Financial Sense Blog

Economic recovery in the U.S. and elsewhere has slowed rapidly and private and some public forecasts are being downgraded accordingly. The Federal Reserve is sounding much more cautious, although they are not yet prepared to talk of further monetary easing. The most optimistic observers are now having to face reality. The massive stimulus packages did the job of stopping a self-feeding downward spiral but they have given us an artificial recovery.

As Iran continues to develop a nuclear capability, we should ask a few simple questions. First, will it prove disastrous if Iran acquires nuclear weapons? Second, will the United States or Israel launch a preemptive disarming strike against Iran? Since negotiation and sanctions have clearly failed, what will the major players do? What is the likely outcome of this situation?

Here is the message from the ruling elite to the masses: Debt got us into this mess and it sure as hell is going to get us out. They have convinced the mainstream media that the reason the economy is sputtering is because the average Joe is not doing their part. This crazy concept of saving for a rainy day seems to be catching on. This is very dangerous.

China appears to have a huge "grey" economy, meaning that it is fueled by grey or unreported income. On July 19th, China's most famous researcher on grey income, Dr. Wang Xiaolu, stipulated that actual urban household income may be 100 percent higher than the official data reported by the government. He also concluded that China’s per capita disposable income in 2008 should have been 67 percent higher than the official data.

About an hour north of San Diego County is Greater Los Angeles, which is commonly referred to as the Southland. This five county area is massive; almost 4,900 square miles with a combined population of over 17,700,000 people according to a U.S. Census Bureau estimate in 2006. The borders extend from Ventura County to the north, Orange County to the south, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Inland Empire of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties to the east.

This morning's email from gold general Jim Sinclair - under siege yet again from the troops in the "community" - prompts this morning's post.

Titanic Battles are Intensifying, Battles only partially visible publically. The Gold Price, Mega-Bank Power, Markets Manipulation, and Investor Profits and Protection are the Foci of these Interrelated Conflicts.

Two words that any oil company dreads to hear are “export duty.” Especially if the word “increases” or “introduced” is floating around there too.

We are all familiar with the common expression, markets do not like surprises. As it relates to the current state of the labor markets, the number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance came in at 457,000 last week, which has again brought out comments from the media like “a figure that signals the labor market will be slow to improve even as the economy grows”.

This week Mr. Treece discusses the recent decline in gold and recent controvery surrounding commodity ETFS. Mr. Treece reminds investors that they need to do their homework, and also discusses the changing political climate.