Lets Take A Moment To Dissect Bernake's Latest Zero Interest Rate Policy

by: Bruce Krasting / ZeroHedge.com

I had this to say last week:

The Fed could easily attempt to buy some market peace by issuing a statement that the policy of zero interest rates would be extended for a minimum period of one year. I consider this to be a “high probability" to happen in the next 30 days.

I got it right, but I got it completely wrong. I feared that the Fed could extend the ZIRP language for as long as a year. Not in my wildest dream did I think they could take the extremely risky move of guaranteeing that interest rates will remain at zero for another 24 months.

Having been shocked, my thoughts.

A 634 Point Stock Market Crash And 8 More Reasons Why You Should Be Deeply Concerned That The U.S. Government Has Lost Its AAA Credit Rating

article from: theeconomiccollapseblog.com


Are you ready for part two of the global financial collapse?  Many now fear that we may be on the verge of a repeat of 2008 after the events of the last several days.  On Friday, Standard & Poor's stripped the U.S. government of its AAA credit rating for the first time in history.  World financial markets had been anticipating a potential downgrade, but that still didn't stop panic from ensuing as this week began.  On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 634.76 points, which represented a 5.5 percent plunge.  It was the largest one day point decline and the largest one day percentage decline since December 1, 2008.  Overall, stocks have fallen by about 15 percent over the past two weeks.  When Standard & Poor's downgraded long-term U.S. government debt from AAA to AA+, it was just one more indication that faith in the U.S. financial system is faltering.  Previously, U.S. government debt had a AAA rating from S&P continuously since 1941, but now that streak is over.   Nobody is quite sure what comes next.  We truly are in unprecedented territory.  But one thing is for sure - there is a lot of fear in the air right now.

Black Monday? - Economic Collapse A Mathematical Certainty, The Top 5 Places Where Not To Be When It Happens!

The dollar collapse will be the single largest event in human history. This will be the first event that will touch every single living person in the world. All human activity is controlled by money. Our wealth,our work,our food,our government,even our relationships are affected by money.

No money in human history has had as much reach in both breadth and depth as the dollar. It is the de facto world currency. All other currency collapses will pale in comparison to this big one. All other currency crises have been regional and there were other currencies for people to grasp on to.

This collapse will be global and it will bring down not only the dollar but all other fiat currencies,as they are fundamentally no different. The collapse of currencies will lead to the collapse of ALL paper assets. The repercussions to this will have incredible results worldwide.

Swelling Nostalgia For Gold-Backed Money And A Balanced Budget Amendment

article by: Bill Bonner

After such stunning gains over the last few weeks, the stuff that Ben Bernanke does not regard as money, gold, needed a rest. But if gold isn’t real money, what is?  Pieces of paper that a private bank and the U.S. Treasury say is real money?

There’s no magic to money. It works as a medium of exchange and a store of value when its quantity is strictly controlled. That’s what’s nice about gold. Its quantity is controlled by nature herself. People have been trying to get around it for centuries. Alchemists labored long and hard to turn base metal into gold.

None succeeded.

Gold And Silver: We Were Right – They Were Wrong

by Brandon Smith of Alt Market

Only now, after three years of roller coaster markets, epic debates, and gnashing of teeth, are mainstream financial pundits finally starting to get it. At least some of them, anyway. Precious metals have continued to perform relentlessly since 2008, crushing all naysayer predictions and defying all the musings of so called “experts”, while at the same time maintaining and protecting the investment savings of those people smart enough to jump on the train while prices were at historic lows (historic as in ‘the past 5000 years’).  

Don’t Get Caught Holding Dollars When The U.S. Default Arrives

by: Addison Wiggin / Forbes.com

Greece can’t solve a problem of too much debt by taking on even more. We will note, however, that by some measures, the United States is even more deeply in hock than Greece.

Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio is 143%. America’s is officially 97%. But the $14.3 trillion national debt, stacked up against a $14.7 trillion economy, doesn’t tell the whole story. Look at these numbers:
• $14.3 trillion: “official” national debt
• $5 trillion: Amount Uncle Sam is on the hook for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
• $62 trillion: Total liabilities and unfunded obligations for Social Security and Medicare

That doesn’t count the black box of bailouts.

Forbes Predicts U.S. Gold Standard Within 5 Years

A return to the gold standard by the United States within the next five years now seems likely, because that move would help the nation solve a variety of economic, fiscal, and monetary ills, Steve Forbes predicted during an exclusive interview this week with HUMAN EVENTS.

“What seems astonishing today could become conventional wisdom in a short period of time,” Forbes said.

The Global Dollar Dump Is Already in Progress

The following quotes signal the beginning of the End Game for the US Dollar:

“We hope the U.S. government will take responsible policies and measures to safeguard investors’ interests,” [China’s ministry] said in a statement.

“Foreign-exchange reserves have exceeded the reasonable levels that we actually need,” [China’s central bank governor] said. “The rapid increase in reserves may have led to excessive liquidity and has exerted significant sterilization pressure. If the government doesn’t strike the right balance with its policies, the build-up could cause big risks,” he said, without elaborating.

These two statements, in plain terms, are China saying it’s sick of the US Dollar.

If It Is Time To Sell Gold Then Why Are Central Banks Hoarding Gold Like Crazy?

Has the time to sell gold now arrived?  Before you start dumping all of your gold, you might want to check out what central banks all over the globe have been doing.  There is some serious hoarding of gold that is going on.  For most of the past two decades, central banks have been net sellers of gold, but now many of them are gobbling up gold as fast as they can.

A Dollar Collapse? No Way – The U.S. Dollar Rocks! (Propaganda)

Are we on the verge of a dollar collapse?  Don't believe the skeptics.  The truth is that there is no currency in the world that is stronger than the old greenback.  The U.S. dollar is the reserve currency of the world.  Virtually all of the nations on the face of the earth use it for trading and they always will.  Why?  Because the U.S. dollar is awesome.  No currency on earth can compete with our awesomeness.  So what that the dollar hit a new all-time record low against the Swiss franc today?  Do you really want to move over with the Swissies and eat chocolate and make watches?  No, you want to live in the land of American Idol, the NFL and apple pie - the good old USA.  Who cares if it takes about a dollar and a half to buy a single euro now?  Do you really want to go live with the Frenchies and eat a bunch of French bread while you wear a beret every day?  Of course not.  There isn't going to be a dollar collapse.  As long as the USA is still number one the rest of the world is still going to need U.S. dollars.  So quit your worrying.

Ben Bernanke’s Lone Positive Legacy: A Return To The Gold Standard

by: Bill Frezza - Forbes.com


I’ll make two predictions with utter confidence. The first is that one day Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be ridden out of town on a rail, joining Arthur Burns in that special circle of hell reserved for monetary debauchers. The second is that in the aftermath of our pending inflationary disaster we will see the gold standard return.

Fed Up with the Fed?

by: Thomas Sowell

When people in Washington start creating fancy new phrases, instead of using plain English, you know they are doing something they don't want us to understand.

It was an act of war when we started bombing Libya. But the administration chose to call it "kinetic military action." When the Federal Reserve System started creating hundreds of billions of dollars out of thin air, they called it "quantitative easing" of the money supply.

When that didn't work, they created more money and called it "quantitative easing 2" or "QE2," instead of saying: "We are going to print more dollars-- and hope it works this time." But there is already plenty of money sitting around idle in banks and businesses.

No Buyers For Treasuries aka "Toxic Waste"

by: Bob Chapman

We believe there will be something similar to a QE3 by another name and the Fed will probably have to create some $2.5 trillion to buy Treasuries, Agencies, and toxic waste and perhaps inject funds into the economy. Japan certainly won’t be a buyer and probably will be a seller. China has indicated that they won’t be purchasers in the future either. The question also arises concerning the continued purchase of these securities by countries in the oil producing Gulf States, which are in turmoil. The three countries make up 45% of Treasury purchases. As we pointed out in previous issues the second half of 2011 should be monstrous. Even if the fed buys all the Treasury and Agency bonds they’ll still have to deal with a lower dollar and high inflation. Then there is high unemployment and raging gold and silver prices. There is also the question of US debt, federal, state and municipal debt, along with wars in the Middle East and North Africa. How many US Treasuries will Japan have to sell and how deeply will its slowdown effect American industry?

The Sinking Dollar

by: Craig Hasten

In case you don't follow the US Dollar index closely I thought I would bring you the latest in what I like to call " The Dollar Death Spiral".

The Dollar is heading into uncharted territory as it gets set to pass the all time low of 71.35 set on 4/22/08.

So much for that economic recovery!

With every passing day we are seeing the purchasing power of our currency being eroded away. It's the death by a 1000 paper cuts, a long slow death spiral to the bottom!

Where Were You On Super Bowl Weekend?

compliments of: tfmetalsreport.com


I was in Vegas with my friend, Sweetness. He and I gambled too much. Drank too much gin and played a little golf.

Where were you? Did you watch the game? Perhaps you had a party? Maybe you're not an american football fan so you spent the weekend relaxing and catching up. Either way, like me, you had no way of knowing what was going on behind the scenes.

My next question is: Where was Ben Bernanke? Where was Tim Geithner? Where were the rest of the Fed governors and the heads of the TBTF banks? We may never know, though history one day may record their actions for posterity.

How To Buy Gas For $0.25 Per Gallon

by: Chip Wood

Some neighbors and I were reminiscing recently about "the good old days" when the talk turned to how cheap things were back then. I immediately concurred. I told them of the very first credit card I got for one of the gas-station chains. Back then gasoline cost less than 25 cents a gallon.

And then I said something that stopped them cold: "Do you know that you can still buy gasoline for 25 cents a gallon?" They were all certain that there was a trick to my question … and there is.


My claim is absolutely, totally, 100% true – if you pay with a quarter that was minted prior to 1965.

We've written many times before about how much we like "junk silver" coins – the dimes, quarters, and half-dollars the U.S. Mint produced prior to 1965. These coins are 90% pure silver. A $1000 face value bag of them contains 712 ounces of the metal.

If You Are Against Raising The Debt Ceiling You Are Part Of Al-Qaeda?

Are you against raising the debt ceiling?  If so, according to former Bush Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill you are actually part of al-Qaeda.  Yes, seriously.  During an interview on Bloomberg TV the other day, O'Neill actually made the following statement:

"The people who are threatening not to pass the debt ceiling are our version of al-Qaeda terrorists. Really. They're really putting our whole society at risk by threatening to round up 50 percent of the members of the Congress, who are looney, who would put our credit at risk." 

An “All-In” Bet By Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke

article by: Charles Kadlec


When Ben Bernanke hosts the first ever press conference by a Federal Reserve Chairman on Wednesday, the subtext will be all about trust — trust in the Fed and the future value of the dollar.

Wednesday Could Be Scary Day

Wednesday April 27th could be the scariest day of the quarter – in fact the whole year.

As you know by now, on Wednesday Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will make history - by holding the first ever press briefing following a monetary policy decision by the central bank.

A Debt Default is Not the Real Problem for the US

article from: ZeroHedge.com

Many commentators are discussing the collapse of the US today. Indeed, the most common theme I see one of “it’s all over,” usually focusing on the math/ debt problems in the US.

Debt is a major problem, but it’s not always one that destroys everything.  History is replete with countries that defaulted on their debt… and the world kept chugging along regardless.