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Guest Post: 11 Economic Crashes That Are Happening Right Now
Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,
The stock market is not crashing yet, but there are lots of other market crashes happening in the financial world right now. Just like we saw back in 2008, it is taking stocks a little bit of extra time to catch up with economic reality. But almost everywhere else you look, there are signs that a financial avalanche has begun. Bitcoins are crashing, gold and silver are plunging, the price of oil and the overall demand for energy continue to decline, markets all over Europe are collapsing and consumer confidence in the United States just had the biggest miss relative to expectations that has ever been recorded. In many ways, all of this is extremely reminiscent of 2008. Other than the Bitcoin collapse, almost everything else that is happening now also happened back then. So does that mean that a horrible stock market crash is coming as well? Without a doubt, one is coming at some point. The only question is whether it will be sooner or later. Meanwhile, there are a whole lot of other economic crashes that deserve out attention at the moment.
The following are 11 economic crashes that are happening RIGHT NOW...
#1 Bitcoins
As I write this, the price of Bitcoins has fallen more than 70 percent from where it was on Wednesday. This is one of the reasons why I have never recommended Bitcoins to anyone. Yes, alternative currencies are a good thing, but there are a lot of big problems with Bitcoins. Why would anyone want to invest in a currency that could lose 70 percent of its purchasing power in just two days? Why would anyone want to invest in a currency where a single person can arbitrarily decide to suspend trading in that currency at any time?
An article by Mike Adams of Natural News described some of the things that we have learned about Bitcoins this week...
#1) The bitcoin infrastructure cannot handle a selloff. Once the rush for the exits gains momentum, you will not be able to get out. Only those who sell early will be able to exit the market.
#2) The bitcoin infrastructure is subject to the whims of just one person running MTGox who can arbitrarily decide to shut it down whenever he thinks the market needs a "cooling period." This is nearly equivalent to a financial dictatorship where one person calls the shots.
#3) Every piece of bad news will be "spun" by exchanges like MTGox into good-sounding news. As bitcoin was crashing yesterday by 60% in value in mere hours, MTGox announced it was a "victim of our own success!" So while bitcoin holders watched $1 billion in market valuation evaporate, MTGox called it a success. Gee, then what would you call it when bitcoin loses 99%? A "raging" success?
#2 Gold
The price of gold was down by about 4 percent on Friday. Gold has now fallen below $1500 an ounce for the first time since July 2011. Overall, the price of gold has fallen by about 10 percent since the beginning of the year, and it is about 22 percent below the record high set back in September 2011.
Yes, the price of gold is likely being pushed down by the banksters. And yes, gold is a fantastic investment for the long-term. But there will be times when the price of gold does fall dramatically just like we saw back in 2008.
#3 Silver
The price of silver fell by about 5 percent on Friday. If it falls much more it is going to be at a level that presents a historically good buying opportunity.
Just like gold, there will be times when the price of silver swings dramatically. But the truth is that silver is probably an even better long-term investment than gold is.
#4 Oil
The price of oil declined by about 3 percent on Friday. Many will consider this a positive thing, but just remember what happened back in 2008. Back then, the price of oil dropped like a rock. If the price of oil gets below $80, that could very well be a clear signal that a major economic crisis is about to happen.
#5 Consumer Confidence
As I mentioned above, consumer confidence in the U.S. just had its biggest miss relative to expectations that has ever been recorded. The following is from an article posted on Zero Hedge on Friday...
Well if this doesn't send the market into all-time record high territory, nothing ever will: seconds ago the UMich Consumer Confidence plummeted from 78.6 to 72.3, on expectations of an unchanged 78.6 print. This was not only a 9 month low in the index, but more importantly the biggest miss to expectations in recorded history!
#6 Retirement Accounts
According to Wells Fargo, the number of Americans taking loans from their 401(k) accounts has risen by 28 percent over the past year...
Through an analysis of participants enrolled in Wells Fargo-administered defined contribution plans, the bank announced today that in the fourth quarter of 2012, there was a 28 percent increase in the number of people taking loans out from their 401(k) and that the average new loan balances increased to $7,126 from those taken out in the fourth quarter of 2011 - a 7% increase from $6,662.
Of the participants who took out loans, the greatest percentage were to people in their 50s (34.2%), followed by those in their 60s (28.9%) and then by those in their 40s (27.3%). The increase among participants in their 50s was nearly double the increase among those under 30. This is based on an analysis of a subset of 1.9 million eligible participants in retirement plans that Wells Fargo administers.
“The increased loan activity particularly among older participants is concerning because those are the years when workers can start to make ‘catch-up’ contributions and really need to focus on preparing for retirement,” said Laurie Nordquist, director of Wells Fargo Retirement.
#7 Casino Spending
Casino spending is declining again. Many people (including myself) would consider this to be a good thing, but casino spending is also one of the most reliable indicators about the overall health of the economy. Remember, casino spending crashed during the last financial crisis as well. That is why it is so alarming that casino spending is now back to levels that we have not seen since the last recession.
#8 Employment In Greece
Over in Europe, things just continue to get worse. According to numbers that were just released, the unemployment rate in Greece has soared to 27.2 percent, which was up from 25.7 percent the previous month. That means that the unemployment rate in Greece rose by 1.5 percent in just a single month. That is not just a crash - that is an avalanche of unemployment.
#9 European Financial Stocks
European financial stocks have been hit particularly hard lately. And for good reason actually - most of the major banks in Europe are essentially insolvent at this point. This week, European financial stocks fell to seven month lows, and this is probably only just the beginning.
#10 Spanish Bankruptcies
According to Reuters, the number of Spanish companies going bankrupt has risen by 45 percent over the past year...
A record number of Spanish companies went bust in the first quarter of 2013 as companies remained under intense pressure from tight credit conditions and meager demand, a study showed on Monday.
The 2,564 firms filing for insolvency proceedings in first three months of the year was a 10 percent rise from the previous quarter and a 45 percent increase on the same period in 2012, the survey by credit rating agency Axesor said.
#11 Demand For Energy
Just like we saw back in 2008, the overall demand for energy in the United States is falling rapidly. There are some shocking charts that prove this that were recently posted on Zero Hedge that you can find right here.
Yes, it is good for people to use a bit less energy, but it is also a clear indication that economic activity is really starting to slow down.
But despite everything that you have just read, the Dow and the S&P 500 have been setting new record highs.
And if you listen to the mainstream media, you would think that this stock market bubble can continue indefinitely.
Fortunately, there are a few voices of reason out there. For example, just check out what Marc Faber recently told CNBC...
In the near-term, the U.S. stock market is overbought and adding that any more near-term gains portend big trouble for the market, "The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report" publisher Marc Faber told CNBC on Monday.
"If we continue to move up, the probability of a crash becomes higher," Faber predicted in a "Squawk Box" interview, saying it could happen "sometime in the second half of this year."
As I have written about previously, a bubble is always the biggest right before it bursts. I hope that we still have at least a little bit more time before it happens, but I wouldn't count on it.
The economic fundamentals tell us that the stock market should be plunging, not rising. At some point the boys over on Wall Street will get the message and the market will catch up to reality very, very rapidly.
But for the moment, the American people are feeling really good. According to CNN, Americans are now more optimistic than they have been in six years...
As the stock market continues to show record highs, the number of Americans who say things are going well in the country has reached 50% for the first time in more than six years, according to a new national survey.
So what do you think will happen for the rest of the year?
Do you think that the good times will continue to roll, or do you believe that the bubble is about to burst?
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11 things that won't negatively affect banker bonuses would be a better title.
i wish it was the 70's and we all had to wait until the sat morning newspaper to find all this out.
BitCoin is on like Donkey Kong. Some M'Fers bought 63,000 at somewhere around 60 dollars at 12 UTC and they've already made 100%. Holy Shit. Out of my way electrons. How F'n long does it take for this bankwire to go through.
Plan B - the CVS red phone.
Oops looks like Mr and Mrs Gox had an employee call in sick:
(2013/4/11) Market Cooldown: Orders will not be accepted for the moment as we need to upgrade our database to accommodate the trading volume. However, you may still cancel your pending and open orders. Trading will resume at 11.00 am JST.
Too volatile and it's not real currency. Mt.Gox is working on their pink sheet IPO next. Do you place all on red or black? Just wondering.
"Some M'Fers bought 63,000 at somewhere around 60 dollars at 12 UTC and they've already made 100%."
~~~
You haven't 'MADE' anything until you've exchanged a currency into a physical asset [otherwise, your 'currency' is just a chit, a credit, a balance]... If you exchanged it at a greater valuation than you acquired it for, you've booked a PROFIT... Legally, profits are subject to capital gains taxes [as many, no doubt, are busily paying this weekend, & by which, I suspect, had something to do with the need to liquidate LOSING positions in paper gold & silver markets on Friday]...
All this ebullient foaming at the mouth on bitcoin gyrations are exposing you cyber wunderkind to the IRS, on a public blog...
Fucking Amazing...
apmex is selling junk dimes for 7 over spot if anyone is lookin'
Ya, read this earlier today off of economiccollapse.com...
This will all end in tears, but WHEN is the question, and nobody knows! Wish I knew as I am teetering on bankruptcy and foreclosure in the next 3 months if I don't find a job...what am I gonna do with my family? move to a tunnel? what about my considerable preps? ugh I planned this out pretty good, until I lost my job, and now cant find a new one to keep us in our house!!
Off with the freakin heads dammit, I'm tired of the insane criminals in charge of this asylum! This is all so f'd up I tell ya!
sell your guns and ammo NOW.. it is at the top I swear.. If you preped you have guns and ammo.. just hold a few rounds of ammo in as many calibers as possible b/c when madmax hits guns will be laying everywhere.
sell your guns and ammo NOW
Sorry, (cept for the ammo), that window for huge profits on weapons has closed, all stores have anything you want, just NO BANG caps.
NO NO NO.. the gun stores have to keep records, you dont! Private sells are still free and clear no q's asked until this new law is passed.. sell now for new prices on used guns.. the smart ones will call.
Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.
the bank won't foreclose on you in 3 months. they don't want your house, they want to know you have a heartbeat and can make payments, any payments
remember, their loan was created from thin air and they know it. You signed that you service the loan and they have you by the balls with that document. Throw them a few bones here and there to keep them happy. They can't write paycheques if they don't have guys like yourself making some payment once in a while. Work with them then start working on your own. Can you work with your hands? Do you have tools? Then you find work and get paid daily to help another homeowner or business with their chores. There is work, everywhere and everyday. Go to the richies and knock on their doors with your tools and your business card. They always have a need for someone to do some chores.
Why would anyone want to invest in a currency that could lose 70 percent of its purchasing power in just two days?
Weimar indeed?
Because it can add 70% to it's value in 2 days. It's just foolish people being educated. I was a fool in the late 90's, and began my education in 2000/2001. Now there are new fools that are getting educated.
There is no shame in being a fool once.
On RT's financial news today they said Cyprus' bailout is all of a sudden now TWICE as big as expected. Now Cyprus must double the cash they need to come up with or bankruptcy is coming. Hell, they could manage the first figure, now it's doubled?
They also said France is a ticking time bomb, really on the brink of going under, though this is being hidden by the MSM.
RT's Max Keiser also was talking about the United Kingdom and how truely screwed that economy is. Utterly screwed! He thinks, and I agree, that the UK is one of the biggest threats to the world economy. He thinks it will collapse. I agree.
All across the globe, money printing is out of control. China is now being flooded with tons of central bank paper from the great printers like the USA, UK and ECB. There simply is so much cheap or free money seeking a place to go that distortion of markets and economies is out of fucking control.
Mind you, RT calls this shit out, CNN and CNBC are still selling the recovery as a done deal and Europe solved. God what fucking liars. Who would ever have imagined that Russian Television would be the ONE news outlet speaking the truth about the economy. And they don't spare mother Russia either. Today they blasted corruption as a major reason for lack of investment in Russia's economy.
I smell 2008 creeping up on us again. But this time a big country like France, Spain or the UK going tits up overnight would throw the world into a new 2008 financial crisis. And war is now on the brink everwhere.
Russians man Syria's air defenses, the modern mobile AA systems sold to Syria. They have vowed to attack any NATO aircraft trying to bomb Syria. Hows that for a flash point?
Bitcoin is crazy. I just checked it as being at $129 again. Up and down by the minute. Only a fool would use this as an investment or a speculation vehicle. All that is left is for someone to send in the clowns. I mean the central bankers.
Iceland seems to be the last sane and functioning nation. Though they have JAILED some bankers, and are seeking to jail others.
JB, Pravda just had a story about how dumb Amerikanskis re-elected a communist who will destroy them.
Pravda just had a story about how dumb Amerikanskis re-elected a communist who will destroy them.
Well they should know, they never got rid of the one that vacated (in name only).PUTIN, is the Wizard of Oz........Only thing that make him better is he loves his country.AND, he is rebuiling it very quickly, while our's goes down on a pile of ashes.
RT is my first port of call for msm news. They are a lot softer, if you can imagine, than they used to be. The Russians didn't sanitize their news - when a maverick missile from a drone took out a bus full of kids -they showed pieces of them on prime time. If we did that, maybe they'd be fewer fuckers hot for war all the time.
The UK is barely holding its head above water while shouting the water is fine. I'm beginning to see the same disaffection and disconnect with the government that we saw during the Summer riots, except it's much more focused on the antics of the ruling political party. Thatcher's funeral will bring some out, and probably gain momentum when the weather starts getting warmer. There were calls from hysterical morons for the military to tackle the riots last time, which opens the door to emulating Syria. If anyone wants to destabilise the UK, all they need to do is hire some snipers and dump a shitload of weapons in the poorest areas during the next riots - as mossad/cia did in Syria.
It is kind of strange to be thankful for Russian presence in Syria to prevent the Israelis bombing Iran and starting WWIII.
As for btc, the biggest Euro Bitcoin Exchange, Bitcoin24, has been shut down and its bank account frozen by the Polish authorities. It was ridiculously easy to make every deposit on that site disappear, but the lemmings are still buying on other exchanges. Desperation and anger are making people do crazy things all over the place. But hey, at least the Dow and S&P are rising to the moon while Americans can look forward to evolving into morlocks in the subterranean tunnels.
YHC-FTSE, Nice post, I like first hand information coming from Britain. I have spent much time in the UK since the late 80's. I am fully up on the Thatcher era and how she layed the ground work for the UK's new financialized economy. She herself was no great ruler and her economic programs were simply riding on the back of the great North Sea oil boom. I was up in the Shetlands for a visit during the peak of the North Sea drilling boom.
Thatcher would have collapsed the UK if not for that great ocean of oil flowing into Britain's economy.
The summer riots came very close to where I was staying in a B&B not far from Ealing Common Tube station. I agree, the next riots could see mass bloodshed. Guns are not so eay to get in the Uk as here in America. This will act to prevent a full on war, but as you say, what would happen if someone began to arm the rebels. You bet, Syria all over again.
The UK has a huge underclass that is growing, it has a huge angry immigrant population, and it even has it's own angry Muslim communities. Primed to explode. White Britains with money have been tracked moving to the countryside and villages where ever they can. This is a sign from the people on the ground that they know trouble is around the corner. Economically, money printing is all the UK now has.
What part of the UK do you live? Please keep us posted here on ZH when and if you see trouble coming. Boots on the ground intelligence and all that!
Yours too mate. You got it exactly right on Thatcher - without the $45 billion+ in North Sea oil revenues, our nation would have been sunk. She simply rode the record heights of oil production and got credited with "Saving Britain". If we had followed the Norwegians with a sovereign wealth fund instead of pissing it all away, we wouldn't be in the situation we're in today.
You're kidding! I live just 7 miles from Ealing Broadway, in the leafy suburbs. But my sister lives in W.Ealing, and saw the riots first hand. Mostly kids on Summer holiday with nothing to do but steal, and a few hardcore nutters. This time it is different, there is a growing anger against the Tories, culminated to almost a frenzy as they are reminded about Thatcher. I don't have any political affiliations, my area and most friends are tories, so I doubt anything strong will kick off where I am. The rest of London is a different matter altogether. It really is very precarious sometimes. A few weekends ago, I drove my sister back to Ealing late evening and there were a bunch of kids loitering about a traffic light. As I stopped, we were instantly surrounded by angry black faces hitting the car and screaming at us. I still don't have a clue what that was all about except I drive a Merc, and maybe it was a class/money thing? I just stayed calm until the lights changed and drove slowly away while being pelted with sticks. Guess I was lucky none of the windows broke. If kids behave like this, you can imagine what their parents are going to be like. Still, I am more than well prepared after years of spending my time visiting ZH!
Yes, many parts of London are becoming questionable, especially after dark. What struck me over the years is the massive growth of these tower block housing units in the greater London area. A few years back my flight from Iceland was forced to circle over London for a half hour due to heavy traffic backed up over Heathrow. A bright clear September day and we circled about at faily low altitude. I began counting these high tower blocks that have been springing up across London. I quickly counted 50 of them, and I was only counting the very highest. In my mind's eye I was picturing these blocks crowed with poor chavs, blacks and all sorts of recent immigrants. Little real future for them other than the benefits lifestyle.
When the riots hit, I was thinking that most of the people looting and burning probably came down out of these tower blocks. Britain's open borders policy founded under Labor and now written into law by the EU is totally out of control. I just can't see how the staggering British economy can keep funding the poor of the world who make their way to the UK.
In the late 80's I was good friends with a nurse who worked in the NHS, in Tooting. That was a rough area even back then. SOme areas I hear are almost "no go" for your average white middle class person like we were back then.
As you say about the oil, that was an unprecidented boom to the UK, it was the savior of the nation, at least for a few decades. Now it is in steep decline. They still drill new production wells up there, but the new can not compensate for the drying up of the old. I just can't imagine the UK economy when more and more foreign exchange keep going for energy imports.
The great cash machine down in Canary Warf and the City, really are not as productive as some moght think. It provides a huge cash infusion for a small minority, but for the broader economy it does little good.
I am afraid the UK's future looks less then bright at present. I don't think any of the political classes have any answers for the problems. I simply can't see a small Island like Britian trying to be the immigration destination for the world. It hasn't the resources to support that type of population growth. The next leg down will be drastic and sudden, many in the UK will not even see it coming. The underclass has no stake in Britian, to them it is simply a source of benefits, with no real future for entering the middle class or even working class.
Still, it may not be too late to save the British nation, but with the present policies it seems a desperate hope.
Gold is still as cheap as dirt priced in USD. Forget about all the noise.
http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/4/12_Former_US_Treasury_Official_-_Fed_Orchestrated_Smash_In_Gold.html
Today a former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury told King World News that the smash in gold and silver today was entirely orchestrated by the Federal Reserve. Former Assistant of the US Treasury, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, also warned KWN that stocks of available physical gold are “rapidly declining.” Below is what Dr. Roberts had to say in this extraordinary and exclusive interview.
Eric King: “Dr. Roberts, we have this smash on gold and silver today. Gold down $75 at one point and silver was down $1.75, your thoughts here?”
Dr. Roberts: “This is an orchestration (the smash in gold). It’s been going on now from the beginning of April. Brokerage houses told their individual clients the word was out that hedge funds and institutional investors were going to be dumping gold and that they should get out in advance.
Then, a couple of days ago, Goldman Sachs announced there would be further departures from gold. So what they are trying to do is scare the individual investor out of bullion. Clearly there is something desperate going on that has one of the best gold & silver purchase & storage platforms
“I have assumed from the beginning that it is the Fed’s concern with the dollar because the dollar is being printed in huge quantities at the same time that other countries are abandoning the use of the dollar as international payment.
The exchange value of the dollar is (being) threatened, and if that collapses the Fed loses control over interest rates. Then the bond market blows up, the stock market blows up, and the banks that are too big to fail, fail. So it’s an act of desperation because they’ve got to establish in people’s minds that the dollar is the only safe place, it is the only safe haven, not gold, not silver, and not other currencies.
And to help protect this policy they have convinced or pressured the Japanese to inflate their own currency. The Japanese are now going to print money like the Fed. They are lobbying the ECB to print more. So I see this as a dollar protection policy.
...I know where the gold is coming from in the market, it’s just paper. It’s naked shorts, there is no gold there. If somebody wanted to take delivery on those contracts nobody would be able to provide it. I don’t know what the source of the (physical) gold is. Some people are saying that the actual stocks available for possession are rapidly declining.”
Eric King: “Going forward, Dr. Roberts, what do you expect out of all of this? If the gold is coming out of Western central bank vaults and flowing to the East, the old saying is, ‘So goes the gold, so goes the power.’”
Dr. Roberts: “Well, I think the power of the West has already been lost. When you have off-shored your manufacturing and professional service jobs, you’ve hollowed out your economy. So gold or no gold, the United States economy has been severely damaged and I don’t think it can recover.
This gold business (smash in price) is something to do with the dollar. They are trying to save this Federal Reserve policy of negative real interest rates. You can’t do that if the dollar loses value relative to gold because it implies it should be losing value relative to other currencies.
If the dollar’s exchange value drops, then the price of imports that come in here (to the US) rise. So you get domestic inflation, and if you have domestic inflation you can’t have zero interest rates, or negative real interest rates. So the Fed would lose control and that’s the basis of this policy.
They are trying to destroy gold as a (safe) haven from the dollar in order to carry on the Fed’s policy of negative real interest rates. That is what is driving the illegal policy of selling naked shorts in order to manipulate a market. If you and I were to do something like this without the government’s instruction or protection, we would be arrested (laughter ensues). So the fact that it’s illegal, being done by the authorities, tells me that they are seriously worried about the dollar.”
roberts has a very keen sense of wtf is going on. nothing i've read of his thoughts are objectionable.
the desparation he mentions adds up. what else would describe the market moves we saw today?
he knows that if the oil/dollar trade disolves we are toast fucking now. try 8/gallon and see where unemployment goes.
but, the flys in the ointment; russia, iran, china are sick and tired of usa bully shit and will wake usa/dreamshape the fuck up soon.
ben, i almost feel sorry for you-not, u will be public enemy # one soon...
I would add Tyler's point of RR container shipping dropping, and throw in that Baltic shipping index as well.
TPTB need a distraction. Surely there must be a crazy dictator other than in DC who can stir the pot and get folks diverted, maybe over in SA or Asia.
"It doesn't matter until it does, and then it matters a lot."
--some wiseguy
Wouldn't sweat the gold or silver price, cant say I even check it like I used to.
I have it because the global and domestic financial and economic systems are broken beyond all repair. This is a simple truth is it not?
There is simply no fixing them without some massive unknown shit going down. And as always the little guys will be the easiest first up targets, followed by the systems self canibalisation.
They will print to infinity and when that doesn't work they will try the destruction path. Either way gold and silver is protection against the inevitable.
Its like having body armor, to protect against the myriad ways they will end up smashing everything in their desperate attempts to save a few.
Honestly what can they do? Steal everybody's money to pay off all debts. Print with increasing zeros, year after year? Declare all debts null across the globe .. well they will never do that one. Iceland is the only one to get away with something a little like that.
All the solutions to the problem when they come make holding some bullion essential.
One thing about all these 'the market's going to crash again' articles.
Since the crash in 2008, the global financial system has ceased to function in any natural way. The 'system' has been taken into care.
The crash we saw in 2008 will not be allowed to happen again. When you hear or more bad economic KRA's. It doesn't matter. The stock market is going up! The central banks are buying all the government debt.
I don't fuscking know if they can maintain this rate of moenteziation for years or decades, or, if it will fall to fucking pieces tomorrow, but I see a grim future ahead. One of markets with no asssesable value, and governments 'adjusting' individual wealth to settle the debt odds, as has always been the case. Inflation followed by deflation. Hopefullly, this is the globalisation plan, and when they pull it off, there will be parity in the global workforce - I welcome the competition! :)
Cut the end off a balloon and it don't matter if how much air you pump into it.
P.S. I didn't junk you.
I did...
Me too...
What a numb nuts.
everything looks to me like its lined up for a crash, I think the stock market is going to fall and all that fleeing money is going to rush into deposits and GLD/SLV in a massive unprecidented reversal. .. the potential for such a mega reversal is only building (like a giant rubber band ready to snap back and hit bernanke in the face at any momment !)
I think the stock market is going to fall and all that fleeing money is going to rush into deposits and GLD/SLV in a massive unprecidented reversal. .. the potential for such a mega reversal is only building (like a giant rubber band ready to snap back and hit bernanke in the face at any momment !)
Wish you were correct, but it will all head to UST's, and Bonds............like always.(cause they are SO safe).
Sell in May bitchez. Unless perhaps the smart money is selling NOW.
The rubber band won't snap back - it will just snap. When this sucker goes down, counterparty failure will happen in the most unexpected of places.
Where is Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great when you need them?
Vladimir Putin?
I heard bitcoin always goes up.
echo
I heard bitcoin always goes up.
"What's a bitcoin?"
From the NYSE floor--CNBC, 2018
Ha Ha, like anything on Cnbc was ever true.
"You know, that digital currency that started right before the US collapsed" -- answers the bum living on the former NYSE floor as wind blows dust and old papers in through bombed-out windows. -- reality, 2018.
Playing Logan's Run in the NYSE.
So, the Economic Collapse Blog says an economic collapse is happening now.
You don't say.
I'm ready for THE FUCKING END because im sick of this shit.
And may the bombs fly because starvation and poverty fucking sucks.
glory be to the bomb and to the holy fallout........
Rockets Fall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_TbIl-3W5c
Be careful what you wish for. You may end up looking back on these as the good old days when everyone had enough to eat and you didn't have to sleep with a gun under the pillow.
One more day alive = one less day dead.
everyone has enough to eat and you don't sleep with a gun under your pillow? weird.
+100 lol
The only possible result of the problem being really fixed is the globe having foreced on it a sizeable decrease in the standard of living, that depends much less on borrowed money and more on wealth creation.
That has to be the end result but it is a long ways coming, and is a massive reset and will only come after they try everything else and they progressively blow up in their faces.
Holding gold and silver is like side stepping the chaos as it churns to an outcome.
#12: Supply of Guns & Ammo: The 2nd Amendment battle in the Senate going on now...
The three Amendments I've heard about so far include:
Toomey-Schumer Gun Control Bill
Republican Senator Pat "Benedict" Toomey (R-PA) teamed up with Democrat Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and introduced a so-called "compromise" gun control bill.
But the reality is that this bill is even more dangerous than Dianne Feinstein's so-called "Assault Weapons Ban."
I've heard that Toomey's bill was actually written by Chuck Schumer himself.
Senator Toomey's bill would ban virtually all private gun sales, restrict the Second Amendment freedoms of travelers, strip folks who seek mental health of their gun rights, undermine state sovereignty, and set the stage for full-scale national gun registration.
The bill is so bad it's even supported by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's "Mayors Against Illegal Guns."
The Feinstein Gun Ban
This legislation, which would target rifles, shotguns, and even handguns, is also far from dead.
President Obama and Harry Reid are determined to push the envelope. With Republicans already demonstrating their willingness to roll over, I would prepare for the worst.
"High-Capacity" Magazine Restrictions
This Amendment would ban magazines that hold over a certain number of bullets.
Those are the three anti-gun Amendments I'm hearing about so far.
Needed Now:
Grassroots Mobilization Effort to Defeat Gun Control
House GOP shows little appetite for Senate gun control issue...
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/293461-house-gop-shows-little-appetite...
"Growing momentum in the Senate for new gun control legislation has failed to flow down to the House, where just a handful of House Republicans have embraced a deal to expand background checks for firearm purchases."
Anything passed in the Senate has an uphill battle in the Republican controlled House...
I can see Nixon throwing his fingers in the air and blabbling his jowls right now.
lol...I think the mid-terms are going to be interesting
Obama getting shut down on guns....many Democrats who voted for gun bills will lose seats--like....
Hagan (NC)
Pryor (AR)
Begich (AK)
Landrieu (LA)
Johnson (SD)
Warner (VA)
Rockefeller (WV)
Baucus (MT)
And Obamacare which is going to be a total disaster....
It's chess not checkers
None of those Senators are going to lose their seats. You see, the coming crash will be blamed on the Republicans, and 67% of female voters are for banning guns.
lol, yeah but only 44% of men....
Democrats are historically weak voters in mid-terms....
And Republicans are ready
Come on, Montana and Alaska? How does a democrat even get elected in those states?
I bet the Senate loses many Democrat seats easy...
A Democrat was reelected to the Senate from Montana last year. A Democrat was elected to the Senate from ND last year, and ran 20 points ahead of Obama! The Dem incumbents were elected to the Montana and Alaska seats 5 years ago. Reality is that Democrats can be elected to any seat in any State if the conditions are right.
Dems are historically weak voters in Midterms, that is true. But history is not destiny. The Democrats are working extra hard to ginn up maximal turnout of their base next year. Obama is working especially hard to do this because for him it is personal (and besides his own elections it is the only thing in his life that lazy bum Obama is actually working for). I think the GOP is in mortal peril next year.
true, but now we got gun issues...and Obamacare, which is going to be front and center and that alone is going to be huge.
And Obama/Democrats are no way that clever, you do understand the democrat base, right.
Sounds like you'd like to make a bet?
67% according to a bullshit psyops poll, maybe. I've had two different women ask my advice on arming themselves in the past two months.
Sorry, paying attention to electoral politics is your first and biggest mistake. This country needs to be made ungovernable. The way to do that is to get as many people as possible to leave the system and to actively subvert and disobey ALL aspects of that system, including the executive, legislative and judicial branches (and their henchmen, the police and the military), along with the banks and other corporations. Participating in electoral politics is like being asked to be raped in the ass--why would you do it? Unless, of course, you enjoy that sort of thing...
That's hilarious, I personally don't know anybody who's more removed from the system than me....
We're just a bunch of fellas bench racing on the Internet....relax and enjoy the ride
Horeshit, those lowlife cocksvkers will flip, you just watch.
Congressmen are government workers. They invent stuff that makes no sense to just show as if they're busy.
Everybody knows the house will never bother with that. But hey, they have to justify all those expenses. Schumer has great imagination to come up with stuff that never passes, just to show as if he's busy.
A failure of this bill in the House is already factored into Obama's and Reid's designs. As 67% of Female voters support a complete gun ban and universal confiscation, their failure to pass it will help flip the House. They can't support it either, because they would get creamed by their own base. The House is between a rock and a hard place, and the gap is getting smaller.
And when the stock market crashes, probably next year, Obama has already gamed it so the Republican House will get the full blame in the dominant Media Narrative. Bottom line - Obama will flip the House in a truly historic Midterm like none other before it.
Yeah I heard that argument, It's a stretch..
one thing...Republicans are more angered by gun legislation than Democrats will be without it
80M gun owners in this country are a pretty big force.
Then you got the largest lobbyist force in the NRA
We shall see, It will be interesting
What bubble? The one on Bernanke's shoulders?
Don't understand Bitcoin that much so wont criticsize it.
But holding gold/silver it wont matter where you are, in what time, country, language or milenia. It will have immediate accessible worth on the run without the need for technology.
AND of course if gold and silver were not intrinsictly linked to Fiat and interest rates TPTB wouldn't give it the slightest attention. But here they are doing there best since the beginning to keep it tightly controled. But they can only control the paper price which will become more and more obvious as time goes on.
I'm doing an honesty survey
How many have up arrowed their own comments?
How many have down arrowed their own comments?
If respondents are honest, it would give us an insight how honest the world is at large. :)
From the Whitehouse Chief phsycologist and therapist to the Nobel Peace Prize winner and chief drone control mastermind.
zerohedge doesn't let you up or down your own comments, unless you are gaming them and have several accounts.
Wrong. You can up-arrow you own comments once, just like you can up arrow anyone's comment once. I just did it to prove I could, but I normally don't bother.
Must be a new "feature", it certainly wasn't that way when the arrow system was implemented. I remember when Marla used to hang out here.
where's the weekend drop mix?
Someimes when the serial junker is around I junk myself if I'm late & he misses me. If he gets me, I upvote myself to keep things balanced.
I like things tidy. Symmetry is my life.
"the overall demand for energy continue to decline" - with 7+billion people looking to improve their quality of life there is plenty of fucking demand. Especially from those growing populations in cold climates. What garbarge, this fucker is a moron.
Mmmm, wrong, wrong, wrong. it don't matter what 7 billion people are looking for, they may be demanding skittle shitting unicorns and candy apple trees, it still ain't happening. Demanding and getting a improved quality of life are two seperate issues, you are missing an element in your theory and Laws of physics demand to be obeyed, and if you doubt that you need to change your name to Fantasy Island. People demand to live in fucking peace unencumbered and unmolested by government thuggery but that ain't happening either.
or to put it another way, shit in one hand and wish in the other and see which one fills up first.
Correct
It's different from 2008. No, the economy isn't better, but central banks are injecting liquidity at a furious and unprecedented pace. Who's going to face the margin call that incites the crash? The Fed has your back.
Crude oil will call the margin back
When this crash happens, and it will, will Obama still blame Bush? Pathetic.
Wrong. He will blame the Republican House so he can take the House back in the Midterms. That is Obama's obvious and transparent game plan.
Obama will be the one to finalize the crash as Bush was the one who finalized the crash.
All the panic about the economy and the crash of commodities may be a precursor to the big print, we will see.
My opinion is the realization of what the ACA will do to employees, employers and disposable income is now really becoming apparent. Employers will be going to a 29.999 hour / week work schedule soon. The exchanges are a joke, premium costs are going sky high and no one knows the real rules yet. 20,000 pages of regulations, yea sure.
Who in their right mind would invest in a business right now given this albatross?
They are going to have to delay this thing at least a year or soon we will have another Lehman moment. Not sure Bam's ego could withstand this embarrassment.
Precarious times my friends.
sschu
Nothing in the ACA can be changed until at least Jan 2015. As long as there is divided government there will be no changes.
I think it'd be daft to see what's happening (well described in Michael's essay) as Crash 2 coming at us.
With all these markets now crashing all over the place, what is really really happening is a continuation of Crash 1 that began in late 2007 but was not allowed to follow its natural course by criminal central banker & political elite interference in the markets (QE, Zirp, bail-outs, bail-ins and 1,000 other criminal socialist actions) which have only conspired to delay markets from performing their God-given natural duty of clearing out the garbage. These people are maniacs.
Like so many others, I see a complete collapse coming down the tracks. We can blame it on the political elites, central bankers and of course the bankster criminals.
Folks, it's time to stock up on rope and piano wire.
Hmmm, is todays price move really manipulation?
Usually I agree, but not this time, If Cyprus us dumping their gold as rumored, and the gold market is pretty small, this would account for the moves today, right?
Who knows? Who else might be in trouble in Europe thats dumping gold right now?
Guess you didn't get the word that Cyprus gold is a drop in the bucket for Inida and China.
It's not as if Cyprus called kitco and said: Dump it all at market in one shot.
It doesn't work that way.
The USD remained relatively stable all day while gold and silver got monkey-hammered. Something doesn't add up. This was not about Cyprus.
It was the last grab for gold....it will be the only thing standing once the ashes die down.
They tanked gold with your money.....so they could steal it.
Buckle your seatbelts....this is gonna get nasty.
We just didn't get the oligarchies pre-release memo. You see Ben is going to stop buying MBS and start selling some of the trillion they own. The Fed has decided they are tired of propping up the housing market, stock market, bond market, and government, and they are going to let interest rates rise and revert to the mean.
Obama has decided he is going to pursue austerity and balance the budget so some of those unemployed and welfare recipients are going to have to get by with less on their SNAP cards. The MIC will have to reduce their force projection by a carrier group or two, some armored divisions, and air force squadrons. Of course the jobs necessary to maintain and produce all the equipment and man power will be lost jobs but I am sure the Fed and US government know this is necessary if they are ever going to climb out of the impossible rat hole they are free falling down. Also, Wall Street and the Masters of the Universe are going to replace some of their low rate funding with a higher cost alternative, and of course any losses they take will have to be recognized in the current quarter as mark to market accounting will be reimplemented.
So TPTB are going to take their bitter medicine, which unfortunately means commodities are going to get torched and all of you doomers and gloomers should sell your physical before its too late.
You either forgot your "/sarc" tag line or are one of the dumbest motherfuckers on here. I think it's the latter.
"I am sure the Fed and US government know this is necessary if they are ever going to climb out of the impossible rat hole they are free falling down."
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! Oh, you're "sure" about that, are you? Why...because we're Americans? And unimaginably bad things don't happen to Americans? People like you are EXACTLY why we're going down the rat hole--it's called HUBRIS. I have news for you: NOBODY is going to save the U.S. from the rat hole, because the rat hole is EXACTLY where we belong. Same as it ever was, throughout human history...
If a billion people think that gold is on sale then that's good enough for me to BTFD.
http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/en/mineweb-gold-news?oid=185960&sn=Detail
If everybody is thinking the same, then nobody is thinking at all.
You missed it. If everyone is thinking the same then it's more than a trend. It's a certainty.
People are hitting their breaking points....I'd say we are getting close. I can't sell my house so that's what's gonna fuck me. Minus that I'm pretty solid. Oh well, I guess I can rent the fucker. Yep he forgot about housing. My indicator there is myself, my parents, in laws and brother ALL can't sell their houses. 4 different cities too. Such is economic manipulation.
The last 2 eateries (family Italian and BBQ) I planned on going to with a friend have just recently closed.
Google Elgin Rain Tax. No shit. Taxing businesses and homes based on rain water run off square footage to use money for separating sewer from rain water run off. 30 year old problem now needs sudden fixing according to EPA, who else. Friend owns medium size manufacturing plant. It will add 5 K a year to his taxes. Let's just shut down the businesses that are barely remaining open now. The last straw? Will it ever come? Friend of mine successful in run for city council. Start locally, we live locally. Maybe I am a dreamer but you got to stand for something or fall for anything and everything.
I wish your friend luck.....
Look I think any of you that are paying attention know a crash is coming. The formula is pretty simple, go liquid and keep a big pile of cash ready. When the fire sale starts you n ur fistfull of dollars better be ready to rock and roll.
PS Those that are buying PMs on this little dip are creatins, wait for the crash and THEN buy like hell.
Crashing paper gold to its price today did their job. Painting charts with a '4' in the price. Finaicialisation terrorism.
Job done. Only fools and fops fail to comprehend.
"PS Those that are buying PMs on this little dip are creatins, wait for the crash and THEN buy like hell."
LOL...do you really think you'll be able to get your hands on any physical when the crash comes? I suggest that anyone who wants physical gold or silver to get it NOW, while you still can. But hey, it's your money...
One only need look to Iceland, Estonia and Latvia for the only bits of sanity.
Yeah, und Sveden also.
Some think they led the way.
It is a pity that political fools paid by central banksters ruin children. And the world's biggest commercial banks Party on.
Rothschild zionism is the ruin of the world, for jew and gentile.
Rothschild zionism aided by the Rockefeller jerks, like their son at Boston University who is prosecuted for breaking into an apartment, pissing on it and vandalism.
His family said a one world bankster government would only come with calamity, for all, for the few.
No wonder the Rockefeller brat and biggest banks piss on all, and pay O'bomba and Michelle to Party on. Just like they paid Bush munchkins.
It'd be interesting to see what portion of ALL 401(k)s have loans on them, how much of the aggregate amount is levered.
It'd be even more telling to know whats left of that cash right about now.
Go to Work ZH!
;-
A ZH article told you that earlier today. Gave you the figures.
I know what you're referencing, but I'm talking about data that's probably impossible to collate, hence the wink.
Wells Fargo's data does not contain what remains of the loans made nor the proporation of levered dollars against ALL 401(k) dollars.
But Thanks!
Wells fuck you over. No, thanks.
Best wishes to you and yours. I have no time or money for Party on dudes.
party on.
Garth, Excellent.
Yes, it's all going into the crapper. Don't need to see a list of signs telling me so.
CBs are in a corner. They can't unleash any meaningful wave of QE and governments can't discuss stimulus with debt loads high and commodities priced where they're at.
There needs to be a consolidation, a correction and maybe a collapse before the money changers can restart the system or bring about another round of can kicking. Can't do that with gold at $1700, $1600 or $1500. It would drive gold to nirvana prices if they unleashed the beast here.
However, they are playing with fire. They can try to repeat a 2008 style crash but they cannot predict the outcome. The 2008 crash was fabricated. Make no mistake. It was not an accident. Now they're preparing for something, maybe the same. As I said if they take a page from the same playbook, they might loose control which they want to avoid at any cost. Their worst nightmare is that their paper price is no longer the true price of the gold and silver exchanges, the marketplace. This happened in the USSR before the collapse. They know it can happen here.
That is why I accumulate gold and silver at any price. I'm not in control, they are. All I can do is educate myself and rely on my own understanding. From my research over the years, there is no other alternative as a common man than buying gold and silver over time and storing it without giving any record to anyone. Gold and silver have been recognized as currency and store of value longer than any other currency.
Today was a bear trap. Seemples.
how was this a bear trap?
If you ask the question, then you cannot understand the answer.
Best wishes to you and yours. I wish you no harm.
did short positions increase today and next week will see a short squeeze?
then yes, you'd be correct
doubtful
FWIW I didn't junk you
That is the word. After 1500 fell, short positions in both Comex and against GLD rose continuously until Globex close. I wonder what will happen when they find that the GLD vault is full of paper instead of Au?
delicious! the other guy implied a "trap"
the trap won't shut unless their next step is to squeeze the motherfucking daylight out of these gold shorts
that could be a phenomenal run when shorties are covering and blow the lights out on Wall Street
If you can't answer the question clearly, you are the one with the defict. Perhaps you can borrow some understanding.
But for the moment, the American people are feeling really good.
Oh really? I thought #5 was "consumer confidence collapses"? Are those two statements supposed to be compatible in the author's mind? Not in mine!
As for me, I'm converting the little fiat I have into physical gold, silver, platinum this weekend while the prices are locked in by the close of the markets. I doubt we'll ever seen $1480 again, once the price rises above $1500 again. No way Chinese aren't gonna back up the truck at these prices. In fact, it is possible that this manipulated take-down with paper instruments will finally cause the disconnection of paper-gold and physical-gold. Eventually that's gotta happen.
PS: One nasty possibility is this. Things are going down the tubes, and war is the usual response to distract [and maybe even rally] the masses. And when that happens, they tend to create a crash price in gold just before war, and tell all their insiders to "load up". Then as soon as the war starts, the gold price rockets higher, and all the predator-insiders get very rich, very quick.
While I strongly advocate owning gold and silver, it would be foolish to believe that it cannot drop below 1480. Especially when you look at the overall market and know that this will end badly. And when the bottom falls out of the stock market, gold and silver will get taken lower.
I doubt we will see gold below $1000 and silver below $10...But I can easily see them getting pushed down to $1250 and $15. That would be a terrific buy opportunity.
Remember, those that are driving the price of Gold and Silver lower have the power to print an infinite amount of dollars out of thin air to help them accomplish their task.
Exactly correct. They can create unlimited fiat, and they can buy unlimited short positions on gold. And maybe they can drive the price of paper and physical gold down to $1200 per ounce --- for a while.
But at some point this force will cause the price of physical gold and paper gold to head in opposite directions. If the predators apply too much pressure on paper gold too quickly, physical gold for delivery simply becomes unavailable at anywhere near paper prices. Then physical gold takes off, and paper gold goes down... at which point holders of paper instruments will likely sell all their paper instruments and buy physical gold. You can imagine what happens to the price of physical gold when that happens!
But yes, it could happen. But I still don't care, and I don't even care to bottom fish for $1250 gold, because more likely I'd end up holding onto this worthless fiat, fake, fraud, fiction, fantasy, fractional-reserve predator-supporting toilet-paper and have to convert to gold at a higher-than $1480 price, rather than lower-than $1480 price.
Bottom fishing is fun, but if you wait for too low a bottom, you never catch any fish. I'm latching onto my next load of fish right here!
the problem with your Zh position is that people around the world will sell the paper gold for physicall but people around the world have NO acess to Physicall....
EVERYONE HERE SEEMS TO THINk the world ends outside us or uk borders.
There is no acess to gold or silver in MOST countries worldwide.
Which is a good thing!
Also true. Not everyone around the world can buy physical gold easily. But they can in China and India, and in case you haven't noticed, they're huge population countries AND have the greatest appetite for gold.
So yes, you're correct, the demand for physical would be greater if everyone could buy physical gold easily, but that won't stop the demand for physical from increasing, and eventually consuming all available physical gold. That day is coming, and when it does, physical gold will skyrocked no matter what paper gold does.
I agree. I am looking to load up on silver in the 20 range, give or take $2.
Save ur ammo. Buy gold around 1200, + or - 100.
I would buy more gold but I'm running out of fiat ammo, I'm already all in. There's little I can do but hold tight and take it.
And take it I will.
They are messing with the wrong guy.
13) Kim Kardashian fails to get settlement in divorce case. (http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/04/12/no-settlement-reached-in...).
Her tits are great....what are we talking about?
But rocks in a moo moo.
And up next, Hunger Games!
John Kerry says NK will not be accepted as a nuclear power. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/04/2013412104841148236.html
As far as I know, NK has nukes, so does half of this paranoid world.
What does "acceptance" have to do with it?
They either have them or they don't. This won't be like Iraq.
More diversion for the deception.
I don't wanna die too loud. I don't wanna die in a crowd. I don't wanna die too proud. Have a nice day, mushroom cloud.
THE FIRST HORSEMAN SPEAKS
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/12/opinion/krugman-lust-for-gold.html?src...
Paul Krugjew himself bashes gold in a NY Times post essentially saying: "You Sheeple now know that Gold goes down; Don't buy Gold (hehehe)"
Crookman is a shill for failed politics, and hateful men who fund his eCONomics. They own him, and he will say anything to buy into their shower, for his profit; typical nazi. AshkeNAZI who uses jew and gentile, and everyone else.
The Rothschild zionism aided by 'educated fools' and 'useful idiots' like Krugman are a very new thing in this USA, aided by Rockefellers and their ilk who privatise profits and socialise losses.
Oh God, newengland, don't read the comments. Ok...I won't stop you, but you'll want to puke during the reading. These people are doomed.
"Meanwhile, the modern world’s closest equivalent to the classical gold standard is the euro...."
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That brought me a legitimate moment of laughing out loud.
Fuck Krugman and the bullshit academic wagon he came in on...
I seriously hope that Paul Krugman has a farm in Paraguay and a way to get there, because before this is all over and done with, he's definitely going to need it. Just keep on whistling, Paul!
there is a false flag scheduled soon for a theater near you.
sell in may and go away will have extra special meaning this year. the banks may have done well. real estate may have finally reached price equilibrium but a billion of the wealthiest people on earth are broke. walmart and the rest of the retailers have given implied warnings. gasoline consumption is still on a cliff dive. airlines are cutting routes going into the summer season. europe is a basket case.
we need war and we need it now. c'mon l'l kim! save the west and lob a firecracker over tokyo!
I hate that you're right.
Prepare for the Worst: Celente on 2013
Gerald Celente breaks down the looming financial crisis and how to prepare for what's to come.
http://homment.com/jHTBQnDGS4
MF Global stole his money, and he's a trend thinker? He ran with dogs, and got flees, and fleeced.
The sharks are killing each other. Good.
he couldn't predict his own financial crisis, now could he?
All is we need now is a tax on the tax of a tax which shall then be taxed and attached to that will be the tax on that.......
The UK does that.
You have the pleasure of paying Value Added Tax on the duty the government applies to the fuel.
It makes me warm inside to know the government can add so much value to petrol.
21:00PST The MtGox pentium server is down again and Mr and Mrs have already headed to bed.
Why would anyone want to invest in a currency where a single person can arbitrarily decide to suspend trading in that currency at any time?
Ummm, there isn't. There are several exchanges, and a peer-to-peer local exchange system. The only way to effectively suspend trading is to shut down the internet. That may be possible, but it is highly unlikely. Personally, I am working on a system to trade them over Ham radio. (kidding)