, and this can be concealed? Does no one audit these banks? The secret 17-page paper was discussed by finance ministers, including the Chancellor Alistair Darling on Tuesday. National leaders and EU officials share fears that a second bank bail-out in Europe will raise government borrowing at a time when investors -- particularly those who lend money to European governments -- have growing doubts over the ability of countries such as Spain, Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Britain to pay it back. National leaders apparently have a clear perception of the public's lack of faith in the in specific governments' ability to repay. But that does not answer the crucial question: "What are the depositors' fears regarding their individual banks?" It's one thing for a government to be unable to pay back loans over the next two decades. Of course they will not pay it back. No national debt is ever paid back. It is rolled over. It's another thing to deal with bank runs. The Commission figure is significant because of the role EU officials will play in devising rules to evaluate "toxic" bank assets later this month. New moves to bail out banks will be discussed at an emergency EU summit at the end of February. The EU is deeply worried at widening spreads on bonds sold by different European countries. In line with the risk, and the weak performance of some EU economies compared to others, investors are demanding increasingly higher interest to lend to countries such as Italy instead of Germany. Ministers and officials fear that the process could lead to vicious spiral that threatens to tear both the euro and the EU apart. Ministers and officials have got the picture. They are facing a breakdown of Europe's economy. If the bailouts are insufficiently large in every nation to reduce depositors' fears regarding their banks, there will be a rush out of the euro and into dollars and yen. If the bailouts are sufficiently large to stem the tide on bank fears, then there will be a rush by bond investors out of government bonds. This will make the existing recession much worse. If each country has widely different rates, the euro will break down. The poorer countries will borrow at low rates from the European Central Bank. The Germans will revolt. They could demand an end to the ECB, which will have become a welfare agency for the Mediterranean governments. That would end the euro. That would end the attempt to create a new European order. This thought brings to mind one of Johnny Mercer's masterpieces. So you met someone who set you back on your heels - goody, goody You met someone and now you know how it feels - goody, goody You gave him your heart too, just as I gave mine to you And he broke it in little pieces, now how do you do? You lie awake just singing the blues all night - goody, goody And you think that love's a barrel of dynamite Hooray and hallelujah, you had it coming to y'a Goody goody for him, goody goody for me I hope you're satisfied, you rascal you, I hope you're satisfied 'cause you got yours But I digress. "Such considerations are particularly important in the current context of widening budget deficits, rising public debt levels and challenges in sovereign bond issuance," the EC paper warned. http://www.garynorth.com/snip/789.htm These considerations are indeed important. But solutions are a lot more important. The report is 17 pages long. The solutions -- if any -- will be a lot longer. SO FAR, SO GOOD So far, the euro has not collapsed. It has fallen, but there is no rush for the exits. Why not? These answers come to mind. 1. The story is not true: no such document. 2. The document is wrong: banks are not really that much in the hole. 3. The banks are in the hole, but public faith in their governments remains high. 4. The report is true, but it is not believed by currency speculators. 5. The report is true, but currency speculators believe that the governments and central banks can handle it without major shifts in currency values. The response of the British government was swift: to demand a revision of the original article. This tells me the article was true. European bank stocks have fallen since the article was published, but they are not in free-fall. In my view, the European public still has faith that the governments and the central banks will successfully intervene to restore commercial banks. But if the original article was correct, that 44% of bank balance sheets have disappeared, then the public is living in la-la land. The entire structure of Europe's capital markets is at risk. Or, I should say, what remains of the capital markets is at risk. How are governments going to replenish lost capital? It's gone. It's missing in action. EASTERN EUROPE Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has explained this in a "Telegraph" article published on February 15. If mishandled by the world policy establishment, this debacle is big enough to shatter the fragile banking systems of Western Europe and set off round two of our financial Gotterdammerung. He was referring to loans to Eastern Europe. He used Austrian banking as the example. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) says bad debts will top 10pc and may reach 20pc. The Vienna press said Bank Austria and its Italian owner Unicredit face a "monetary Stalingrad" in the East. . . . Stephen Jen, currency chief at Morgan Stanley, said Eastern Europe has borrowed $1.7 trillion abroad, much on short-term maturities. It must repay -- or roll over -- $400bn this year, equal to a third of the region's GDP. Good luck. The credit window has slammed shut. Not even Russia can easily cover the $500bn dollar debts of its oligarchs while oil remains near $33 a barrel. The budget is based on Urals crude at $95. Russia has bled 36pc of its foreign reserves since August defending the rouble. "This is the largest run on a currency in history," said Mr Jen. This reminds me of the bankruptcy of Long-Term Capital Management in 1998. That hedge fund had bought ruble-denominated assets on a leveraged basis: 30 to one. When the Russian central bank failed to defend the ruble, LTCM went bust in a few days. It had to be bailed out by $3.6 billion in loans from New York banks. Today, the European banks are gutted, not a lone hedge fund. Russia is going belly-up. It will have to liquidate most or all of its reserves of Western currencies. It has stopped buying U.S. Treasury debt. It is selling. In Poland, 60pc of mortgages are in Swiss francs. The zloty has just halved against the franc. Hungary, the Balkans, the Baltics, and Ukraine are all suffering variants of this story. As an act of collective folly - - by lenders and borrowers -- it matches America's sub-prime debacle. There is a crucial difference, however. European banks are on the hook for both. US banks are not. Almost all East bloc debts are owed to West Europe, especially Austrian, Swedish, Greek, Italian, and Belgian banks. En plus, Europeans account for an astonishing 74pc of the entire $4.9 trillion portfolio of loans to emerging markets. They are five times more exposed to this latest bust than American or Japanese banks, and they are 50pc more leveraged (IMF data). This is the ringing of the bell. The bell of the Great Depression of the 1930's rang on Wall Street in October 1929. But that was not the cause of the Great Depression. The causes were these: (1) monetary base expansion in the 1920s, (2) the cessation of this expansion in 1929; (3) the governments' raising of tariff and trade barriers in 1930 all over the West, and (4) the collapse of the Austria's Credit Anstalt Bank in 1931. In the USA, we saw the first two, 2000-2007. Central banks will inflate to keep any major bank from collapsing. But the trend is ominous. Russia and Eastern Europe are gonners. European banks that lent to them are, too. So is the purchasing power of the euro -- and maybe even the actual euro. I can see Germany cutting and running sometime before 2011. Evans-Pritchard pulls no punches. This is a gutsy forecast. Whether it takes months, or just weeks, the world is going to discover that Europe's financial system is sunk, and that there is no EU Federal Reserve yet ready to act as a lender of last resort or to flood the markets with emergency stimulus. If he is correct about the inability of the ECB to imitate the Federal Reserve System, this means a collapse of the banks. That means the collapse of Europe's economy. "This is much worse than the East Asia crisis in the 1990s," said Lars Christensen, at Danske Bank. "There are accidents waiting to happen across the region, but the EU institutions don't have any framework for dealing with this. The day they decide not to save one of these one countries will be the trigger for a massive crisis with contagion spreading into the EU." He ends with this: "If one spark jumps across the eurozone line, we will have global systemic crisis within days. Are the firemen ready?" (http://www.garynorth.com/snip/793.htm) The capital markets do not indicate agreement with his assessment. People still trust the banking system. Generally, I trust capital markets rather than journalists. But I think the report is too explosive to ignore. I think the optimism of investors is greater than the optimism of European bankers, bureaucrats, and newspaper editors. --------------------- CONCLUSION The West's economy really is at the edge of a leveraged disaster. The politicians know only one answer: deficit spending. The central bankers have only one significant tool: monetary inflation. The speed of events is increasing. The markets don't reflect this yet. This gives time to a few people to get out. But the vast majority cannot get out. There are too few escape hatches open. ------------------------------------------------------

GT HAVING COMPUTER AND BLOG PROBLEMS TODAY

I'm posting this on my one good computer that will bring up a correct form to post on Blogger. My usual machine is giving me all sorts of crazy problems. I have to do a complete system restore today. I have several important articles to post but can't get them across to this computer right now as they are from emails that I only receive on the troublesome computer. I am starved for time and sleep so I can't post anything more today until I get the problems fixed. You can still post on the blogs and I can put up a general headline as on TALKBACKTOGOLDTRADER, so feel free to do that. I can respond to your post, but don't have the time until later after I fix my computer, which is going to take a long time what with backups, etc.

SINCLAIR SAYS 'EUROPE UNWINDING', AS OF MONDAY 2/16/09...GOLD RISES TO 961.10 AS OF 10PM PST AND MAY GO HIGHER OVERNIGHT

Europe Unwinding Posted: Feb 17 2009 By: Jim Sinclair Post Edited: February 17, 2009 at 12:14 am Filed under: General Editorial Dear Friends, To underscore my statement that "It has hit the fan," please review the following: Forex failure continues in Poland Posted by Izabella Kaminska on Feb 16 21:43. GO TO JSMINESET.COM FOR THE WHOLE POST

FROM THE MW THREAD TODAY 2/16/09

Integral Barack Obama was seated next to a little girl on an airplane trip back to Washington. He turned to her and said, “Let’s talk. I’ve heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.” The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly and said to The Obama, “What would you like to talk about?” “Oh, I don’t know,” said the Obama. “How about What Changes I Should Make To America?” and he smiles. “OK,” she says. “That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?” Obama, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it for a second and finally says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.” To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to change America when you don’t know shit?”

H. L. MENCKEN

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." For more quotes from Mencken: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/h_l_mencken.html

THERE IS NO END TO WHAT OUR 'LEADERS' WILL TAX US FOR

What's next? A tax on breathing? http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/06/27/pimp.tax/ This list is from today's MW Headline thread: guru1 People focus on Income tax, but let's not forget the others. They either get you this way, or thru the unkindest tax of all: a money supply increase in the hands of a select few. Accounts Receivable Tax Building Permit Tax Capital Gains Tax CDL license Tax Cigarette Tax Corporate Income Tax Court Fines (indirect taxes) Dog License Tax Federal Income Tax Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) Fishing License Tax Food License Tax Fuel permit tax Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon) Hunting License Tax Inheritance Tax Interest expense (tax on the money) Inventory tax IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax) IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax) Liquor Tax Local Income Tax Luxury Taxes Marriage License Tax Medicare Tax Property Tax Real Estate Tax Septic Permit Tax Service Charge Taxes Social Security Tax Road Usage Taxes (Truckers) Sales Taxes Recreational Vehicle Tax Road Toll Booth Taxes School Tax State Income Tax State Unemployment Tax (SUTA) Telephone federal excise tax Telephone federal universal service fee tax Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax Telephone state and local tax Telephone usage charge tax Toll Bridge Taxes Toll Tunnel Taxes Traffic Fines (indirect taxation) Trailer Registration Tax Utility Taxes Vehicle License Registration Tax Vehicle Sales Tax Watercraft Registration Tax Well Permit Tax

WATCH THIS AND LEARN

The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control of America - Google Video 3:35:19 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-515319560256183936 You can also just Google the title for other sites that have the video.

NOTICE: READERS OF THIS BLOG, PLEASE SEE THE NEW SECTION TO THE RIGHT FOR 'CURRENT VIEWERS'

CLICK ON 'FOLLOW' AND LET ME KNOW WHO MY REGULAR VIEWERS ARE. EVEN IF YOU ARE A ONE-TIME VIEWER, PLEASE LET ME KNOW SO I CAN MODIFY THIS BLOG TO ATTRACT A WIDER AUDIENCE. The Counter reflects those followers who add their User Names as of February 15, 2009

Job Losses Pose a Threat to Stability Worldwide

CREDIT TO JSMINESET.COM FOR THE LINK http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/business/15global.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

STARTING A GARDEN: SOME LINKS TO ARTICLES

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/opinion/15sun4.html?ref=opinion Use this link to see some more links to gardening information. THE VERY BEST BOOK ON GARDENING I HAVE EVER FOUND IS: THE JOY OF GARDENING by Dick Raymond. BUY IT and you will never need another book on gardening again. Use this Amazon link to get it for $8 used: http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Gardening-Garden-Way-Book/dp/0882663194 or Google the title and find other sources. You will value it and protect it like the family Bible. You can have a garden no matter what size space you have. You can have a garden in pots on a movable platform that you can move to the sunny areas of a tight space just by putting the post on a large flat platform on wheels or an old flat bed trailer which you can make from scrap. Don't forget that you can grow indoors using GROW LIGHTS...the pot growers have been doing it for years. Eat what you grow while it's fresh, then FREEZE the left overs in vacuum packed bags using a Tilia system. OR, learn to CAN foods...it's so darn simple and enjoyable you will go crazy when you taste some of the things you make...even the mistakes. Just don't kill yourself by not heating the product enough. Error on the side of CLEANLINESS and HEAT SANITIZING (boiling).

NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE: DO WE NEED A NEW INTERNET?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/weekinreview/15markoff.html?_r=1&hp Know that your internet interactions are NOT safe. They may soon be used against you. The internet could easily be brought down, which would cripple all business, banking and social interactions. Do the best you can to be as internet/computer literate as you can become, to the greatest level you can attain, including programming and hacking if only for defensive purposes. It's really not a hard field of study to understand. You just have to PRACTICE until it becomes second nature. Its languages make more sense than regular English.

February 15 - 2009 Obama Turns US Over To ‘New World Order’ On February 17th

URL TO ARTICLE: http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1207.htm I read Sorcha Faal ONLY because he/she (there is speculation as to who this person really is) brings up very interesting points that I find nowhere else. Quite often his/her message sounds crazy and outrageous and many statements made seem to blow simple occurances out of all proportion. I read it all with a critical eye. So don't think I BELIEVE it all. I present this to you so you can at least have your interest piqued as to what MAY BE HAPPENING. I personally, tend to believe that the worst is ABSOLUTELY ABOUT TO HAPPEN. It's just the details and timing that I don't always agree with. But it is absolute TRUE that the ILLUMINATI's GRAND SCHEME to control the world in a NEW WORLD ORDER is being pushed forward in RUSH MODE while they have the world's peoples in panic mode because of the economic crisis that they engineered for just this purpose. Be sure to click on all the links in this article. And read CRITICALLY, but DO be concerned. What O'Bomb'a has already done is just an extension of the disaster of the Bush years in power. The elites of this world will NEVER give up their control of the mechanisms of POWER or of THE TRUE WEALTH of this planet.

FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION (FEE) HAS SOME GOOD ARTICLES TO READ

URL FOR FEE: http://fee.org/economics/economic-stimulus-bill-arra-of-2009/ I have linked to the page with the current articles, but you should click on home and see what the site offers. Then you should go to the site every now and then to see what's new. You should review the new Stimulus Bill to see what it is and will do. Also read the three articles on The Great Depression at the bottom to get a better understanding of what caused it. Be very critical about all information you read about The Great Depression as many falsehoods are still flying about. You have to understand Austrian Economics to ever truly understand Economics and how things truly work.