Just came back from the pre-premiere of a Swedish-made movie called “Overdose - The Next Financial Crisis“. It’s narrated by Cato Institute affiliate and free-lance writer Johan Norberg and the movie is also based on one of his books. I must say the movie portrays the dire mess we are in, in a manner that’s very easily grasped. This makes it a very good movie to share with your friends if you find it difficult to get people close to you to listen to boring financial lingo. Highly recommended! The film features trend forecaster Gerald Celente, investor Peter Schiff and many others.
What is the difference between the State of California and the State of Greece? The State of California is a bigger bankruptcy… The financial industry is at war with Greece. The CDS-attack (Credit Default Swaps, an off-the-counter derivative) is a nuclear financial attack on Greece.
In part 2, Jim Sinclair talks about Quantitative Easing, hyperinflation and the coming One World Currency of the IMF and a de facto financial One World Government.
The interview ends with Jim Sinclair concluding:
“Be prepared! This is a great civilization change. The most positive thing you can do is to recognize what is out there. The greatest contribution you can make to your family is to be prepared. So when all of this happens, you already have things in place: plans as of what you can do.
…We are not trying to scare anybody or trying to sell anything. We are simply saying, this is the hand writing on the wall. This is what’s most likely going to happen. In order to prepare you have to look at your financial and physical situation. You have to se weather or not this is a really great and significant shift in world history.
…The entire purpose of all this is preparation, because the truth will set us free.”
That last statement is at the core of why I have this blog. The world is changing. If you want to protect the purchasing power of your savings from the devaluation of the printing press - buy gold. If you want to stimulate your mind and stay a head of the game, keep reading, listening and watching. Stay tuned…
Here is a good summery of the financial collapse. This TED-talk is held in Tallinn, Estonia, by Alar Tamming. He is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Tavid/Tavex, a gold bullion dealer operating in Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Sweden. He is also an Estonian and he should know a thing or two about what happens when fractional reserve banking runs amok. The crisis in Estonia, caused by wreck-less lending by Swedish banks, is far worse than in many other countries in Europe. Personally, as my readers know, I keep as little of my money as I can in fiat paper and on deposit at the bank, and as much as I can in real money - gold. As a customer at Tavid/Tavex I can recommend them for all your gold bullion needs.
Overnight news out of Dubai has sent global equity markets reeling and generated a safe haven flow into the US Dollar as carry trades are unwound and a flight away from risk occurs. Dubai has asked for a 6 month moratorium on its debt obligations, which for all practical purposes is a type of default. Needless to say, this came with little to no warning and has sent the markets into quite a tizzy.
Gold shot higher on the news and touched a record $1,195 before some light long liquidation connected with carry trade unwinding got underway. Look for it to be well bid on any setbacks in price as this sort of news is extremely disturbing. After all, we are talking about the financial hub of the Middle East. Imagine the repercussions that would occur should London have announced this sort of news and you can understand why stock markets were pummeled overnight.
Stocks have been floating higher and higher for the reasons described yesterday (increased profits due to expense cutting plus easy money and lots of liquidity) but this is the kind of news that could cut off all such rallies right at the knees. The reason – it creates fear and uncertainty, two of the prime ingredients in a selling binge. If Dubai could go under, then who or what might be next becomes the nagging question hanging over the markets like the proverbial sword of Damocles.
We are in a period in which we could experience price swings across the markets of the magnitude which will parallel those that we witnessed as the Japanese Yen Carry trade was unwound last year. Huge leveraged bets employing the Dollar as the borrowed currency have set up a situation in which billions of Dollars in one way bets are once again on the table. These idiots never learn as their greed will be the ruin of them all but unfortunately, it is always the innocent and those who play by the rules who get caught in the crossfire generated by the pond scum hedge fund community.
Be careful out there and be thankful that you own gold. Things are coming unraveled at an alarming speed. Just imagine the kind of losses that are now on the books of those banks who hold Dubai sovereign debt. Then again, that should not be a problem. The Central Banks can just print them some more money to replace those losses. Heaven help us all…
U.S. authorities seized nine failed banks on Friday, the most in a single day since the financial crisis began and the latest stark sign that substantial parts of the nation’s banking industry are being crippled by bad loans.
The move brought the total number of failed banks in 2009 to 115 — their highest annual level since 1992 — with analysts expecting more to come. Among the lenders seized Friday was Los Angeles-based California National Bank, in what was the fourth-largest U.S. bank failure this year.
The largest institution to fail in the current financial crisis was Washington Mutual, which boasted $307 billion in assets when it was shuttered in September 2008.
U.S. Bancorp on Friday acquired the nine banks that had been held by FBOP Corp, picking up $18.4 billion in assets and $15.4 billion of deposits.
So another 15 billion to handle by the FDIC. They will need more funds very soon. From whom you ask? From you, dear taxpayer! This will be done through Bernankes printing press and you will pay for it through the further debasement of your currency. Trick or treat?
Since the Commercial Real Estate Mortgage bubble has begun to pop with the bankruptcy of Capmark that I wrote about yesterday I thought I’d give you some background to the events unfolding before our very eyes beginning now. These mortgages are given by lenders to companies building and operating commercial buildings such as malls, offices, hotels etc. With a declining economy these companies find it increasingly difficult to pay interest on their loans as income from rents keep falling. Consider these statistics from this month of October 2009 reported by facilitiesnet.com:
U.S. Office Vacancy Rates Continue Climb, But Are Slowing
“The office vacancy rate increased, by 60 basis points (bps), to 16.1 percent, at the end of the third quarter. Although this was the eighth consecutive quarter of rising vacancy rates, it was lower than the 80-bps increase in 2Q 2009 and was the slowest pace of increase since 4Q 2008.
The national industrial availability rate increased 50 bps to 13.5 percent in 3Q 2009. This result marks the 8th consecutive quarter of rising availability. The vast majority of industrial markets experienced rising availability, with 56 out of 61 major markets showing increases from the previous quarter.”
Johnny Mellgren is a Swedish entrepreneur with a keen interest in macro economics and macro politics. This is his web site where he blogs about the economic collapse of our time, what to do about it and the economic future we create together. Contact Johnny Mellgren.
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I provide advice on investment portfolios for private and corporate clients. I also hold lectures in the history of money and the current economic collapse and how to protect your wealth in a time of transition.
