Listen To Fear-Mongers, Get Rich

Author: Dan Chakonas  |  Category: Economy, Government, Investing

A few people in the media in collusion with certain members of congress are accusing people who tell you to buy gold as being “fear-mongers” who just want to make money for themselves etc. Well, as you can see from this chart, what has been a better investment the past few years, gold or the S&P 500? So if these people were “fear-mongers”  as they are described, you would have made alot of money listening to them! That is odd huh? Maybe, just maybe, they weren’t “fear-mongers,” but rational economic analysts and others who were worried about global instability and currency problems? Nah, that can’t be it.

Sometimes I own alot of gold in various forms. Other times, not as much. Sometimes, not at all. I am not telling you to buy gold. Buy it, don’t buy it, I don’t care. However, it should interest you that people have been telling you to stay away from gold for years as it has risen while stocks have been terrible.

The blue line is gold and the orange line is the S&P 500.

Real Recovery?

Author: Dan Chakonas  |  Category: Economy, Government

I had a conversation with someone yesterday about the FED’s interest rate policy and the booming expansionary recovery that our corrupt media tells us is taking place. He is a huge Obama fan and a Keynesian. Here is how it went…

HIM: I really think this is a real robust V shaped recovery. Obama’s stimulus worked and he saved us.

ME: OK, if that is true then we should raise interest rates back to a normal level so we don’t get hit with inflation.

HIM: Whoa, we can’t do that . That will kill the economy!

ME: You just said we had a robust recovery. If it was so robust, we wouldn’t need virtually zero interest rates.

I could have talked about so many other economic issues like unemployment for example, but why? My point here cuts to the core flaw with the argument that we are in a robust recovery. I see this on CNBC all the time. People say the economy is great and getting better and then bristle when higher interest rates are proposed.

The recovery is not real if it only can exist in a basically zero interest rate environment. A complete idiot could make tons of money if they were allowed to borrow unlimited money from the FED at .25%.

Oil

Author: Dan Chakonas  |  Category: Economy, Government

As of the close Friday, oil is $75.11 a barrel. Remember that the market has been crushed the last 5 days on fears of huge debt and continued economic weakness and oil fell right along with the market. Until this latest drop it had been above $80 for almost 3 months and was on the way to $90.

We still have a weak economy here in the USA and the dollar has actually held up pretty well lately. Yet, oil has climbed. Remember the last time that oil was climbing like this towards $150 we had an extremely weak dollar and a strong economy with much lower unemployment than we have now. This is a big problem.

While the economy in the USA is still limping along, most of Asia is booming. Bubble or not, for now they have a demand for commodities including oil. Top notch investors know that all paper money is suspect right now. Government around the world to varying degrees have spent trillions of dollars they do not have to bail out everyone and engage in massive government intervention. Oil (and gold) is being used as a de facto currency right now which means more accumulation by professional traders, countries, and even the people who run pension funds. This puts upward pressure on the price.

Obama’s latest sham announcement of new drilling is a complete lie from top to bottom. Net, it is a loss for oil production. He locked up tons of resources and said in a few years their will be lease sales. Yeah, good luck with that guys. Even if Obama was really interested in this, he would get rolled by the oil companies. He’s already been rolled by Wall Street and all our enemies. Sarah Palin kicked the oil companies asses and in the process got more oil to market for the people. She would lift all restrictions and play hard ball. She would cut good deals that incentivize new production while making sure that we aren’t getting ripped off. She has done it before! Of course, she’s the dummy according to the media and Obama is the genius. I want you to remember that when you are cursing up a storm as you fill up your gas tank.

With the terrible oil spill in the gulf, idiots are out in force declaring that no more offshore drilling be allowed. Their stupidity will actually result in more oil spill accidents and higher prices. Less offshore drilling here means far more oil tankers from overseas will be needed to bring us IMPORTED OIL. Tankers are far more likely to have accidents. Lack of production means upward pressure on price, and our current government has no interest in increasing production. Actions speaks louder than words.

The dollar has been stronger lately, but do not be fooled. This is happening because the Euro is in full meltdown as the European socialist welfare state collapses into riots and anarchy. By comparison right now, I suppose the dollar is good. Eventually, the dollar will return to its weakness. After all, are the fundamentals for the dollar strengthening or weakening? Trillions of new debt is obviously a sign of weakness. Other countries forming a cabal to replace the dollar with a currency that is backed by commodities is obviously a sign of weakness. I could go on.

Now, what happens when the economy does actually pick up and demand increases? What happens when the weakened dollar returns to put more pressure on commodities priced in dollars like oil?

Do I have to answer this question? Isn’t it obvious?