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Sprott On Wither Green Shoots
By Eric Sprott And David Franklin, Sprott Asset Management
Wither Green Shoots
With the summer now upon us, the "Sell in May and Go Away" adage has proven itself true once again. The major market indexes are all turning downward, and while they haven’t dropped enough yet to warrant panic, we certainly want to be positioned properly if this trend continues into the fall. The market tea leaves are no longer sending mixed signals either – most of the new data is decidedly bearish. So what happened to all the ‘green shoots’? What happened to the strong recovery the market rally was promising?
Economic data released over the past two weeks have decimated any remaining belief in a lasting economic recovery. Slowdowns are appearing in the US, Europe, Japan and even China. Auto sales, housing starts, employment, consumer confidence, factory orders, consumer purchase intentions - just about every aspect of the economy that can be measured, is showing decided weakness.
Of particular interest to us over the past year has been the GDP forecasts released by The Consumer Metrics Institute in Colorado ("CMI"). CMI caught our attention with their real time tracking of consumer retail sales data. Consumer spending represents 70% of GDP, and that spending can provide great insight into the workings of the underlying economy. CMI’s retail sales data has indentified a long, negative contraction in the economy based on their data set for the last 180 days. This was confirmed most notably in Walmart’s poor first quarter sales results when CFO Tom Schoewe stated, "More than ever, our customers are living paycheck to paycheck."1 If that sentiment applies to other large retailers, it doesn’t bode well for 2010 GDP.
CMI also predicted 2010 Q1 GDP growth at 2.62% all the way back in November 2009. It took nearly seven months for the actual US GDP data to eventually be released, but when it finally did (after three revisions, no less) it turned out that CMI’s prediction was bang on. Interestingly, when the real data came out, CMI founder Rick Davis noted that the inventory component underlying the 2.7% Q1 GDP growth figure had moved from 1.65% up to 1.88% – meaning that the bulk of GDP growth, almost 66%, actually came from inventory swings rather than consumer demand. No wonder factory orders fell out of bed this past week! With the re-stocking complete, there aren’t enough new orders to clear the fresh inventory. And if two thirds of Q1 growth came from inventory swings (or just plain re-stocking etc.), it makes us wonder what we can realistically expect from the next two GDP announcements. CMI provided the following guidance for the balance of the year, stating that "We expect GDP growth to be flat for the second quarter, but with inventory adjustment reversals absolutely killing the reported ‘growth’ number just four days before the U.S. mid-term elections." If that turns out to be correct, it will be unfortunate timing for the elections.
An important question to ask is whether the March ’09 rally was really justified at all. Were the green shoots real? Or was the market just looking for a way to justify the effects of government-induced ‘easy money’? The stock market is supposed to be an efficient, forward-looking indicator after all – and the rally that began in March ’09 was supposed to signal a robust recovery. So where’s the recovery? From the time the term ‘green shoots’ was first uttered by Ben Bernanke on March 15, 2009, the S&P 500 rallied 36% to June 30, 2010 and by as much as 60% to April 26, 2010. If the green shoots were really just the early indications of weeds, was the market wrong to appreciate so dramatically?
There is little doubt that much of the stock market action during the past 12 months has defied traditional market rules. Nowhere is this more evident to us than in the banking stocks. We’re still scratching our heads on the whole sector. Readers may remember an article we wrote in November 2009 entitled "Don’t Bank on the Banks" in which we discussed the hazard of leverage in the banking system. If you gauge our conclusions by what actually transpired in the banking sector as a whole, we were essentially correct. Of the 986 bank holding companies in the US last year, a total of 980 of them LOST MONEY.2 And that’s even after all the government bailouts the sector received. Hmmmm. Robust banking recovery? Not a chance. However, the remaining six banks, all of which are "too big to fail", did manage to earn a combined $51 billion in 2009, sending their stocks soaring as a result. So despite 980 out of 986 bank holding companies returning nothing but red, the sector actually fared pretty well from a market perspective. Does this make any sense to you? Here we have an entire sector that is essentially broken; where a mere handful have maintained profitability not from their own strength but thanks to the taxpayers’ bailouts; and where the government is now aiming the most powerful of their regulatory reforms – and the market decides to pile into their respective equities?
The banking sector isn’t the only equity space that confounds us – the housing stocks are as equally absurd. Despite what you may have heard from your local real estate agent, the fundamentals for US housing are looking dismal. Ever since the tax credits have rolled off, new home sales are now running at 300,000 on a seasonally-adjusted annual rate ("SAAR"), representing a new all time low this past May. For comparison, this is down from an all time high of 1,389,000 new home sales made in July of 2004.3 Reading this, you may expect the home builder stocks to have performed poorly. But no, not in this market! As you can see in Chart A, from the day that Bernanke first saw his ‘green shoots’, the home builders index appreciated by 47% to June 30, 2010, peaking at 104% on April 23rd – all while new home sales were down 14% over the same time period on a SAAR basis.4 ‘The Market is Always Right’, as they say, but it simply can’t be with regard to these stocks. The housing ‘green shoots’ were the product of government initiative, rather than true fundamental improvement, and were thus short term in nature. Now that the government program has ended, the whole sector looks poised to fall apart.
At the end of the day, nobody should be surprised by the recent economic data. The stock market rally that began in March ’09 was driven by monetary phenomena rather than anything fundamental, and based on data from CMI for 2010 it appears that we have already entered an economic contraction phase. The market is now beginning to reflect the fact that the green shoots were actually just the early signs of weeds, and it would suffice to say that virtually all the major world governments have some serious gardening to do. The recent contractions don’t necessarily mean that we’ll experience a repeat of 2008’s stock market performance in 2010, but it does suggest that investors should question the real fundamentals underlying their investments, lest the market begins to trade on them again.
________________________________________
1 Bustillo, Miguel (May 19, 2010) "Wal-Mart Same-Store Sales Fall" The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on July 8, 2010 from: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703957904575252092724864622.html?KEYWORDS=wal-mart+struggles+to+to+keep+shoppers
2 Lenzner, Robert (June 3, 2010) "Six Giant Banks Made $51 Billion Last Year; The Other 980 Lost Money" Forbes. Retrieved on July 8, 2010 from: http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/03/goldman-sachs-citigroup-markets-lenzner-morgan-stanley_print.html
3 US New One Family Houses Sold Annual Total SAAR (Bloomberg: NHSLTOT)
4 As measured by the Dow Jones U.S. Select Home Construction Index (Bloomberg: DJSHMB)
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I'm a conservative who would have to hold his nose if I vote Republican this fall, and I can't disagree with your comment.
If somebody in the GOP has actually gotten religion about spending, fine, but frankly I haven't really seen/heard it yet. That's why I'm a little skeptical about this Republican counter-coup talk in November.
I hear ya. Pills for seniors as a vote bribe made me gag. It's about limited government, not suffocating nannyism or anarchy.
Well, Gov. Christie is at the forefront of this....HE get's it.
And the majority of Joe Six Packs best get it too...............cause it's going top be a lot more painful, of we stay on this path.
"The Repubs must think austerity will win them power, they must be fucking nuts. "
Either way we lose, but someone has to step up, and CANCEL out this loose cannons policies........
Perhaps he does. There's one.
In a nutshell, Eric Sprott is not understanding this market either.
Well what does that tell you if the community of irritated market players is growing?
They will stop trading the market and that means, they will stop participating at all.
Good night Wall Street. Sleep well.
walk,
Wait!!,,,,,,,,,,,,QE 2.0, isn't here!.
They will likely pass this as an Emg Act, and refund the Mkt.that's the only thing holding the decrepit bitch up anyway.
let's be reasonable.
even if - that's a big IF - imo they can agree to announce more liquidity measures aka QE 2.0 - there is absolutely no guarantee that it will continue to fuel the stock market.
actually, the stock market might get totally shafted in this scenario because other bills are due and they need to get paid, ie municipal bonds and statewide debts.
the imperative for QE 2.0 would be to commit to some form of spending control, which is austerity.
the money would flow but it woudn't flow into stocks.
all pub cos. would have to show decent earnings in a world where austerity and spending cuts, reduced consumer spending, reduced credit and all that reign.
good luck with that! the pub cos. cannot layoff anymore than they have. what other way is there for them to beautify their balance sheets?
AHHH I love coming over here to the ZEROHEDGE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOP. And now we have Eric Sprott. His Moly play IPO...crashed and burned and liquidated. His Company IPO....disaster and underwater. Gotta prop up that physical gold play with neg comments and speaking the obvious. Sprott gives us the view from an open trunk in a puttering Hyundai. Evenutually it will pick up some speed ..and Sprott will be less relevant then his is already.
Yeah, What a failure Mr. Sprott is!
He's only the 60th wealthiest individual in canada, with a personal net worth of just under a Billion.
What does that loser know?
Nothing a blogger doesnt, right?
How's that Jersey Shore IPO coming?
GREEN SHIT:
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/07/wonders-of-world-of-fraud-gre...
Bloody summer drudging? Not likely while the bosses are away spending all that bonus money.
October is the traditional month for a bloody bludgeoning. Look for bodies flying out of windows, in front of trains, from cars etc. etc. etc. with this next one.
PPT on vacation or just late?
Geez.. the market hasn't been a forward looking indicator - at least since 2000. It really seems to track current expansion or contraction and I really question whether we'll have good news going forward
Look, here comes the small gaps signature for the PPT. Goin' up.
Look at FNM up 30%
Isn't that fuckin' thing getting delisted?
What's the point anymore?
FNM is buy of century! When hyperinflation kicks in FNM market cap will catapult into S&P 100.
Was the rally justified? (e.g. did homebuilers index deserve to be up 104%? )
Well, no, unless you are chasing what's "hot" today, and could not care less about the risk.
When you trade with other people's money - you don't care.
If the money came from "Uncle Ben" - you especially do not care.
And if your work for one of the Too-Big-To-Fail institutions - you do not care about the losses by definition.
Because gains are mine, and losses are public.
_
"The stock market rally that began in March ’09 was driven by monetary phenomena rather than anything fundamental."
Ahhh, and I have to ask, so what?
As if monetary phenomena were not part of a market and always have been.
Excellent post and I gave it a five, but still, it's statements like these that end rookies careers.
Nice bounce
I knew I recognized you, love your workout videos !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkhFDDpZ5zg
The next big fad in trading will be fundamentals. I can feel it! Hopefully a fad so crazy as fundamentals will pass quickly.
Excellent Guest Post Tyler
More Sprott please...
"Economic data released over the past two weeks have decimated any remaining belief in a lasting economic recovery."
Except in the moron mainstream media. Every fucking day is another story where they never forget to work in the phrase "as the U.S. economy emerges from the recession..."
No, no, no you have it all wrong they don't say recession ever they say "recovery" as the main adjective. "As the recovery continues there will be soft spots." "This recovery has seen increasing employment." "What sectors are strongest during this recovery?" "Has housing bottomed finally during the recovery?" "Bernanke, Obama and the Fed have made all the right moves during this recovery."
See it's simple.
Then later in the day (right before bed) they work in the phrase "terror" about 45 times.
Are ya scared?
Can't resist..
Trichet’s Fake Stress Tests Bring European Banking System to Edge of AbyssSeventy-nine years ago this month, the German banking system disintegrated. The Danat Bank closed its doors, and only a government-declared bank holiday saved the Deutsche Bank from liquidation. This July, it may well be that the entire European banking system is poised on the brink of a similar cataclysmic event. The $31 trillion European banking system, three times bigger than the US banks, may be about to dissolve.
The first weeks of summer 2010 have brought with them a series of ominous events, quite possibly harbingers of a new wave of panic at the door. In one 5-minute period, the stock of Citigroup, one of the leading US zombie banking institutions, collapsed 17% within a few minutes, and the stock had to be halted. A vigorous intervention by the ubiquitous Plunge Protection Team clawed back much of the loss, but Citigroup still closed down 7% on the day — a rout. What used to be called the New York stock market is now the plaything of the frenzied geeks who run the leading high frequency trading firms, and the hapless small investor is at their mercy.
At the end of June, the bucket shop known as the credit default swaps market was showing the second highest levels of fear registered thus far concerning an imminent default by Greece and other members of the Southern tier of the euro. A bet against Greek debt was quoted at 1,001 basis points, down just slightly from the all time record registered in the first week of June. In general, the credit default swaps-jobbers were showing a 40% likelihood of Greek default in the 25% chance of Spain going broke. We must naturally always stress that Greece and Spain are far more solvent and viable than the zombie banks, hedge fund hyenas, and ratings agency pirates who are attacking them.
On July 1, European banks were supposed to repay some €440 billion which they had received in the form of emergency bailouts sometime earlier. In the event, the banks proved unable to come up with the required sums, so the ECB had to extend them emergency financing of as little as one week in order to permit them to roll over these loans. Not a good sign.
On June 29, the European Central Bank held an auction in which they tried to market €55 billion worth of securities. This auction was a failure, and the ECB only succeeded in unloading €35 billion worth of the paper in question, with the rest remaining unsold. In addition, the interest rates the ECB had to pay were two or three times higher than what they had expected. The failed auction is one of the recurring nightmares of governments around the world, and here was a clear instance.
The institutions of the European Union appear paralyzed in the face of the looming new phase of the crisis. The European Parliament voted by a lopsided 625 to 28 vote to limit the short-term bonuses for bankers, with a cap of 30% of such bonuses payable in cash in the first year. To get the remaining 70% of their bonuses, bankers would have to wait for three years, and the banks would have to set aside some capital reserves for this purpose. The goal is the reasonable one of preventing these zombie executives from concocting new and more dangerous synthetic CDOs (collateralized debt obligations) in the form of kited masses of toxic securities wrapped up in additional derivatives and perhaps further enveloped in a structured investment vehicle (SIV). Such poisonous paper sometimes yields large profits in the first year, but goes bankrupt soon after, so the new measure aims at delaying the payoff beyond the immediate speculative time horizon. Salaries by contrast are not limited, but anything over €1 million must be reported. However, this proposal is already full of loopholes. Governments will decide whether it applies to top executives only, or to traitors as well. In addition, it may not survive the EU finance ministers’ meeting this week.
Generally, the European Parliament as a miserable track record of getting its recommendations implemented. Back in March, this assembly passed a resolution instructing Barroso, the Portuguese head of the European Commission, to push hard at the G-20 meeting in Toronto in favor of a Tobin tax on speculative financial transactions. All indications are that the Bilderberg stalwarts Barroso and his finance sidekick Olli Rehn simply ignored these instructions, and punted. The methods of Barroso, who grew up under the fascism of Salazar, are well-known: when confronting a group of European trade unionists who demanded financial reform, Barroso’s answer was to threaten a return of dictatorship to Greece, Spain, and Portugal – countries which were oppressed by paleofascist dictatorships well into the 1970s. In any case, the bonus restrictions are a classic case of too little too late. They would have been a great thing five or ten years ago, but today Europe is already being crushed by about half a quadrillion dollars’ worth or more of toxic derivatives. And we are still waiting for the European Commission to come up with a proposal on bridling a hedge funds.
For the moment, the euro as a currency appears to have stabilized, and is quoted this weekend at $1.264. Part of the credit is no doubt due to the aggressive actions carried out by Germany on May 20 in the form of a ban on naked credit default swaps against euro-denominated government bonds, supplemented with bans on naked shorting of all German stocks. Even more credit must go to the growing perception in London and New York that Berlin is ready to fight to defend itself and the euro against the onslaught of the hedge fund wolf pack which has come together on such occasions as the February 8 “idea dinner” at Moness, Crespi, and Hart with representatives of Soros, Paulson, Einhorn, Brigade Capital, and other predators in attendance.
The German actions against derivatives would be even more effective if France were to join in imposing them. President Sarkozy talked a great game of punishing the speculators, but when the time for action arrived, he was found to be a saboteur. Given the fact that Sarkozy grew up in a household profoundly influenced by the CIA Wisner family and the CIA’s dirty deals with Corsican and Marseilles mobsters, this treachery by the tenant of the Elysée Palace is not entirely a surprise. The current scandal unfolding around illegal financing from the Bettencourt-L’Oréal interests suggests that French traditionalist institutional forces are seeking to remedy or at least contain the problem posed by the widely hated Sarkozy.
London: “What’s wrong with our bloody derivatives today?”Despite hysterical stories planted in the London Financial Times alleging that now China, now Iran was ready to dump the euro, the common currency has held up so well under attack that a number of British commentators have been publicly scratching their heads and wondering why their bear attacks against the continent have not been more effective. One is reminded of Admiral Beatty, the commander of the Royal Navy’s battle cruiser squadron at the Battle of Jutland in May of 1916. As three of his most modern battle cruisers were blowing up in the first half-hour, Beatty famously complained, “What’s wrong with our bloody ships today?” Today, there are doubtless some city of London hedge fund operators who are whining, “What’s wrong with our bloody derivatives today?”
Some commentators have concluded that China, instead of dumping euros, may actually be buying them, among other things to increase their investments and take advantage of the depressed prices now prevailing in places like Greece.1
German Restrukturierungsgesetz for banksThe German government has drawn up a new Bank Reform Law to govern the bankruptcy proceedings of insolvent banks. Under this measure, if a bank of systemic importance fails, the viable commercial banking business is separated out, and the rest of the bank, including proprietary speculation and derivatives, is to be liquidated under something like the US chapter seven procedure. No taxpayer money is to be used for bailouts. Instead, the banks themselves will be taxed to create a special fund, the Sonderfonds für Finanzstabilität or SoFFin, which will be used to pay the funeral expenses of these institutions. It is possible to see in this new law a kind of Glass-Steagal beyond the grave for such banks. With this measure, Germany keeps forward momentum against the speculators.
In the midst of this chaotic situation, European Central Bank boss Trichet has made the foolhardy decision to attempt stress tests on the top hundred or so European banks. What Trichet is planning is an obvious piece of public-relations fakery, similar to the fraudulent stress tests that were supposedly implemented by Tiny Tim Geithner more than a year ago. Geithner’s stress tests were notoriously meaningless because they excluded from consideration precisely those off-balance-sheet derivatives which were the main cause of the banking panic in the first place. We must remember that it was CDOs which brought down Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Citibank. Credit default swaps made things worse for all of these institutions, and played the leading role in destroying the AIG insurance empire. In spite of this massive evidence, Geithner simply avoided any consideration of derivatives, in conformity with the official party line of both the Bush and the Obama administrations that the ongoing financial panic was a “subprime event,” rather than the world derivatives panic which it actually represented.
At the end of Geithner’s phony stress tests, most of the bankrupt US zombie banks were given a clean bill of health, and this exercise is regarded on Wall Street as one of the indispensable preconditions for the relaunching of the New York stock bubble in March of 2009. A few banks were told to add to their capital reserves, and after that the speculators were off with a bang.
Trichet now imagines that he can carry out a similar crude parlor trick. He may even think that he can extort 100 billion more euros from the capitals of the continent to bolster the reserves of banks that are found wanting — in effect, an expansion of the existing EU bailout of European banks. But Trichet is deluded. Geithner had the luxury of carrying out his fake stress tests at a time when there was no concerted speculative attack on the US banking system, the dollar, and U.S. Treasury securities. Trichet today does not have this advantage. He is trying to conduct his stress tests while the euro, the European banks, and the ECB itself are under sustained speculative attack by the Anglo-American wolf packs. The Financial Times, the London Economist, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNBC, and other propaganda organs will do everything possible to sabotage the maneuver Trichet is seeking to carry out. US and British hedge funds will be eager to mount new bear raids against European bank shares.
Cavete XXIIII JuliiThe date announced for the publication of the results of these stress tests on something like a hundred banks is July 23. Already, the rumors are beginning to fly. What banks are included in the stress tests? What are the criteria of the stress tests? Above all, do the stress tests include the eventuality of a national bankruptcy or sovereign default? And so on.
Battle of the lists among the zombie banksA battle of the lists is developing, with each zombie bank publishing or leaking the names of the rival zombie institutions which it wants the public to think are more bankrupt than it is. The list reportedly issued by Citibank, certainly one of the most bankrupt of all institutions, directs attention to the possible insolvency of Commerzbank, the French Dexia group, and the National Bank of Greece. Not to be outdone, the rival zombies over at Credit Suisse have, according to Business Insider, come up with a more extensive list, including the German Postbank, followed by ATE Bank, the National Bank of Greece, the Hellenic Postbank, and Piraeus Bank, all of Greece, with the Italian Monte dei Paschi di Siena also making the list. The German Postbank, a big target, appears to figure on several lists, with the implication that if the Postbank is in trouble, the associated Deutsche Bank may also be, which takes us straight back to July 1931 once again. Needless to say, this German postal savings institution never should have been privatized and should be immediately re-nationalized and its shares taken off the market.
In short, conducting stress tests under Anglo-American financial bombardment is a gesture of folly, and Trichet may soon rue it.
At the same time, awareness that the current financial and economic difficulties represent in fact a world economic depression – as long maintained by the present writer — is rapidly growing. In June, the US economy lost some 625,000 jobs, dissipating many of the hysterical illusions of recovery. Paul Krugman of the New York Times is finally facing up to the fact of the world depression, which he counts as the third after the breakdowns of the 1870s and the 1930s. For Ambrose Evans Pritchard of the London Daily Telegraph, United States is now in 1932; he concludes from this that it is time for a combination of super austerity in government budgets plus an “ultra-loose” monetary policy to keep the financial barons well supplied with plenty of hot money. This proves that Pritchard has understood none of the lessons of the real 1932.
Orderly debt moratoria needed immediately in the spirit of the Hoover MoratoriumMore broadly, the national debts of the southern tier cannot be paid, so it is time to halt the insane austerity programs being enacted in countries like Spain, which already has 20% unemployment. Seventy-nine years ago even Herbert Hoover could see that when there is a depression, debt relief is order of the day. The Hoover Moratorium of June 20, 1931 was a payments freeze on most international government debts of Germany, Britain, France, and the United States – the main countries of the day. Since Obama is so inferior even to Herbert Hoover, places like Greece, Spain, Portugal, Iceland, Latvia and many others must end the macabre self-immolation of fiscal austerity and permanently freeze their international financial debts. After that, they will be able to dictate terms to the zombie bankers, who would no longer exist without state subsidies; these nations can do as well as Argentina did and perhaps better than Argentina did in reducing their debt. Nugatory tricks like trying to switch euro or dollar debt into local currencies, followed by devaluation, would procure these countries as much hostility of the zombie bankers as an outright debt freeze would, while sacrificing critical advantages. Purveyors of these recipes are the new Hilferdings, recalling the pedantic and doctrinaire German Social Democratic economics spokesman who in 1931-32 willfully sabotaged the Woitinsky-Tarnow-Baade program of the German trade unions to shrink unemployment and thus deprive the Nazis of their base. The WTB Plan aimed at forcing the German central bank to create 3 billion Reichsmarks in cheap credit to build autobahns, railroads, telephone systems, and rural electrification, generating several million productive jobs in the process. This program was also what Wilhelm Lautenbach of the German Economics Ministry was demanding.
The most effective policy bullet: nationalize the central banksIf the zombie banks cease to exist, so much the better. Every central bank can be seized and nationalized into a Hamiltonian national bank offering abundant 0% credit for infrastructure and tangible physical production. This is the way out of the deflationary dilemma of either tax increases or budget cuts which haunts economists who have not understood that every government has the inherent sovereign ability to function as its own bank, using national credit creation for national job creation in vast projects of infrastructure and capital goods production. This is the “policy bullet” which has yet to be tried, and the one which superficial and a-historical commentators like Nouriel Roubini have never understood. It is time in short to de-emphasize government borrowing as a means to counteracting the depression, and shift into the far more effective mode of dirigistic government lending for production. The US Fed and the ECB have been routinely dishing out credit at very near 0% rates to zombie banks. Dump that failed policy, and start issuing recovery tranches of long-term, 0% loans for energy, transportation, health, and education infrastructure to restore full employment and produce an economic recovery.
Once it is admitted that there is a depression, the consequences of this situation must be faced. In a depression, it should be obvious to most people that a recovery program must be implemented. So the economists who have finally figured out that the world is in an economic depression need to go much further, and tell us what new emergency measures they propose to permit economic recovery. This is all the more urgent since the European crisis is approaching a new crescendo.
Short version:
Free money for everyone is the solution!
Your version...skip 80%
Lets hear you granular solution,,,please,, more than just a (definition) sound bite.
Sorry, it's just that making the dollar cheaper for everyone, well, wouldn't that utterly destroy it's exchange rate? Not that I'm opposed to the destruction of the dollar, I mean, I just think we might be a little too focused on rating everything according to the dollar instead of something a bit more... uhm, tangible. Like gold, maybe. Or, even better, silver. But that's just a suggestion. Then we could at least see where we are at and go from there.
If only Hank&Ben would have been prudent fiduciaries for all Americans, --instead we the people get the treasonous version with both of them claiming that they would do everything to NOT nationalize the banks, when in fact what other honest choice was there? Instead we are the victims of theft against tax revenues for generations to come.. why can't we rectify this crime?(rhetorical whinning)
Thank you geopol!
Sentiments were in the right place. Though I disagree, I like your views.
...the remaining 6 "TBTF" basically are the executors of the playbook designed by the President's Working Group...and who regulates the President's Working Group? (silly rhetorical question)...I say we need to revoke executive order 12631 so that the big 6 won't have the government go ahead for the biggest insider trading operation of all time.
Hey Tyler--how about a steady essay, with a permanant place on your website, to help enlighten us all about he Presidents Working Group so that maybe the public can get a whif at this important tool that enables the perpetually plundereding of us all by the federal reserve cartel?
Green 'Chutes' Eric....Green 'Chutes'.
Sprott is right on in being skeptical. And he's been right for over ten years on gold. Maybe, just maybe he might be worth listening to...