NSA Has Access to German Airlines Systems
The reach of the NSA is simply unbelievable. The NSA has access to the booking system of Lufthansa. The American security authorities may intervene directly in the booking system of Lufthansa of course on the pretense of terrorists who probably announce their plans on Facebook, are using Windows 8 laptops, search via Google, and check financial investment quotes and their horoscopes via Yahoo. Apparently the NSA makes good use of this opportunity to look at domestic flights within Europe. Lufthansa has confirmed that it provides data to the U.S. authorities. So the widespread snooping has practical consequences for every European. The arbitrariness of the NSA is unsettling. A man the US wanted for drugs was on an Iberian flight from Spain to South America direct. The US sent up two fighter jets to force the commercial airline to land in Miami so they could then arrest the drug dealer. This snooping is not limited to terrorism. Its main purpose is to seek out money.
Gold Continues to Rise in India
The most important aspect to understand about BULL MARKETS is the proper definition
- for a bull market to occur, the item must rise in terms of ALL currencies otherwise it is merely adjusting for local conditions.
Illustrated above is gold expressed in a basket of currencies and dollars. While everyone was so bullish on gold and calling for it to go back to $1,000 after 1985, these two charts showed why gold was NOT in a bull market and the trend was merely being disguised by 40% swings in the currency.
Right now, despite the Indian government’s best efforts to curb their citizens from buying gold, the black market for gold is rising. This is not because gold is in a BULL MARKET, it is because of the plummeting rupee. This is the same problem we had with gold following 1985 and the formation of the G5 who publicly declared they wanted the dollar to decline by 40%. Gold rallied, but only in dollars. In terms of a basket of currencies, it was still declining and continued its bear market into 1999.
Right now, gold hit a nine-month high on India’s domestic bullion market over the weekend. This is NOT bullish for gold in dollars, only in isolated terms of the rupee. When we look at not just the capital flows, but the movement of gold and where it goes the facts are interesting and support what has been going on in Asia. Yes, the gold ETFs hit a record of some 2,632 tonnes (93 million ounces) in December 2012. However, during the first half of this year, the outflows of gold reached about 670 tonnes. The selling of gold continued until August with the losses amounting to nearly $60 billion.
If we look closely, the gold that flowed out of the UK moved typically to Switzerland where the refiners are located. This was almost 800 tonnes for the first half of the year. For the same period, that flow was only 92 tonnes for 2012. From Switzerland, the gold typically moves to then Hong Kong. But the outflow from the Swiss was less than half that meaning that more than 400 tonnes remained in Switzerland.
Therefore, almost 400 tonnes flowed to Asia. This has been a hedge against the falling Asian currencies rather than a buying for the sake of expecting gold to rally to new highs right now. We are dealing with localized currency issues. The catalyst for the real BULL MARKET in gold will come most likely after 2015.75 when people begin to question government on a more worldwide scale (assuming Obama does not start World War III to cover-up the debt crisis). Ask the average person if he thinks the US government will not honor its obligations and they will ask you if you left your tin-foil hat in the car.
Understanding that it is not just gold that rises when a currency declines, but all tangible forms of assets including stocks and real estate is vital to your financial survival. Even when there was the hyperinflation in Germany, the new currency that replaced the inflated currency was backed by real estate – not gold. It is everything that rises since everything has an international value be it labor or property that ultimately attracts capital. Companies are moving back offices to Poland because they have an educated work force, are politically stable, and are very cheap. China began seeing jobs move to the Philippines and India because their labor began to rise and the quality was questionable in many areas.
I saw London real estate in British pounds at record highs in 1985 when the pound fell to US$1.03. Foreign capital poured in while local capital could not see the international value since they were still viewing it in pounds, not through the eyes of dollar investors.
Currency is a language. If I said I will give you $1 trillion Zimbabwe dollars during the inflation, you would have pick up a paper to try to figure out what that was worth in your own currency. Then and only then could you make a judgment of value. No matter what you think about money, even the wildest gold promoters express their projections still in dollars to give you an idea of value. That is how we measure wealth – not in gold. We do not recalculate into grams of gold. We see our local currency as the measurement of value. India is doing the same thing.
Obama Under Pressure on His Syria Nonsense
Obama is not finding it as easy to start a war as Dick Cheney via his patsy George Bush, Jr. Three letters were delivered from Congress to Obama. They informed him that he should not go to war with Syria before Congress returns. Obama tried to skirt that issue of not consulting Congress by just callingJohn A. Boehner so he could claim he consulted Congress. It is clear he is doing his best to circumvent the democratic process.
Obama had both France and Britain behind him because they desperately need war they belief to occupy the youth and to revitalize the economy as they think World War II did economically. The US will not get UN support for both China and Russia will veto the USA. There is no plan whatsoever going forward. Now Obama claims it would be just a strike to “punish” Syria not to remove the government. If the government falls, you will have another Iran and the entire region will become far more dangerous.
The Dow has rebounded and gold backed off into today so even though today may provide the reactions in these markets, it appears we may not elect any weekly numbers tomorrow. European stocks rallied followed by the US shares. The dollar rose against the safe haven yen though hard-hit currencies in India, Brazil and Indonesia bounced higher against the greenback as their central banks moved to stem capital outflows. It is interesting that the yen would become the safe haven showing how capital flees the conflict and that meant Europe and the USA.
Obama has been backing off claiming it will be just a limited military strike. However, he has put ships in harm’s-way and Syria does have the capability to sink one. It appears that Obama may be banking on Syria retaliating and he can then claim it is an act of war. Yet political divisions are emerging in Britain and the USA where many lawmakers seem intent to delay any imminent action, giving investors a reason to take a breather. People are playing Kerry’s comments how there was overwhelming evidence to invade Iraq and currently where he seems to just replace Iraq with Syria. Nothing that was uncontroverted evidence proved real with Iraq and the people who died fighting are the lucky ones compared to the soldiers who have to live the rest of their lives maimed all for Kerry’s bullshit. These people are excessively caviler with the lives of the people who they send to defend their made-up nonsense.
In the oil markets, the reduced likelihood of an immediate major supply disruption saw Brent crude drop below $115 a barrel, ending its strongest two-day gain since January 2012. U.S. oil dropped by $1.50 a barrel to a low of $108.60 following its near 4 percent gain over the past two days. Syria is not an oil producer so it is collateral damage that is interesting.
The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 45 countries, was virtually flat by mid-morning in Europe; however, it lost two percent this week as the Syrian tension escalated. The expected reduction in the Federal Reserve’s stimulus policy has too many people thinking the economy will collapse. These concerns about the Fed’s next move that have dominated the markets and investors, came into focus when the U.S. economy accelerated more quickly than expected in the second quarter thanks to a surge in exports. This is bolstering the case for the Federal Reserve to wind down a major economic stimulus program. The Fed will cut back on the $85 billion a month it has been buying to boost economic activity, but this has been largely a nonissue since it has been stimulating banks not the economy.
On the Sovereign Debt Crisis front, an auction of new Italian debt showed investors remained concerned about the shaky coalition with the government borrowing costs over five years rising. The entire EuroZone Crisis is not finished and long-term confidence has been shaken, which is why they need a war in their minds.
World currency markets have stabilized, with the dollar rising against major developed world currencies, while the actions among some emerging market nations limited their losses against the greenback. In emerging markets, Brazil’s decision to raise its benchmark interest rate to a 16-month high of 9 percent on Wednesday helped stabilize the real. Indonesia saw the rupiah strengthened slightly after its central bank hiked its key lending rates as well. The Indian rupee rose as high as 66.85 per dollar, up sharply from a record low of 68.85 per dollar hit on Wednesday when its central bank moved to provide dollars directly to oil companies to give the currency some relief. Emerging market currencies in countries with high current account deficits such as India, Turkey and Brazil have plunged between 12 and 18 percent against the dollar this year. We are seeing the net capital outflows from these regions.
If these people could start a war and kill off the youth, then they can reduce the unemployment without reforming government or letting go of any power.
Saudis offer Russia secret oil deal if it drops Syria
The decision to go into Syria has been in the works. Europe and the USA need a war to divert everyone from the economic crisis that is looming. According to the British newspaper the Telegraph, Saudi Arabia’s Bandar threatened Putin with Olympic terror if he backed Syria. These people are really messing with the wrong guy. Putin is not the coward and he has been building his troops and even has been doing joint exercises with China.
Prince Bandar has reportedly pledged to safeguard Russia’s naval base in Syria if the Assad regime is toppled, but he also hinted at Chechen terrorist attacks on Russia’s Winter Olympics in Sochi if there is no accord. Bandar allegedly said. “I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us.”