solvency

The number one reason to own gold is that we're not experiencing a liquidity crisis. We're experiencing a global solvency crisis.

What does that mean and what's the difference?

A liquidity crisis is provoked by a temporary mis-allocation of capital which provokes a knee jerk fear based response from the public. It is solved by dumping capital into the affected areas, calming the markets and then redirecting future capital more productively. For example: your broker dumps your portfolio into "structured products." You suddenly need cash but can't raise any because all you money is locked up. But you still have a good job and relatively low debt burden. You're just in a temporary liquidity crisis. You borrow some money and pay it back when you're structured products mature.

A solvency crisis is provoked by excessive debt. Debt service keeps the debt growing and simultaneously sucks productive capital out of the system. When debt levels rise beyond the reasonable expectation of ever being paid down - the affected system eventually collapses. That is the solution. In time a new more efficient entity replaces the old dead entity. That is the basis of all capitalism. For example: You borrow ten million dollars to buy a mansion. The real estate market collapses, your house is worth 1 million, you owe ten million and you lose your job. This is a solvency crisis. You solve it by declaring bankruptcy, and starting over.

The global banking system is insolvent. Central Banks have bailed out large member banks but the central banks and the governments they represent are all holding far more debt than they can ever hope to repay. They can manage this situation for a long time by creating ever more debt and absorbing bad debt from the weakest balance sheets onto the strongest balance sheets. For example Germany can absorb Greece's debt, as long as they don't mind becoming insolvent themselves when Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Italy demand the same treatment.

But eventually everyone goes bust, and is forced to start over. As that happens gold becomes the de facto currency of last resort. We are in this process now. That's why gold has moved from 300 dollars an ounce to 1600. Not because of "speculation" but because central banks are protecting their sovereign states by purchasing a debt free currency. Yes, gold is correcting now. So use this opportunity. Because global insolvency is insoluble.

And, in case you think China will solve all our problems:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPILhiTJv7E&feature=related

conviction

When markets de-lever there's no logic to market movements over the short run. Correlations break down. And the short run can last for several months.

Everything gets sold as funds try to stay liquid. Hedge funds blow up. Traders get squeezed on both the long and short side as market movements become terribly volatile.

The only thing you can do is to know why you're holding what you're holding. And then hold on tight.

If you don't understand WHY, you'll lose your positions. You need conviction or you'll go broke.

This is why bullion is so important. If you can just get your head around how bullion protects you during periods of monetary instability and get yourself to buy some, you're most of the way home. Because you'll never impulse sell your bullion. It's just too damned inconvenient. To sell your bullion you really have to think it through and go to all the trouble of following through. And that effort will save you from making stupid emotional impulse moves that destroy your portfolio.

Of course, if you just don't get why it's so important to own gold during periods of monetary instability you'll never go to the trouble of buying bullion.

So study up. Think it through. And if you haven't bought yet this is a great opportunity. And if you have bought, buy a little more right here. Sure, it could go lower. In the short run it could easily drop another hundred, two hundred bucks.

In the long run it will be much much higher. You have to be able to see that for yourself. If not, good luck. Because when banks go broke everybody suffers. And in the end everybody panics out of paper and into tangibles.

Everybody ends up chasing the one tangible currency: gold.

Reckoning

Gold dropped 100 dollars on Friday - as anyone holding gold is well aware. A lot of silence from the boisterous gold gurus.

But remember, during the banking crisis of 2008 the exact same thing happened. Not as drastic, but gold hadn't run up so drastically. Things turned when George Bush handed over 8 trillion dollars of tax payer money to the banks. My guess is Obama the socialist - not quite the socialist George Bush was - but still, he'll opt for the same. And if he doesn't the republican socialist who follows him into the White House certainly will.

But wait - where are all those central banks who are supposed to be supporting the gold market?

The central banks don't play in the Futures market - and it's the paper gold market that gets hit when funds delever. And, of course, the little guys like us buying a few ounces lose value - on paper. But that's why it's very dangerous to trade gold. And all the traders out there will be wondering if the bull market it over or if gold isn't too volatile to trade - or whatever. But if you're holding bullion you have to know why you're holding it:

You hold bullion because one day - whenever that day happens to come - the vast American and European public are going to lose confidence in the American and European banks and governments - which everyone is beginning to realize are one in the same. And One day - maybe soon - the vast American and European public will lose confidence that the banks and the governments are able and willing to preserve the value of the printed money that they control as a vast and unregulated monopoly. And one day all those people will realize they're working harder and harder to buy less and less just so that all those zombie bank/governments can keep paying themselves huge bonuses/salaries. And when that day comes there will be a sudden rush to convert the paper moneyu into the commodities with intrinsic value: food, water, oil, minerals, farm land, and of course - gold.

The central banks are already doing this. Especially the central banks in Asia. But when the vast public finally gets what's going on and they race to convert their paper into hard assets it won't make any difference any more what the gold futures price reads on your computer screen. There will be no more gold available. And you'll be glad for all that you bought.

And if that day never comes?

That day always comes. Over and over throughout history. It's just a question of when.

Uh Oh

It's gut check time as the banks go bust.

Over the next several weeks the banks will be issuing lots of reassuring statements. To helps you understand them I'll provide a translation in advance:

"We have no exposure to the French Banks:"
This means: "We're loaded to the gills with European debt we just can't tell which country it's from since it's been all bundled together in weird ways by Goldman Sachs."

"We have no liquidity problems."
This means: "We're insolvent. Technically that's not really a liquidity problem."

"We have plenty of cash on our balance sheet."
This means: "We have plenty of cash in the cash column. Just don't look at the debt column. And even if you do, you'll never decipher it. We sure can't."

"Don't worry this isn't 2008. There's not going to be another Lehman."
This means: "Back in 2008 everyone understood they were loaded with bad mortgage debt. This time around we're all loaded up with bad sovereign debt and nobody understands how to unravel this mess."

Everything's deflating. Including gold and silver. Silver has an industrial component which is why it's not a pure currency play. But what about gold? What's wrong?

Nothing.

Gold gets hit when funds delever. What does that mean? It means that funds borrow tons of money to gamble, and when their bets go against them they sell all their positions to keep from going under. Especially profitable positions like gold. Gold will bounce back. Maybe not today or tomorrow. But soon enough.

But the market's another story. The problem there is that the global banking system is broke. And broken. Just like the global political system. Which, in many ways are one in the same.

You see the Banks became gambling parlors. And a very few very smart traders at Goldman Sachs and a few other funds you've probably never heard of created a mess of financial gambling instruments that turned debt into a high powered craps table with rules that almost nobody understands.

Unfortunately the dumb guys at the big banks bought all this crap thinking they were real smart and now they have no idea how far in the hole the actually are because they still don't really understand all of the complicated paper bets that they acquired - with money borrowed from the Central Banks - that just printed it up.

Nothing will get better until we allow insolvent banks to go under. It's that simple. And even then - especially then - it's going to take time for the banking system to heal.

Until then protect yourself. Buy Gold.

Plumb out of tricks

Well well. Bernanke did the twist as advertised: to the tune of about 400 billion dollars. And he pledged to keep rates negative for ever. The markets were thrilled and promptly fell about 280 points. That's a preview of things to come. When the markets get exactly what they want and still sell off, take note.

Meanwhile gold got knocked down 20 bucks. That's a gift.

Why is one a gift and the other a preview?

Because with rates negative and falling the value of paper money is doing the same. Surely anyone can see that.

So why did gold drop today? Who cares. Some funds got caught out and had to panic sell. Big Deal.

Here's the difference: Stocks are owned by pension funds and 401 k's and all sorts of Hedge Funds, banks and other professional gamblers. These gamblers guess at what mulitple they think the stocks will sell at based on guesses about future earnings. But the stock's real value is only one tenth to one twentieth of the Market Value. So stocks can fall a long long way when the gamblers' psychology turns negative.

Gold is owned by CENTRAL BANKS. So the professional gamblers can screw with the price a little bit. But the Central Banks control the printing presses. They can overwhelm all other players. And they are big buyers of gold. Think China, India, Russia, Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Korea etc etc.

You don't want to be on the other side of the trade when those guys are buying.

Running out of tricks

Tomorrow Bernanke will announce he's going to sell treasuries on the short end to buy treasuries on the long end. He calls it doing the Twist. Wow. An inverted yield curve is sure to solve everything. How on earth can the world economy fall into recession with the Fed performing such amazing feats of economic legerdemain?

And don't worry about Greece. France and Germany are giving them a firm talking to about the need to shape on up and stop spending so doggone much money all the time. Or else.... Well, just or else. And when Spain, and Portugal and Ireland and Italy hear about the stern lecture the Greeks are getting they're all sure to quake with fear and implement their own austerity measures.

Meanwhile the President is presenting his own terrific jobs program consisting of something about shovels and taxes while the Republican congress is busy promising that nothing at all will ever be done about anything as long as they're in charge.

Ever stop to wonder how all these completely broke and broken governments go on not only paying themselves trillions of dollars a year, but actually perpetually expanding?

Why yes, they're just printing the money. Printing printing printing. And why not? They own the printing press. You'd do it too if you could.

But you can't. So what can you do?

Right. Buy gold. Now.

Because soon you won't even be able to do that.

Socialist States of America

The European Union, often derided by the US reactionary press as a "Socialist Union" sent Tim Geithner scurrying home this weekend, as they couldn't stomach his policy prescription of a massive pool of taxpayer money to be given away condition free to any and all banks that should need it.

In fact most of the European Finance ministers were appalled at what has been the United States' abject socialist reaction to any bank problem for the last forty years.

"It seems peculiar to be lectured by a country whose Debt to GDP ration is much higher than our own," commented Mari Fekter, Austrian Finance Minister.

The Europeans understand what seems to be unfathomable to politicians of both parties in this country (Ron Paul excepted): That once you bail out a large failing institution it can - and will - return ad infinitum to demand more money, knowing full well that each new demand is tougher and tougher to deny, as it implies all the previous charity was an abject failure.

For some reason in the Socialist United States when a poor single mother on drugs gets fifty bucks for food - that socialism. But when Goldman Sachs gets a hundred billion dollars to pay bonuses and gamble in the markets - that's not socialism.

In Socialist Europe that doesn't make sense. They told Geithner so. And the Socialist US Markets reacted predictably - the futures are down 200 points as I write. We'll see what the "Markets" do. But since the "Markets" are a rigged casino operated by the banks, chances are they'll send the markets reeling in punishment for the politicians who refused their demand for every more tax payer money.

And when they drive the markets low enough, they'll get all the taxpayer money they want - At least, here in America. QE3, QE4, QE5 etc....


AND IF YOU DON"T BELIEVE QE3 IS AROUND THE CORNER:

Bernanke Joins King Tolerating Inflation to Revice Economy (I don't think re-vice is a typo either)

By Scott Lanman and Simon Kennedy - Sep 19, 2011 5:18 AM ET

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U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Bank of England governor Mervyn King.

June 15 (Bloomberg) -- John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics LLC, talks about Federal Reserve monetary policy and prospects for adoption of an explicit inflation target by the central bank. Ryding, speaking with Betty Liu, Dominic Chu and Michael McKee on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop," also discusses the U.S. consumer-price index for May and the impact of monetary policy on commodity prices. (Source: Bloomberg)

Inflation flashing red may be less of a green light for higher interest rates as global growth falters.

Some Federal Reserve policy makers favor keeping their benchmark rate close to zero until price increases reach a level Vincent Reinhart, a former top official, says could be 3 percent. The Bank of England has held its key rate at a record low even as U.K. inflation breached its 2 percent target for 21 months. Brazil executed a surprise cut Aug. 31 to safeguard its economy even after inflation quickened to a six-year high.

Policy makers such as Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Bank of England Governor Mervyn King may be challenging central-bank orthodoxy to replenish depleted toolkits and support recoveries at risk of sliding back into recession. Tolerating higher inflation may make long-term Treasuries less attractive while supporting stocks and commodity prices, said Jim Kochan, chief fixed-income strategist at Wells Fargo Advantage Funds.

“There’s a hint of desperation here,” said Kochan, who helps manage $216 billion in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. “They’re clearly concerned that monetary policy to date hasn’t really accomplished what they expected it to. So they ask themselves, why? And what could we do about it?”

Meanwhile in Germany: Angela Merkel and her "Center-Right" government lost the recent election by a landslide as:

Social Democrats won23.3% of the votes; the Greens won 17.6% and the Left
Party won 11.7%, for a total of 52.6% of the votes cast.

This compares to 47.8% won by the same three parties in elections five years ago. On the centre-right, the Christian Democrats won 28.2% of the votes cast.

the most ardently free market,pro-capitalist of the political parties in German… won but
1.8% of the votes cast, falling below the mandatory 5% needed to win any seats in the local government.

What is extraordinary here is that the "Right Wing Free market" parties were precisely those advocating a socialist bailout of the European Banks while the Left Wing Socialist Parties are advocating a stop to the lunacy of handing tax payer money over for bailouts.

Sound Familiar?

Trump and European Banks accept Gold as payment in lieu of dollars

Donald Trump gets paid in gold bars

Trump accepts three 32-ounce gold bars as a security deposit. Is gold more secure in turbulent financial times?

By Douglas French, Guest blogger / September 15, 2011

• 

Donald Trump accepted gold bars as a security deposit on a rental in one of his towers.

Arnulfo Franco/AP/File

The people’s money–gold–is turning up in the news this week as collateral and security in the turbulent financial world

Precious metals dealer Apmex is signing a lease at Donald Trump’s 70-story skyscraper located at 40 Wall Street and The Donald has agreed to accept for a security deposit, “just three 32-ounce bars of gold, each about the size of a television remote control,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Over on Park Avenue South, the Provident Loan Society of New York is lending to consumers who pledge gold jewelry to borrow enough to pay their bills and cover the 6-month interest rate of 13%.

It’s tough getting a loan at the bank, so consumers and small business are pledging their gold to get operating cash. “It’s a big problem now with the banks,” Pepa Abad Toledo told the WSJ. She uses Provident loans to buy merchandise for her business selling costume jewelry.

Across the pond, Jack Farchy reports for the Financial Times, “European banks are rushing to use their gold to access much-needed dollar funding, in the latest sign of the growing liquidity crunch for the continent’s financial institutions.”

Farchy explains that the cost of swapping euros for dollars has increased fivefold just since June. It’s normal for large bullion banks to lend some of their gold out at the end of each quarter, but, “the latest move is unusually dramatic and highlights the stresses in the dollar funding market, according to bankers.”

When money is tight and currencies are weak, gold comes in handy.

Markets rejoice

Markets rejoiced today because Greece will not be leaving the Euro zone. Wow, talk about setting the bar low.

How about this: Markets surged today because Goldman Sachs et al. were able to manufacture a short squeeze by driving the futures down overnight and then hammering the little guy traders who all jumped aboard when the market fell through what could have been technical support?

Which scenario is more likely?

Concerning Greece: Let's face it, Greece is in default. The only question is how will the default be structured in order to give the appearance of an "orderly default." In other words, how can Germany and France make Greece give the semblance of adhering to some sort of austerity program, when everyone knows that it can't really afford any sort of austerity since it's in the middle of a depression?

And if Greece doesn't adhere to austerity, why should Rome or Athens or Lisbon or Madrid?

Germans are still recalling how expensive it was to bring their “cousins” in the former East Germany into the fold; they cannot even begin to calculate how much it will cost to rehabilitate Greek monetary affairs, and they’d really rather not even try. Better to let Papandriou pretend to embrace some sort of austerity.

If Merkel tries to push for German aid to Greece, then her government is in jeopardy of toppling and in a new election would be toppled badly.

So let's sit back and enjoy the Political Theater that's sure to ensue. But don't think for a second that Greece isn't in default.

gold takes a dive

Gold took another 50 dollar dive today. Why? Who cares? Unless you're trading futures - it just means gold is on sale. Awesome. One day soon a big bank will go under - despite all the efforts and intercessions of the Central Banks- and then it will be difficult to buy real gold at any price. They're already worried about that in Europe THUS:

Austrian banks have now been ordered to restrict the sale of gold and silver bullion purchases and are limiting personal acquisitions of precious metals to 15,000€ (approximately $20,700 USD) at a time, or 11 ounces of gold at today’s prices.

These policies were implemented over the course of the last 30 days, and they are now standard operating procedure. The reason given was the banks had come under pressure from EU, Austrian and U.S. officials, to comply wtih U.S. money laundering initiatives and the EU’s Third EU Money Laundering Directive which was implemented across the zone in December of 2007.

Money Laundering? Yeah, sure.

Meanwhile in CHINA: (From Wikileaks:)

“The China Radio International sponsored newspaper World News Journal (Shijie Xinwenbao)(04/28): “According to China’s National Foreign Exchanges Administration China ‘s gold reserves have recently increased. Currently, the majority of its gold reserves have been located in the U.S. and European countries. The U.S. and Europe have always suppressed the rising price of gold. They intend to weaken gold’s function as an international reserve currency. They don’t want to see other countries turning to gold reserves instead of the U.S. dollar or Euro. Therefore, suppressing the price of gold is very beneficial for the U.S. in maintaining the U.S. dollar’s role as the international reserve currency. China’s increased gold reserves will thus act as a model and lead other countries towards reserving more gold. Large gold reserves are also beneficial in promoting the internationalization of the RMB.”

Okay, just because it's in the Chinese Press doesn't mean it's true. But ask yourself: does it sound reasonable?

The American Public is always the last to get any real news. And that includes the garbage you hear from those who disparage the Lame Stream Media. Because left, right, center - it's all lame.

Don't be the last to get it.

Buy some gold now.

IS GOLD A BUBBLE?

Well, well, well. Is gold a bubble? How will you know when the gold bull is about to crash?

Over the next several weeks, months, years you'll be hearing analysts and pundits repeatedly ask this question.

At the same time you'll be hearing answers based on the gold to Dow ratio, the gold to silver ratio, the gold to oil ratio, the slope of the yield curve, the ten year yield to the Dow interest ratio, the debt to GDP ratio, the slope of the gold chart, Fibonacci arcs, open interest in the bullion banks, the hedging strategies of the majors, etc. etc. etc.

All of these totally miss the point. Why? Because they rely on reversion to the mean analysis, and this type of technical plotting is something any moron with a computer can do.

Does that mean it doesn't work?

Well, think of it this way: Over the last five thousand years the average height of a human male is about five feet two inches. So according to reversion to the mean analyses when will humans start to shrink?

Or how about this: Over the last 100 million years Dinosaurs have been the dominant species on earth. So according to reversion to the mean analysis when will Dinosaurs again rule the earth? Should be any time now, wouldn't you think?

Things change. Sometimes permanently. Change doesn't have to be radical. Imperceptible or barely perceptible changes in inputs can radically change outcomes. And these tiny changes can entirely invalidate reversion to the mean analysis.

So what might be changing now? How about this: The efficacy of debt as a means of controlling the modern economy.

As country after country defaults - Greece now - then Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and then when the US goes into recession GDP and tax receipts will shrink while debt explodes - the zombie banks will go under - one by one - and no policy involving debt spending - the only policy Western Economy knows - will work.

That simple. Does that mean that Gold will go up forever? Of course not. But Gold will go up until the particular change has run its course and the next phase of economy has a chance to develop.

That could easily take a few lifetimes. Until then it's a safe bet that humans will revert - not to the mean - but to known solutions. And the one thing we do know is that gold is the most reliable inhibitor of debt. Gold based currencies inhibit the creation of debt. And no amount of debt can erode the value of gold.

So it's a safe bet Gold will be relied upon as debt based paper currencies are printed into oblivion.

There's a reversion you can bank on.

The First Gold Coin

This coin dated to about 650 BCE is composed of a naturally occurring Gold/Silver alloy called Electrum, found in the rivers of the Black Sear area of what is now Turkey. Called "Staters" - which was translated from the Semitic "Shekel" - they were struck to several different weight standards of about 14-16 grams. The staters were then split into halves, thirds, sixths, on down to 48ths. This attests to the fact that they were used in common transactions between merchants and private citizens as well as between Royal houses.

Within a hundred years Greek coinage had spread throughout Greece, Italy, Sicily and into the fertile Crescent, as international trade flourished. At the same time the Greek language became the lingua franca of the ancient world, the Greek Democratic Political Systems took hold throughout the Western World and the first recorded Western Histories and Political and Philosophical Tracts were recorded and preserved. These tracts were studied by the Founding Fathers of the United States, and directly influenced all of their writings and political actions.

It is no accident that the Constitution of the United States of America mandates that money can only legally be comprised of gold and silver coins.

The earliest coins were uninscribed such as the Stater above that just sold for 75,000 dollars in a Heritage Auction last night. I believe this is a record for an uninscribed stater.

A bit later - around 575-550 BCE, Royal Houses of Lydia, Miletos, Kyzykos, Ephasos etc started to inscribe images on the obverse: Lions, Bulls, Deer, and various Mythical Beasts and Heroes. A select few even have distinctly personalized human heads leading to speculation they may have represented real rulers.

Rare and well preserved inscribed issues have sold for 250,000 dollars recently.

Sounds like a lot for an ancient piece of metal?

Perhaps. But recently somebody paid 7 million dollars for US coin all of 80 years old that is one of eleven to have survived a recall. And this coin looks exactly like a million other coins, but for the date.

In fact, because so few are acquainted with ancient history - that which informs every aspect of our present day language, culture and ideas of morality and philosophy - things that are a few hours old are prized and sought after while these extraordinarily rare artifacts that attest to the foundations of our culture are relatively ignored.

But now with the renewed fascination for that which has formed the substance of the medium of cultural exchange for 5000 years - Gold - there is a renewed fascination with the origins of the use of gold. And prices for these artifacts are beginning to reflect this renewed fascination.

Volatility

Gold traded in a 70 dollar range today. The Dow traded in a 300 dollar range. Again. Ho Hum. What does it mean? It means nobody can afford to trade these markets but Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. So.... don't.

Meanwhile Gold is still up 600 percent over the last ten years and the Dow is flat
. Of course, the Dow is figured in US Dollars so flat means it's actually down about 20 percent - which is the lost purchasing power of the dollar over the last 10 years. The only thing that's certain is that over time this trend will not only continue but accelerate, as all the conditions that have caused this trend are intensifying.

Meanwhile - if you care to speculate in a real wild bull market - it's Ancient Coin Auction season again. To see the list of current auctions go to Sixbid.com. This is a market that has gone up far more than 700 percent over the last 10 years. Though, it's impossible to calculate the actual percentage gain because every Ancient coin is different.

But if you take high grade Alexander the Great Portrait Staters you'll find that 10 years ago they went for around 1500 dollars. Today they sell anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 dollars - depending on condition, style, and date and mint of issue.

These staters were in most cases minted to pay a foot soldier a month's salary. In bullion that would translate to about 500 dollars a month plus room and board for a common foot soldier at today's bullion value of gold.

Of course the dollar today is so completely debased that a foot soldier is payed about 1200 a month after taxes. And even though that shows that gold has retained a pretty constant value over that last 2500 years, I think it's reasonable to assume that gold will soon double again bringing the foot soldier's pay of 323 BCE back into line with today's base army pay.

However, if you'd like to buy the actual coin with which the foot soldier was paid, it will cost you about the monthly salary of a four star general. And if you want to buy the finest known example in the best style of the coin that was paid to that foot soldier in 323 BCE, (such as the example shown above) it will cost you about month's salary of a trader at Goldman Sachs.

Make of that what you will. But if you can't trade in the size and with the inside information of a Goldman Sachs desk trader, you'd be far better off speculating in a market that's sure to appreciate over time. All you need to prosper there is a pretty decent foundation in ancient history, perhaps a little rudimentary ancient Greek, and an eye for fine style. Connections at the Fed won't count for much, I'm afraid. And if you don't mind buying silver there are some beautiful coins to match any budget. But if you can afford it - buy Gold. It doesn't tarnish.

FULL FAITH

We could talk about the abysmal employment report where ZERO jobs were added and 57 thousand subtracted from the last month's report and 150,000 would have been lost but for the illusory BIRTH/DEATH model (which estimates how many new jobs were probably created by new business in a normal business cycle).

Or we could talk about how gold reacted predictably to the all but certain QE3 that is now on the table - and soared back to 2000 dollars an ounce of real bullion.

Or we could talk about how the market swooned - even with the expectation of QE3 - as the market is beginning to realize that just won't help it in the long run.

But let's talk about a much more important development this week. Let's talk about the fact that our president has a paramount JOBS SPEECH to deliver.

Yet the speech was postponed because it would interfere with a Republican Debate. Then it was moved so that it wouldn't interfere with Opening Night NFL Football. Then it was rescheduled right up against Dancing with the Stars, moved again, but was up against the final episode of Jersey Shore where the Situation vomits into Snooki's panty drawer, so it was moved back to Football night but set early enough so that it wouldn't interfere with the NFL Pregame Show.

This is a fabulous measure of how much the USA respects the President of the USA - and the entire government of the USA. This is a fabulous measure of how much self respect the president of the USA has. And this is a spot on measure of the FAITH the USA has in the power of its Government to positively effect anything at all in the economy: ZERO

And conversely it is a measure of the power of the Gold Bull Market: INFINITE.

Because, ultimately the price of gold is a precise measure of confidence of the Paper Money that is backed by only by FULL FAITH and CREDIT of the US Government. We all know how the Credit of the US Government is doing. 14 trillion dollars in the hole not counting the 110 trillion of unfunded liabilities. But even that is surmountable as long as the FAITH remains intact.

Unfortunately, when Faith in the government is Zero, the value of the currency will soon follow.

And gold will be the only viable alternative.