Economic Collapse

German firm plans ‘Gold-to-Go’ ATMs to sell tiny, pricey gold bars
http://www.nationalpost.com/scripts/story.html?id=1610606

A German asset management company plans to set up 500 “Gold-to-Go” ATMs in Germany, Switzerland and Austria this year. A gold-dispensing automatic teller machine (ATM) was on display at Frankfurt’s main railway station for a one-day marketing test yesterday. A one-gram piece of gold, the size of a child’s little fingernail and about as thin, cost US$42.25–a 30% premium to the spot market price. The flat rectangular piece came out of the cash-only ATM in a tin box, including a certificate of authenticity. “This is more than a marketing gimmick,” said Thomas Geissler, chief executive of TG-Gold-Super-Markt.de, the company planning to set up the 500 gold ATMs at a cost of ¤20,000 ($31,500) apiece. “It is an appetizer for a strategic investment in precious metals. Gold is an asset everyone should have, between 5% and 15% of your liquid assets in physical gold,” he said.

Big Inflation Coming 2, by Adam Hamilton
http://www.zealllc.com/2009/biginf2.htm

“The bottom line is the panic money-supply growth in the US has been very excessive, running at multiples of economic growth. And in the case of narrow M0 money, the doubling in 4 months is literally unprecedented. It scares me. With so much new money in the system, and the Fed totally unwilling to undo this terrible inflation over the 6 months since, rapidly rising prices are inevitable.

We’re on the verge of the first inflation scare of the modern era, a time when epic panic buying into hard assets and their producers is increasingly likely. Investors who ignore these dire tidings will probably get crushed by the inflation. But investors who prudently study the dangers and deploy their capital to thrive in them will make fortunes. Mark my words, the money-supply data shows big inflation is coming.”

Remark: Remaining fear-less is the best medicin against all crises.

A friend of mine just sent me this article. I’m glad he did. This is a very to-the-point no-bullshit kind of article of the Austrian School from Asia Times Online. My only wish is that journalism i Sweden and the rest of “the west” would be as up front as this…

Dollar’s fate written in history, by John Lee
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/KF04Dj03.html

Debt-based monetary systems are inherently unstable. Money is created out of thin air by the banks and lent to government, consumers and businesses. In order to service and repay those debts, the borrowers take on more debts. Asset prices are inflated, and the vicious cycle continues until the debtors are unable to borrow or the banks are unwilling to lend.

At that point the system snaps, everything is sold off, and we have a financial crisis at hand. Here, we examine what happens to equity and currency markets in the aftermath of financial crisis and deduce what will be the likely outcome for the United States as it emerges from the present crisis.

A dire warning that the Republic is a prime candidate to go bust has come from one of the world’s leading economic historians.

“The idea that countries don’t go bust is a joke,” said Niall Ferguson, Harvard professor and author of The Ascent of Money.

“The debt trap may be about to spring” he said, “for countries that have created large stimulus packages in order to stimulate their economies.”

His chosen prime candidate to go bust is “Ireland, followed by Italy and Belgium, and UK is not too far behind”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ireland-set-to-go-bust-claims-economic-historian-1692673.html