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Bill Buckler Presents The Four Horsemen Of The (Financial) Apocalypse
As usual, "The Privateer" author Bill Buckler does a great job at summarizing a complicated, and quite terminal, situation in a few short sentences. Today is one of those occasions.
The Four Harbingers Of The Apocalypse:
There are four indicators today which show as clearly as anything can be shown the state of our global debt-based monetary and financial system. Any one of them alone should be all the evidence one needs that the system is unsustainable. Put them together and much more than the canary is singing.
- First, the most popular (measured by its nominal “value”) investment vehicle today is a combination of a bet that sovereign debt will go bankrupt and an “insurance policy” that if/when it does, the holders of the debt paper will be made whole. These are called “credit default swaps” or CDSs, conceived in the early 1990s and unleashed on the investment world shortly thereafter. The total of CDSs outstanding doubled every year from 2003 to 2007. This growth paused in 2008 - early 2009 and then exploded again with the onset of “quantitative easing”.
- The second indicator is the mere fact that it is now universally accepted in the investment world that the only “safe” government debt is one issued by a government whose central bank has demonstrated its willingness to print money.
- The third indicator is the fact that the “sovereign debt crisis” hype is focussed exclusively on Europe in a desperate attempt to prevent the discovery that everybody is in the same boat.
- And the fourth and last is Gold. On the paper markets, the price of Gold can and is being manipulated. Beyond Gold’s price appreciation is the ever increasing global demand for physical Gold and the fact that central banks throughout Europe and Asia are ADDING to their supply.
The worse the situation gets, the more dangerous becomes a “promise to pay” which relies on nothing except a central bank’s ability and willingness to PRINT. In these circumstances, the last paper asset standing will be the “money” - the actual CASH money - itself. Everywhere today, cash is king. But that old saying comes from an era when there were still limits on how much of it governments could create. Those limits have long since been removed. For REAL markets - you need REAL money.
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One word really says it all.
Insurance.
Aka The Pox upon man.
ORI
the-plan/
We are currently in the end of the game time of monopoly. You remember when you would play monopoly and reach the inevitable point where one person has the majority of the property and cash while the rest of the players have very little property and cash. The player with everything wants the game to keep going so they will usually offer a loan to the person who lands on their property but cannot pay the bill. This continues on until there is absolutely no way for the poor people to pay back any loans since they have mortgaged everything.
Face it, the rich do not and will not let the game start over. They have far too much wealth. They are the ones that make the rules. The game will continue on for as long as possible. There are so many players that the game doesn't have to end anytime soon. In the event that a new monopoly game is started, it will be under the guise of a new currency which allows for the rich to maintain their wealth while everyone else gets a momentary hand up only to be caught in the inevitable debt burden which will be impossible to walk away from.
They already made this into a movie...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLoB1eCJ93k&feature=player_embedded
Edit: I am registered to host a screening of this film in my small town. Those of you who haven't given up completely on the 'sheeple' near you should do the same. When the day comes, they will taste much better to me knowing I tried to save them.
F*ck Stiglitz.
Impressive line-up in that trailer. Thanks, I'll be watching for it!
Come on Tyler, another message that THE DAMN SKY IS FALLING.
Steve Keen has just finished telling us that THE SKY HAS ALREADY FALLEN and we just don't know it yet.
Oh, and the price of gold is not being manipulated by some large international conspiracy.
Come on Rat,... but the sky IS falling.
Ignore it at your peril.
wouldn't it be the canary's dead and it's the fat lady singing? niggling.
I don't know I am pretty sure Monkeys like Bananas!
now thats a statement we can ALL agree with right?
now thats a statement we can ALL agree with right?
""Zero Hedge, man, he makes my head hurt" was a typical comment from my Wall Street sources."
8 Rules of U.S. Government Spending
1. You do not use the word Default.
2. You DO NOT use the word Default.
3. If a law must be "broken," bent, or simply ignored to spend more money it is.
4. Only two Political Parties to a fight.
5. One Debt Ceiling increase at a time please.
6. No economic growth, no problem.
7. The Fed will print money for as long as it has too.
8. If this is your first time in Congress, you HAVE to raise the Debt Ceiling.
this is good!!!!!! lets keep this going
12. If we do not get the CPI numbers we want, we will change the formula.
13. Unemployment numbers, see point 12.
9. Never talk of unfunded liabilities (which are $116.6 trillion and growing at $6.5 trillion a year)
10. There is no war we cannot fund. Those are off budget.
11. What trillions in GSE liabilities? They are off budget too.
10.1) There is no war into which the USA can enter, no matter how blatantly aggressively or unnecessarily, that cannot be labeled "defensive".
RULE #14
If a government is "broke" or goes bankrupt the debt game is not over.there should be a CONTEST for who has the best "RULES OF FIGHT CLUB" => "RULES OF DEBT CLUB"
FIRST RULE --you never talk about debt
RIGHT. You talk about credit, and how important it is.
The 10 Rules of Fractional Reserve Banking
1) You do not talk about fractional reserve banking.
2) Gold is a traditional, barbaric relic that you can't eat, while fiatski BernankBux are a a refined modernity that are nutritous and satisfying.
3) You will memorize the secret text Zen & The Art of Printing Press Maintenance.
4) If inflation is surging, tell the media that it's not, but if it ever does, you'll mop it up in 15 minutes, guaranteed.
5) Hedonic adjustments & the birth-death model: Know them and learn to love them.
6) If consumption falls due to a shitty economy (that your policies inevitably help create), try to inflate prices through insane policies that disort markets further, so that you can claim that GDP is still growing (or not falling as fast, at least).
7) Never allow anyone to claim that economics is actually fairly simple, and viciously rebut such talk by claiming that economics is one of mankind's most difficult endeavors, and only a select few are intelligent enough to understand the dangers of sovereign nations printing their own money, interest free, and then add some very confusing and inconclusive studies that purport to show that what you just said is theoretically possible.
8) Always be mindful of who you truly work for, in the very odd case that the notion of trying to help the economy ever does begin to seep into your conscience.
9) Talk about transparency often while building even more opaqueness into the already very mysterious fractional reserve banking racketeering syndicate. Every central banker has an inherent duty to leave office with the public and imbecilic politicians even more confused about your role than they were when your predecessor left his post.
10) Who put the CON in CONfidence, eCONomy, and monetary policy CONtrol? You did, bitch. Own it.
THE RULES OF THE ELITE
1st RULE: You do not talk about the "elite".
2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about POWER.
3rd RULE: If someone says "corrupt" or mentions morality, speaks the truth - the conversation is over.
4th RULE: Only two POOR guys to a fight. - the elite dont fight - just Win
5th RULE: One currency change at a time.
6th RULE: No power, no money - no point.
7th RULE: Elite will stay in power as long as the "others" let us.
8th RULE: If this is your first time in the ELITE CLUB, you HAVE to pay upfront.
"THE RULES OF THE ELITE"
Executive Summary: Heads I win; Tails, you lose.
"3rd RULE: If someone says "corrupt" or mentions morality..."
Point out that all things are Relative then vigorously challenge the questioner as to his right to play JUDGE! [rinse/repeat]
This must be read by everyone. Prepare accordingly.
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/italy-next-week
Why the IMF was created and how it works
The IMF, also known as the “Fund,” was conceived at a United Nations conference convened in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, in July 1944. The 44 governments represented at that conference sought to build a framework for economic cooperation that would avoid a repetition of the vicious circle of competitive devaluations that had contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
maybe this is a NEW Brenton woods weekend (was a long weekend)
I didn't offer loans, I took blowjobs from the pretty girls and I took the pieces' daughters into my off-board stable
Perfect description of the real life game. I take my hat off to you.
Historically, the game ends when the other players kill the guy with all the money.
The game is over when the guillotine comes out.
- Jean Paul Marat
If the one word "Insurance" you intend to be synonymous with the one word "Gold", then my one word for you is "Absofuckinlutelyright"!
Riddle me this then Bazinga, why has gold been dropping since the beginning of September?
Nothing goes up in a straight line. You go right ahead, cling to your dollars. I'm hedging with metal and physical dollars in my possesion. Good luck at the ATM.
Gold may be the only thing left to sell at a profit. Everything else would have to be sold at a loss, and that don't feed the bulldog.
Ron Paul will surprise to the upside and begin chipping away at mainstream political boundaries and support. This potential is undiscounted in the markets (simply because at this point, it looks impossible). In the end, he will be a viable challenger for the ticket, or even decisively win.
Watch it happen over the next weeks and months.
Incidentally, I would not interpret this as gold positive. I would view it at USD positive.
Riddle me this VE, why did it drop 30% in 2008 and then double ???
By "dropping" do you mean a healthy consolidation?
You talking paper or physical?
what, does "physical" still cost you 1900 FRNs or something?
STFU with this nonsense
Because when the banks are broke the price of gold must fall as well. We saw this in 2008. Not true with oil because countries have to have that to kill that other country that just bought their gold fair and square.
Thank you! I was looking for a real discussion like they used to have on this board, not bunch of Ron Paulina's with idiotic one liners.
**
Because the central bankers et al are buying. TPTB always bring down what they want to buy.
None of the drops since 2008 have even touched the bottom of the channel. Look at some 5 and 10 year charts to see the trajectory. But you won't bother because your a troll.
**
Is that you,Dr Krugman?
you haven't heard?
scientists recently bioengineered a chimera virus contagious enough to wipe out half of humanity.
http://rt.com/news/bird-flu-killer-strain-119/
ghost protocol: wipe out huge human populations from bio-engineered virus to eradicate the mob.
I think thats how they will control the population. Who will get the vaccine? The useless eaters, because they make good slaves? Or the more intelligent people who make better slaves, but could become a threat? You can be sure there will be a vaccine to protect TPTB.
The vaccine won't work. It will be part of the plan... those who get it will be the expendible.
Try looking at how well it worked last "pandemic". Or how well it works each year on the seasonal flu.
It doesn't. But it makes a LOT of money.
#WinTheFuture
the proles aren't a threat (that means YOU are), they aren't even considered human. hedge accordingly.
LLoyd AssFeind for president!
http://www.salon.com/2011/11/26/goldman_sachs_announces_presidential_run/
wooot! finally it's out in the open!
no more proxy candidates. now we can stop pretending.
.....if only it were true....
oh well back to dancing with naked midgets on ice idol.
and at least there are 3 SOLD OUT NBA games on xmass day! woo hooo! AMERIKKKA FTW!
I guess some scientists were tired of waiting for the H and N genetic variables to shift naturally like slot machines, knowing that one day the H5N1 that would be THE killer strain would eventually hit.
This would really mess with that Facebook IPO.
except slot machines aren't random, they are programmed, so it's not that these "scientists" couldn't wait, it's that they are socio-psychopathic pseuodo-cultists. like say jay robert oppenheimer. or a myriad of others cognitively and with full intent clueless and compartmentalized. administrative evil. just doing my jawwwb, if someone chooses to weaponize it ain't my fault, i juss a scientiss. genes don't shuffle like slot machines. but i get your point.
Good point, Gangland. I guess I sometimes think of researchers locked in their labs, removed from the geopolitical realities of the world and thus, the ramifications of what their work will mean. That's not likely, as you accurately point out. Not in this day and age. And if that is their excuse, they are stupid.
And they are DEBATING whether or not to publish the recipe??????????????????
Stop the fucking planet. Time for me and mine to get off.
The influenza was the last great pandemic...it will be the next.
These scientists will kill all of us it seems. This virus makes anthrax look so benign you might snort it like cocaine
Last week everybody was going to starve because of peak oil , but this week its those evil scientists.
Bolivian solamente for me mang
Influenza strains are more resistant to the currently avaiable antivirals with each cycle. As I understand it, there aren't really many great new antivirals in the pipeline so alternatives are combination therapy, more aggressive dosing and IV or intramuscular dosing. I recommend ProMed.com, if you're interested in tracking H5N1. It's like zerohedge for emerging infectious diseases.
Those frigging scientists can't leave anything alone.
In gold we trust.
so since bill buckler let that ground ball roll between his legs he's become the go-to guy on all things disaster?
i'd like a second opinion from scott norlood if possible...
Thought we were talking about spam... guess gold will do.
Can one buy a CDS on a CDS?
No. But you can buy CDS on yourself when you know that you are going to default one way or another... so... um ... there's that to look forward to.
Enjoy
You can buy VIX vegas (volatility of volatility) so I don't see why not.
Yes
I bought a CDS from MF Global on MF Global.
My MF Gobal bond did not work out, but the trustee had me fill out some paperwork and has assured me that in time they will adress my CDS contract,and, I will get it and get it good.
No.
CDS is actually just another vehicle for fleecing.
The fact that the derivative market is growing towards a QUADRILLION should make your capital butt pucker.
I guess quintillion will slip into the parlance sooner than anticipated.
The BIS reported on two separate accountings, one for exchange traded derivatives and another for non-exchange trade derivates. The total of the two was $1.4 quadrillion dollars. Jim Sinclair pointed this out to illustrate how impossible it is that the banks could survive this flood of liability or ever pay these contracts off. Someday, cash will only be defined in relation to gold.
RE: " CDS is actually just another vehicle for fleecing."
Serious question, what is the commission payout on CDS instruments? When I was a bond trader, we would get them from the "Bond Desk" and mark them up a half, or, one to two points etc. But they had already marked them up from the price at which they bought them.
A more accurate question, might be to ask what is the typical spread between the bid and the ask. Since they are not traded on a regulate exchange, that information is difficult for me to get? Anyone?
Hate to break it you, but the CDS isn't magic. It too is a "promise to pay" that could very well be worthless if 1) the CDS issuer is bankrupt or 2) the "Powers that Be" declare that no soverign default has occurred (even when it obviously has). Unfortunately, all hedges are subject to politics and promises--even gold (which the Government could outlaw tomorrow).
Quite true, we saw this in the first financial crisis. The wave that took out Merrill was th secondary wave of insuraance that was supposed to come from bankrupt insurers. ANd currently, it is the reason that there is no "netting" of exposure in Europe to anyone who is sane...Your exposure is the amount of bonds you hold, regardless of how much offsetting "insurance" you have purchased...there is no hedge in CDS, as all counterparties are bankrupt under the maximum fallout scenario.
i had close friends at ML during the collapse.
the gist of the game is really this - i think greece is going under. i buy cds from CP (counterparty) xyz - for $x paying 60 bps fee for 10 years.
next day - rumor in my favor. i SELL cds to CP abc for $x (notice same notional) receiving 65 bps for 10 years.
i'm a g-damn financial engineering genius. notional nets each other out - and i'm getting FREE 5 bps for 10 years on $x.
make $x some large amount.
in reality the whole thing is out of control for the following reason.
1 - as the rumors shift, i just keep laying on more and more bets (oops - sorry - i meant positions). i'm a trader. what do i do all day - trade in and out.
2 - marks don't mean a thing in reality.
3 - the biggest lie is assuming every counterparty exists tomorrow to pay each defaulted bet in full. just not going to happen, which is why GS was able to get 80 billion pumped into aig to make it as whole as possible.
blah - blah- blah. whatever. i know where this is headed, just not sure when. timing is everything.
it might take a long time - but there will be a lot of tears, and it won't all be from walmart shoppers. sorry to say that.
Just a technical clarification, but AIG has received in excess of 180 billion taxpayer dollars (so it could pay Goldman, JP Morgan, etc. on its derivative bets).
ooh, a second derivative, negative, no doubt !
Not unless you also buy insurance for both.
Yes. How much money do you have? For a fee of say...a billion dollars...I'll write one on this napkin I have here and....
And if you'll buy that from disabledvet, I have a unicorn for sale, I'll work you a deal you can't refuse!
'The third indicator is the fact that the “sovereign debt crisis” hype is focussed exclusively on Europe in a desperate attempt to prevent the discovery that everybody is in the same boat.'
If by 'everybody' you mean US and UK then yes.
Is there any source to the claim that European central banks are increasing their gold holdings? China, Russia, yes. But Europe? I hadn't heard that one.
if you were a CB in this world, what would YOU be doing?
Everything I could to prevent a triggering event!
buying us treasurys? :)
or maybe BAC shares. C is hoping for more investors from singapore.
if you were a CB in this world, what would YOU be doing? putting my head between my legs and kissing my ass good buy.
A better question would be; How does a CB know when they are fucked?
When they look into the heart of the plan they realize it's a very complicated plan. I love it when a plan comes together.
One sentence says it all:
*This is why there's such urgency to get emerging economies hooked on consumer/business/government borrowing - the Fiat Masters behind the fractional reserve banking racket need a greater base of debt slaves, just as Rome had to keep expanding, for survival.
I'm dusting off a classic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IymklQKT-lc
agree. Funny how such a simple concept can disrupt the whole show. Problem is that we are all connected to it, I personally feel the wild card is what we assume 'value' is for anything. I think they are messing with the entire concept of 'value' and that will involve us all in an uncomfortable way. I think my house is worth about X, and I have X investments and X in the bank...those amounts are in flux but I generally know what they are. The system teetering puts all that in question.
Boy.....
Sure lucky they sell Credit Deault Swaps.
They seem like the safest thing going these days......
Ha.ha......suckers.....
If your the ECB....
"Safe" government debt is about more than any central bank's willingness to print. It is about having a military to back it up.
indeed,... should the planes ever be made of balsam wood - boats from papier`mache, or tin-hat soldiers of plastic?
who's gonna pay, when the entire world now knows america is busted!
"It is about having a military to back it up."
And a real economy to pay for the military. This was easier when the USA was the world's largest creditor nation.
How long can more deficits and debt be piled onto the world's largest debtor nation financed by printing and borrowing ?
Are we going to do the Berlin Airlift into Afghanistan ? To fly in fuel to keep the MIC going ?
Our drones are the equivalent of the hired mercenaries Rome paid for, after Roman society became fat, lazy, and corrupted ?
Killing from a distant while the Masters eat grapes and defile whores is not what keeps a nation together.
Trust is lost and it is not coming back.
yeah, let's kill our way to solvency.
Our credit is good at the Bamboo Lounge because we are a fucking mobster who will kill the proprietor? How long can a Mafia State really last before someone crazy offs it?
Oh, shit, 911 couldn't have been...it was just crazy muslims who hate our "freedoms," maybe they meant our freedom to bomb them and kill their children.
I try to tell people this over and over. The argument is "They will take our FRN's because we have the biggest military so they have no choice" But we only have the biggest military BECAUSE of the FRN ponzi scheme.
When the world does not want FRN's, with what will we buy the oil to fuel our "biggest military"?? The bigger the military, the bigger the cost to keep it running. The faster the military grows, the faster the consumption, therefore faster the fiat printing.
But people want to believe that this time its different: this time the empire will last forever (because we have the oil, we have the reserve currency, because we have the military)
The trend is your friend, until its not.
Kayman, the truth is not lost. The truth will come back around and hit these empire-worshippers square between the eyes.
You can run water over your hand to make it worse... or you can print money to neutralize the burn.
The Horsemen are drawing nearer. On the leather steeds they ride. They have come to take your life.
lock up your wife and children now
it's time to wield the blade...
viva metallica!
Viva Metallica
No. The canary stopped singing and has begun experiencing severe respiratory difficulties.
The canary is done singing and the fat lady has died.
Ditto for Tinkerbell: you can clap 'til you're slap-happy; it won't get you anywhere.
There's no place like home; there's no place like home; there's no place like home.*
*Terms and Conditions: Unless you have a MERS mortgage.
If the canary is singing.
That would put the fat lady in the coal mine!
APOCALYPSE NOW, BITCHEZ
I love the smell of burning banks in the morning.
It smells like liberty.
the purpose of the central is to provide TIME for the economies of the world to heal from their injuiries, you are so good at looking the problems you forget the solutions
obviously, the problem is the solution,... if only we could remove all the trees from the forest
james85306
"yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus" said the criminal banker, as he sat her on his knee...
Offer us your solution, what do you do with the gangrene in the banking and political body ? I am listening...
It seems to me that there are far more than 4 horsemen of the apocalypse if you factor in unfunded liabilities, trigger happy armies, troubling demographics and corrupt politicians.
A damn cavalry for sure....
You will pay the price for your belief that the US does not and cannot arrange the world to suit itself. Part of that price will be your slavish belief in gold as your saviour.
Rule Britannia! Oh, wait a minute...
What is the ECB waiting for? Maybe European banks should buy European debt and sell European CDS and then the ECB can print a few trillion. European banks will make several hundred billion if not a trillion overnight solving their insolvency problem. In an insane market, only insane tactics work
My favorite example of total failure of the government and the economy is that the Federal debt increased $4 trillion since Obama took office and housing (the recipient of loan mods, bailouts (Fannie, Freddie, etc) has produced A FLAT HOUSING MARKET AT BEST. But look at the FHFA home purchase price index. To quote Springsteen, "We're going down, down, down."
http://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com/
$4 trillion of new debt and all we have are these flat housing market t-shirts.
*Note: this problem was a runaway locomotive from before 2009 and Obama (see 2008 under Bush). It's just that nothing much has happended since 2009.
This is by design.
Some will claim it's a conspiracy theory to even suggest this, but those in the inner sanctum actually admit this from time to time.
Our entire economic system now inherently depends on more people and business and governments borrowing larger and larger batches of debt, in order to perpetuate economic activity, or else it all comes crashing down (this actually can be proven by the use of basic arithmetic).
Here's just one of many example of someone I'd consider in the inner circle basically admitting this recently:
-- Larry Summers
Quote Of The Week | ZeroHedgeWhat we need as a real solution to what ails us is to take the pain of a quick purge of a deleveraging of the toxic debt (much in the way of distorted prices of all asset classes, whereby many shareholders, bond holders, counterparties on derivatives, etc., wehereby these people are being 'floated' by government raping of taxpayers - which is actually fractional reserve banking parasitim of sovereign nations and their citizenry, essentially) by forcing haircuts all around (which would entail the government not trying to save shareholders, bond holders, payees on derivatives [think AIG's creditors in 2008], as the government is borrowing with the burden on the taxpayers to try and save select classes of asset holders), and get back to an honest economic system that isn't dependent on the fraud that is fractional reserve banking (i.e. conjuring fiat from thin air, and then loaning said worthless fiat out to governments, businesses and consumers, leveraging the base of the loans hundreds of times higher, and then inducing boom-bust cycles via monetary policy).
The central problem of my lying, cheating, and stealing, Ironically, is it can only be solved by more lying, cheating, and stealing.
There. Fixed it for ya Larry.
Have another swill from the punch bowl.
huh? Summers was correct.
In fact I defended him and have explained to the cretins around here many times how what he is saying is true.
We live in a system of exponential growth and ONLY MORE GROWTH can "solve" the problem.
Look, man, you people with your idiotic notions of "raycism" and equity and all of this aren't going to like what "sustainable" means.
Are you REALLY going to work so africans can wolf down half of what you yield or are you finally gonna let them die?
Therein lies the problem. You can't print confidence, and without confidence, there are no borrowers or lenders. The market participants are losing confidence, or have already lost it, and there's no way to get it back without wholesale restructuring. There will be another game, but this one's just about over.
"There will be another game"
.......the form of this new game is the unknown that keeps me awake at night. Desperate politicians, frantically thinking up new rules to a new game, has not been the best result throughout history. When the game that requires confidence is over, the game that uses force in the place of confidence usually follows.
The central irony of a Ponzi scheme is that while it is caused by borrowing, lending and continually finding new money...it can only be continued by borrowing, lending, and continually finding new money.
Debt is fine and dandy as long as the currency accompanying it is backed by gold.
Interesting fact is, that you could see that something's wrong with the U.S. housing and credit market, even by sitting in your mom's basement and playing videogames all day long, as early as in 2005.
Radio commercial "American Bank of Los Santos" (Grand Theft Auto San Andreas):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoh4W459oY4&feature=related
To obvious. It won't happen until AFTER we go nigh, night.
Sell the spike.
"If we all do it, we can't get into trouble".
That's behind horseman #3,The third indicator is the fact that the “sovereign debt crisis” hype is focussed exclusively on Europe in a desperate attempt to prevent the discovery that everybody is in the same boat.'
Seems that money masters never evolved since kindergarten. When things implode again they can retreat behind high-intensity security fences and let everyone else blame one another
Well, I'm trying to write a screenplay entitled "The Last Bagholder," but I can't fill the the leading role. So far, everyone has turned down the part and then some upstart little character that I created, Greece, wants to rewrite the script and tell everyone else in the script to go fuck themselves and their debt. So now I'm doing a rewrite where there is a debtor's revolt and the powerful warlord creditors are shitting a brick. Needs more work and I don't have an ending.
Frankie Cokeupthenozza
Already been done. See "No Country for Old Men."
The Simpsons already did it
>90% of the gold I've invested in is in the form of physical ETF's PHYS and SGOL. I recently added about 10% in UGL (2X bullion ETF) to leverage my belief
in the long term direction of gold. Other than possible decrements in bullion price what other risk does this 2X ETF expose me to? Thanks for your opinions.
Leveraged ETFs are subject to daily rebalancing which causes their value to decay over time even if the price of the underlying asset does not change very much. Here's how it works:
You have 1 share of UGL at $100. Tomorrow, gold goes up by 10% so your UGL goes up to $120. The day after tomorrow, gold goes down to the same price it is today- which, in this case, would be a drop of 9.0909% from tomorrow's price. UGL goes down by 18.1818% from tomorrow's close of $120. So, after two days of no net change in gold, your share of UGL ends up at 98.1818. The more volatility, the more your leveraged ETFs slowly bleed away. Short ETFs work the same way. For this reason, the leveraged and short ETFs are intended for daytrading only, not for investing.
ETFs are also vulnerable to naked shorting, confiscation for "national security", a pestilence of lawyers, civil forfeiture, strategic bankruptcy of one of their many counterparties, windfall taxation of your "capital gains" when it was really the dollar that plummeted, greedy exes, the clearinghouse being sacked by goblins, etc. Really, it comes down to this: Is it harder to steal an ETF these days than it is to steal physical? I think not. P.S. I didn't junk you.
was intended as reply to socratic dog.
the vaccine will be a muted virus which doesn't effect the host negatively at first, but spreads to others, so while people think they have been treated they are only in the first phase of the disease, so they spread it unknowingly.
dupe
... the only “safe” government debt is one issued by a government whose central bank has demonstrated its willingness to print money.
Indeed. There will be a massive run into euro-country-bonds if the ECB steps in. Yields plunge. A dump of worthless CDS's too.
http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=BE#/watch?v=_qzz25fCHH4
Very good interview!
- Bernanke
- Merkel
- IMF
- ECB
http://www.offgridminds.com/blog/2011/11/27/international-bankers-none-d...
How is it, that while individuals can be true geniuses, mankind has proven itself to be incredibly stupid, destructive, insane, and ultimately suicidal? ...I need more vodka...
Try looking at it from the side with all the money. It may not seem that bad if you can just fly off into the sunset and forget anything going on "down there".
Paging Colonel Kurtz. Paging Colonel Walter E Kurtz. Please pick up a white courtesy phone.
EDIT: This global financial clusterfuck is what happens when entire governments go off the reservation, aided and abetted by big money and a complacent "citizenry".
I've been wondering if ZH is going to endorse any Presidential Candiates this election cycle. I realize the Tylers post positive things about Ron Paul but I'm also curious if there will be any kind of official endorsement for any candidate. It's a widely read website by a mostly intelligent and I would assume affluent audience so an endorsement would be interesting.
If however ZH wished to remain, for the most part politically apathetic, I would certainly understand as to avoid disenfranchising various aspects of it's readership.
Eitherway best website on the internet for a broad stroke of current events and analysis hands down.
I hope they do endorse. Why not. It's a free country......isn't it?
Seems to me that anyone who reads what has been on ZH to date, they should already have a pretty good idea what type of political corruption got us into this mess. They should be able to look at the candidates and see them for what they are.
I think their endorsement would have power, but I think that the truth they've been telling for years now is sufficient information for most people to figure out what type of candidate we really need.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8871784/Universal-flu-vacci...
Already invented
Bank run bitchez!
libertarian86.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5beTy9SnkU
Been doing a small amount of research: you should really look up the 38 young business leaders of the EU via the German / USA think tanks that are going on. (Hint: Kissinger is one of the leaders of at least one of them, 150mil DM created one of them, and so on -- need links? I'll happily provide them if you ask nicely. I also love how members of the Koch clan are heading research into EU dominion. You can also hit the Black Sea Balkan Russian Bank investment fund into Greece that is owed ~$120 mil at this point as well for a twist into why Greece & Turkey are getting slammed atm). Hint: Member of business Bloomberg Switzerland is a member. Oh, and he has a comb over and a paunch. Sad by the age of 38, and no-one has told him he's a fucking patsy not invited to the nice parties. What a huge 'leader' he is. This shit is so easy to map onto networks because everyone justifies their pay by nice PDF files at conferences.
Dilemma: Can you operate such networks openly when you're open to data mining so easily? Of course: you ignore the plebs. Problem is -- humans have the 1% chance of being better than algos at pattern mapping.
The idea that Germany and the USA are at war is merely a discussion over who shoulders the pain first. Trilateral commission is co-sponsoring these 'playas' with a fund from the German government that is in place "to thank the USA for the Marshall plan". Via Bloomberg. Switzerland. The other 37 are far more interesting, but I'm offering up this tiny morsel to show that your financial news is... driven by ideology, not Capital.
Anon hit list is collecting info and creating a global collective consciousness.
Oh, and....
We Wear the Mask
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
Paul Lawrence Dunbar.
Get the fuck out of my dreams if you pollute them by coming with stupid misconceptions and primitive thinking, and worse still - giving judgement without knowledge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKXKWBcaV3A
p.s. All data in this post has been slightly non-Googlfied so that you have to do a bit of work.
and in news just in...anyone born from 1966 onwards will live to 100, so inisurance companies will soon double the cost of annuities for all those who thought they would be able to retire when they were 65 and live to 85
the biggest fraud of all (rip-off annutiy rates that don;t pay a minimum of 5% x the real life expectancy rate of 85, or 20 years = 100% of your pension pot) is about to get bigger when your annuity rate is just 3%, meaning if you want 600 bucks a week when you retire you will need $1m fiat dollars..
keep in mind that the last three years of your life as a gasping and drooling goldfish will require health care costs of $2,500 a week ($125,000 a year) in todays dollars. good luck with that when you are 82. at the rate inflation is going in health care costs that will have to be inflated at 5% per annum over the next 20 years or $330,000 of todays fiat dollars.
just how do you protect gold when you are a gasping dribbler and need it most?
this is what the treasury issues debt for, to take account of the "low balled" estimated costs of providing for people who simply can't afford either the 20 years of life expectancy plus the balloon of the intensive care at the end.
just wait til those born after 1966 need to retire at what...75?...need 25 years of funding (minimum 4% annuity rate) and then 3 years of intensive geriatric care.
those in the financial system who seek to divert wealth into their own pockets are reducing the ability of the economy to take care of itself.
oh and let's not talk about the care needed to keep people obese!
Soylent green, problem solved.
Luv
Thimmey
im so slow...took me eons to realise that wasn't solvent green
We have to kill credit default swaps. Kill them until they are completely and utterly dead. Chop their little heads off, make the owners of them asphyxiate on their own vomit.
I love the smell of burning FRN's and stock certificates in the morning - It reminds me of - Victory, Bitchez!