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Posts Tagged ‘Federal Reserve’

The Dow Hits An All-Time High! Translation: A Bubble Is Always Biggest Right Before It Bursts

March 6, 2013 Comments off

theeconomiccollapseblog.com

The Dow Hits An All-Time High! Translation: A Bubble Is Always Biggest Right Before It Bursts - Photo by KazekiReckless money printing by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has pumped up the Dow to a brand new all-time high.  So what comes next?  Will the Dow go even higher?  Hopefully it will.  In fact, it would be great if the Dow was able to hit 15,000 before it finally came crashing down.  That would give all of us some more time to prepare for the nightmarish economic crisis that is rapidly approaching.  As you will see below, the U.S. economy is in far, far worse shape than it was the last time the Dow reached a record high back in 2007.  In addition, all of the long-term trends that are ripping our economy to shreds just continue to get even worse and our debt just continues to explode.  Unfortunately, the Dow has become completely divorced from economic reality in recent years because of Fed manipulation.  All of this funny money that the Federal Reserve has been cranking out has made the wealthy even wealthier, but this bubble will not last for too much longer.  What goes up must come down.  And remember, a bubble is always biggest right before it bursts.

Fortunately, it looks like an increasing number of people out there are starting to recognize that the primary reason why stocks have been going up is because of Read more…

Why Are Russia And China Hoarding So Much Gold?

February 13, 2013 Comments off

etfdailynews.com

india-gold-etfWill oil soon be traded in a currency that is thousands of years old?  What would a “gold for oil” system mean for the petrodollar and the U.S. economy?  Are Russia and China hoarding massive amounts of gold because they plan to kill the petrodollar?  Since the 1970s, the U.S. dollar has been the currency that the international community has used to trade oil around the globe.  This has created an overwhelming demand for U.S. dollars and U.S. debt.  But what happens when the rest of the globe starts rejecting the increasingly unstable U.S. dollar and figures out that gold can be used as a currency in international trade?  The truth is that it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to figure that out.  Demand for the U.S. dollar and U.S. debt would fall off the map and there would be a rush into gold unlike anything we have ever seen before.  So are Russia and China accumulating unprecedented amounts of gold right now because they eventually plan to cut the legs out from under the petrodollar and they want to gobble up huge stockpiles of gold before the cat is out of the bag?  Of course they will never admit this publicly, but there are Read more…

Pimco’s Gross Says Fed May ‘Hint’ at QE3 at April Meeting

March 27, 2012 Comments off

sfgate.com

March 26 (Bloomberg) — Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., said the Federal Reserve will probably signal it plans to arrange a third round of debt purchases when policy makers meet in April.

The end of tax breaks enacted by President George W. Bush and $1 trillion of mandatory federal budget cuts are raising concern that declining unemployment will give way to slower economic growth that requires support from the central bank. Policy makers under Chairman Ben S. Bernanke have purchased $2.3 trillion of Treasuries and mortgage debt in two rounds of so- called quantitative easing, known as QE1 and QE2, as they try to sustain the expansion.

The Fed is “likely to hint” at QE3 at its April 25 gathering, Gross wrote on Twitter.

Central bank policy makers upgraded the outlook for the U.S. economy at their March 13 meeting, while they reiterated their pledge to keep interest rates near zero until at least late 2014.

Treasury Returns

The statement helped send Read more…

Ron Paul To Ben Bernanke: “People Lose Trust In The Government Because You Lie To Them About Inflation” (Video)

February 29, 2012 Comments off

zerohedge.com

by Tyler Durden

Anytime Ron Paul sits across from Ben Bernanke you know sparks will fly. Sure enough, they did: starting 50 seconds into the clip below, Ron Paul, guns blazing, asks the Chairman if he does his own shopping, if he is aware of what true inflation is, and if he knows that Americans don’t trust the government because they are being lied to about inflation. And it only gets better, once Paul starts brandishing a silver coin. The punchline: “The Fed will self-destruct anyway when the money is gone” – amen. And ironically letting the Fed keep on doing what it is doing will achieve that in the fastest possible way. In fact, letting the system cannibalize itself with no further hindrances may be the best option currently available – just go to town. 

U.S. National Debt Is 5000 Times Larger Than When The Federal Reserve Was Created

February 24, 2012 1 comment

endoftheamericandream.com

Have you noticed that very few people in the mainstream media ever directly criticize the Federal Reserve?  But why should that be the case?  Criticizing top politicians from both major political parties has become a national pastime.  Most Americans love to throw mud at either the Republicans or the Democrats.  But we are told that the Federal Reserve is “above politics” and that it is absolutely vital that the Fed remain “independent”.  The reality is that the Federal Reserve has more control over the performance of the U.S. economy than the president even does, and yet most Americans never spend much time thinking about the Fed at all.  It is almost as if Read more…

Key Players Buying More Gold Now

February 20, 2012 Comments off

wealthcycles.com

Investor appetite for gold is heating up, in part because of signals from hedge fund guru John Paulson, the guy who saw the real estate meltdown coming in 2007 and became a billionaire as a result.

The Paulson & Co. founder “told investors it’s time to buy the metal as protection against inflation caused by government spending,” Bloomberg reported today.

“By the time inflation becomes evident, gold will probably have moved, which implies that now is the time to build a position in gold,” New-York based Paulson said in a letter to investors obtained by Bloomberg. Armel Leslie, a spokesman for Paulson, declined to comment.

Bloomberg reported that 12 of 22 companies surveyed had a buy on gold, with five surveyed neutral.

Paulson & Co., the largest owner of the SPDR Gold Trust Exchange Traded Fund, which trades in gold futures, cut its position in 2011, Bloomberg reported earlier, probably to cover losses in securities.

Paulson held 17.3 million shares in the exchange-traded fund as of Dec. 31, 15 percent less than the 20.3 million on Sept. 30, Securities and Exchange Commission filings showed. His holdings fell 45 percent from end-June, the first reduction in more than two years. He is still the biggest stakeholder.

A Feb. 14 SEC filing showed Paulson & Co. with $2.9 billion worth of SPDR shares, according to Bloomberg’s latest report.

Meanwhile, central banks—even as they act to inflate Read more…

Bernanke Lights a Fire Under Gold and Silver Prices

January 26, 2012 2 comments

forexpros.com

“Party on!” was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s message to Wall Street yesterday, as he announced that the Fed will be keeping interest rates at “exceptionally low” levels until late 2014, owing to concerns about stubbornly-high unemployment and the sustainability of the current statistical recovery. Bernanke also confirmed that for the first time in the Fed’s 99-year history, the institution will explicitly target a 2% inflation rate, as measured on the Personal Consumption Index (PCI). Other central banks have long had explicit inflation targets, but not the Fed.

Unsurprisingly given their enthusiasm for easy money, the market response to this move was euphoric. The Dow gained 0.64% to settle at 12756.96, while the Nasdaq tacked on 1.14% to settle at 2818.31. Asian and European exchanges have also reported Read more…

What happens if the U.S. defaults?

July 28, 2011 Comments off

cbc

Blank U.S. Treasury cheques are run through a printer at the U.S. Treasury printing facility July 18 in Philadelphia.The first payments that stand to be affected if the U.S. government defaults on Aug. 2 would be some $23 billion US in Social Security benefit cheques. Blank U.S. Treasury cheques are run through a printer at the U.S. Treasury printing facility July 18 in Philadelphia.The first payments that stand to be affected if the U.S. government defaults on Aug. 2 would be some $23 billion US in Social Security benefit cheques. (William Thomas Cain/Getty)

How a default would unfold immediately appears relatively straightforward. It’s the reaction that no one can predict, because it’s never happened before.

The first move will be made by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The Fed is the Treasury Department’s bank, handling government cheques and lending to banks which borrow using U.S. Treasury debt as collateral.

One day — the U.S. government has estimated it will be Aug. 2 — the Fed will serve notice on the government that its account at the Fed will be in overdraft by the end of the day, in violation of the Federal Reserve Act.

On Aug. 3, some Read more…

Anger at government highest in 19 years: poll

July 21, 2011 Comments off

rawstory

Dissatisfaction and anger with the federal government are at a nearly 20-year high, according to the results of a

new ABC News/Washington Post poll released Wednesday.

When asked how they felt about the federal government, 80 percent of poll respondents said that they felt dissatisfied or even angry about the work the government is doing. The last time such a peak of ill will was felt was during 1992’s economic slump, under President George Bush’s leadership.

The public’s slumping opinion of the country’s political class can be actively attributed to the negotiations surrounding the debt ceiling: The dissatisfaction numbers rocketed up 11 points between this month and last.

Indeed, congressional Republicans are facing the fire of poor public opinion. The ABC News/Washington Post poll shows a 28 percent approval rating for them, with 77 percent of participants saying the Republican leadership is unwilling to negotiate, further slowing debt talks.

A CBS poll released earlier this week is even darker for the Republicans — they garnered only a 21 percent approval rating in that poll.

President Barack Obama and the Federal Reserve have declared a rapidly approaching August 2 deadline for a solution to the nation’s debt.

As The Dollar And The Euro Continue To Collapse, How High Is That Going To Push The Price Of Gold?

July 19, 2011 Comments off

endoftheamericandream

Right now, the global financial system is facing a crisis that is really unprecedented.  The reserve currency of the world (the U.S. dollar) is collapsing and the second most powerful currency on the planet (the euro) is also collapsing.  As the major paper currencies of the globe crumble, the hunger that investors around the world have for gold continues to grow.  Today, the price of gold hit an all-time record of $1607.90 an ounce.  But that record surely will not live for long.  The truth is that gold has been steadily climbing for quite some time now.  A year ago, the price of gold was hovering around $1200 an ounce and and many “mainstream economists” scoffed at the idea that the price of gold could go significantly higher.  Well, nobody is laughing now.  As colossal debt loads continue to crush both Europe and the United States, the euro and the dollar are Read more…