Ben Bernanke

Ben Bernanke Tet To Begin Fed’s Tapering Of QE

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What recovery?

– Bernanke set to begin Fed’s tapering of QE – but is the US economy ready? (Guardian Sep. 15, 2013):

After years of the Fed pumping $85bn a month into financial markets, the strength of the American recovery will be tested

As Barack Obama gears up to announce Ben Bernanke’s successor, the Federal Reserve chairman is expected to make the deeply symbolic gesture this week of announcing the beginning of the end of quantitative easing – the drastic depression-busting policy that has led the Fed to pump an extraordinary $85bn (£54bn) a month into financial markets.

It will signal the Fed’s belief that the US economy is on the mend, but it could also frighten the markets and hit interest rates. So what exactly is Bernanke doing, why now – and how might it affect the UK and other countries?

Read moreBen Bernanke Tet To Begin Fed’s Tapering Of QE

Federal Reserve Owns 31.89% Of The U.S. Treasury Market: Up 0.3% In One Week!

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Tick Tock… Tick Tock… Tick Tock…

Chart: Stone McCarthy

– The Fed Owns 31.89% Of The Bond Market: Up 0.3% In One Week (ZeroHedge, Aug 30, 2013):

We have beaten this topic to death so we won’t say much more, suffice to say the chart below shows what is the key issue: too much monetization and it’s game over for the reserve currency; too little and it’s an uncontrolled market sell off, and with every passing week the margin for error gets less and less.

  • Last week the Fed owned $1.663 trillion in ten year equivalents, or 31.59% of total
  • This week the Fed owned $1.678 trillion in ten year equivalents, or 31.89% of total

In other words, the Fed’s holdings of the Treasury market, expressed though the correct 10 Year equivalent basis not the completely wrong total notional, rose by a whopping 0.3% in one week!

Annualize that (especially without a taper) to understand just how cornered the Fed now is (especially with the TBAC already complaining non-stop about lack of Treasury liquidity and eligible private-sector collateral).

For much more on this, see here.

 

What The Federal Reserve Owns: Complete Treasury Holdings Breakdown

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– What The Fed Owns: Complete Treasury Holdings Breakdown (ZeroHedge, Aug 16, 2013):

As everyone knows (since the data is public), in the most recent week the Fed’s balance sheet rose to a record $3.646 trillion, an increase of $61 billion in the past week, and a record increase of $813 billion over the past year, a whopping 30% rise in the balance sheet in 12 short months. What may not be known is the exact distribution of Fed Treasury holdings by maturity. So without further ado, here it is. Of note, observe that what once was a predominantly ‘short-end’ balance sheet (consisting mostly of no-coupon, money equivalent Bills), has become almost entirely a “5 and over” current coupon carry affair. Which also is why the Fed now takes over the entire bond market at a rate of 0.25% per week.

Source: Goldman

Marc Faber On Central Banker Actions: ‘Insane People Don’t Realize They’re Insane’ (Video)

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– Marc Faber On Central Banker Actions: “Insane People Don’t Realize They’re Insane” (ZeroHedge, July 30, 2013):

While we know that the Fed will be forced to taper in the short-term as it desperately avoids the ‘appearance’ of outright monetization that a falling deficit will create, Marc Faber sums up the endgame perfectly in this clip: “I don’t think they will come to their senses for the simple reason that insane people don’t realize that they are insane.” Faber adds, “they think they’re doing a great job,” and in fact they believe – in general – that “if anything, we need to do more, not less.” The ‘forced-taper-to-plunge-to-untaper’ progression means it’s going to get worse; as Faber notes, QE/printing will continued indefinitely “until the system breaks down.” Having printed this much money with such dismal results, Faber concludes, “the Fed is completely clueless.”
Faber covers a wide-range of topics in this excellent interview – from Fed insanity and cluelessness to Gold confiscation and from China’s dishonesty to the destabilizing reality of Stability-hoping Keynesianism…

Will the Fed stop printing?

Read moreMarc Faber On Central Banker Actions: ‘Insane People Don’t Realize They’re Insane’ (Video)

Why Another Great Real Estate Crash Is Coming

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– Why Another Great Real Estate Crash Is Coming (Economic Collapse, Aug 1, 2013):

There are very few segments of the U.S. economy that are more heavily affected by interest rates than the real estate market is.  When mortgage rates reached all-time low levels late last year, it fueled a little “mini-bubble” in housing which was greatly celebrated by the mainstream media.  Unfortunately, the tide is now turning.  Interest rates are starting to move up steadily, even though the Federal Reserve has been trying very hard to keep that from happening.  A few weeks ago, when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested that the Fed may start to “taper” the rate of quantitative easing eventually, the bond market had a conniption and the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries shot up dramatically.  In an attempt to calm the market, the Fed stopped all talk of a “taper” and that helped settle things down for a brief period of time.  But now the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries is starting to rise aggressively again.  Today it closed at 2.71 percent, and many analysts believe that it will go much higher.  This is important for the housing market, because mortgage rates tend to follow the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries.  And if mortgage rates keep rising like this, another great real estate crash is inevitable.

Read moreWhy Another Great Real Estate Crash Is Coming

The Most Important Number In The Entire U.S. Economy

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– The Most Important Number In The Entire U.S. Economy (Economic Collapse, Aug 1, 2013):

There is one vitally important number that everyone needs to be watching right now, and it doesn’t have anything to do with unemployment, inflation or housing.  If this number gets too high, it will collapse the entire U.S. financial system.  The number that I am talking about is the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries.

When that number goes up, long-term interest rates all across the financial system start increasing. When long-term interest rates rise, it becomes more expensive for the federal government to borrow money, it becomes more expensive for state and local governments to borrow money, existing bonds lose value and bond investors lose a lot of money, mortgage rates go up and monthly payments on new mortgages rise, and interest rates throughout the entire economy go up and this causes economic activity to slow down.

On top of everything else, there are more than 440 trillion dollars worth of interest rate derivatives sitting out there, and rapidly rising interest rates could cause that gigantic time bomb to go off and implode our entire financial system. We are living in the midst of the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world, and the only way that the game can continue is for interest rates to stay super low.  Unfortunately, the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries has started to rise, and many experts are projecting that it is going to continue to rise.

Read moreThe Most Important Number In The Entire U.S. Economy

It Is Happening Again: 18 Similarities Between The Last Financial Crisis And Today

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– It Is Happening Again: 18 Similarities Between The Last Financial Crisis And Today (Economic Collapse, July 25, 2013):

If our leaders could have recognized the signs ahead of time, do you think that they could have prevented the financial crisis of 2008?  That is a very timely question, because so many of the warning signs that we saw just before and during the last financial crisis are popping up again.  Many of the things that are happening right now in the stock market, the bond market, the real estate market and in the overall economic data are eerily similar to what we witnessed back in 2008 and 2009.  It is almost as if we are being forced to watch some kind of a perverse replay of previous events, only this time our economy and our financial system are much weaker than they were the last time around.  So will we be able to handle a financial crash as bad as we experienced back in 2008?  What if it is even worse this time?  Considering the fact that we have been through this kind of thing before, you would think that our leaders would be feverishly trying to keep it from happening again and the American people would be rapidly preparing to weather the coming storm.  Sadly, none of that is happening.  It is almost as if they cannot even see the disaster that is staring them right in the face.  But without a doubt, disaster is coming.

The following are 18 similarities between the last financial crisis and today…

Read moreIt Is Happening Again: 18 Similarities Between The Last Financial Crisis And Today

Debt Levels Are Skyrocketing To Extremely Dangerous Levels – How Long Can This Possibly Keep Going?

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– Debt Levels Are Skyrocketing To Extremely Dangerous Levels – How Long Can This Possibly Keep Going? (Economic Collapse, July 24, 2013):

Never before has the world faced such a serious debt crisis.  Yes, in the past there have certainly been nations that have gotten into trouble with debt, but we have never had a situation where virtually all of the major powers around the globe were all drowning in debt at the same time.  And what makes this crisis even more unprecedented is that everyone on the planet is using fiat currency that is backed up by nothing.  It is all just a bunch of paper and data points that people have faith in.  Right now, confidence in this system is being shaken as debt levels skyrocket to extremely dangerous levels.  Many are openly wondering how much longer this can possibly go on.

Read moreDebt Levels Are Skyrocketing To Extremely Dangerous Levels – How Long Can This Possibly Keep Going?

Barclays Warns ‘End-Of-QE … Would Make 2000 Bubble Look Like A Day At The Beach’ (Video)

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– Barclays Warns “End-Of-QE.. Would Make 2000 Bubble Look Like A Day At The Beach” (ZeroHedge, July 22, 2013):

“It’s hard to make the case that [US stocks are up 17% on a 2.5% earnings rise] based on fundamentals alone – it’s money in motion,” is how Barclays’ CIO Hans Olsen describes the unreality occurring in US asset markets currently. He noted in last week’s interview with CNBC that Bernanke’s experimentation has created asset-inflation “that would make the stock market bubble of 2000 look like a day at the beach. It’s really quite remarkable.” Critically, as many have noted, he notes “let the market start to price things based on fundamentals again rather than money printing. The sooner we get back to a market pricing, the more sustainable it becomes.” What is ironic is that Olsen is overweight stocks in spite of all this – but like everyone else in the status quo – is hoping Bernanke keeps the house of cards from collapsing. Olsen appears to be among the very few career bankers willing to tell the truth – the fear being, of course (as we showed here) that it would mean their “skills” are completely meaningless. 


Hans Olsen, Chief Investment Officer, Americas at Barclays explains why his group has been engaged in the deliberate retreat and rotation from and within fixed income.

A Nightmare Scenario

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– A Nightmare Scenario (Economic Collapse, July 17, 2013):

Most people have no idea that the U.S. financial system is on the brink of utter disaster.  If interest rates continue to rise rapidly, the U.S. economy is going to be facing an economic crisis far greater than the one that erupted back in 2008.  At this point, the economic paradigm that the Federal Reserve has constructed only works if interest rates remain super low.  If they rise, everything falls apart.  Much higher interest rates would mean crippling interest payments on the national debt, much higher borrowing costs for state and local governments, trillions of dollars of losses for bond investors, another devastating real estate crash and the possibility of a multi-trillion dollar derivatives meltdown.  Everything depends on interest rates staying low.  Unfortunately for the Fed, it only has a certain amount of control over long-term interest rates, and that control appears to be slipping.  The yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries has soared in recent weeks.  So have mortgage rates.  Fortunately, rates have leveled off for the moment, but if they resume their upward march we could be dealing with a nightmare scenario very, very quickly.

In particular, the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries is a very important number to watch.  So much else in our financial system depends on that number as CNN recently explained…

Read moreA Nightmare Scenario

Inflation Is Too Low? Are You Kidding Us Bernanke?

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– Inflation Is Too Low? Are You Kidding Us Bernanke? (Economic Collapse, July 11, 2013):

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said this week that inflation in the United States needs to be higher.  Yes, he actually came right out and said that.  It almost seems as if Bernanke is trying to purposely hurt the middle class.  On Wednesday, Bernanke told the press that “both sides of our mandate are saying we need to be more accommodative“.  Of course he was referring to the Fed’s dual mandate to keep unemployment and inflation low, but Bernanke has a very unique interpretation of that mandate.  According to Bernanke, inflation in the U.S. is now “too low“.  The official inflation rate is currently sitting at about 1 percent, and Bernanke insists that such a low rate of inflation is not good for the economy.  He would prefer that the rate of inflation be up around 2 percent, and he is hoping that more “monetary accommodation” will help push inflation up and the unemployment rate down.

But what Bernanke will never admit is that the official inflation rate is a total sham.  The way that inflation is calculated has changed more than 20 times since 1978, and each time it has been changed the goal has been to make it appear to be lower than it actually is.

Read moreInflation Is Too Low? Are You Kidding Us Bernanke?

Fed’s Charles Plosser Admits Fed Was Responsible For Last Housing Bubble, Doesn’t Want To ‘Create Another’

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– Fed’s Plosser Admits Fed Was Responsible For Last Housing Bubble, Doesn’t Want To “Create Another” (ZeroHedge, July 12, 2013):

The “mutinying” half of the Fed – that which the FOMC minutes indicated wanted an end to QE by the end of 2013 – is not going to take Bernanke’s Wednesday steamrolling lying down. Enter Charles Plosser, who becomes a voting member next year:

  • PLOSSER SAYS FED SHOULD HALT QE BY END OF THIS YEAR

Good luck there. But here is the punchline:

Read moreFed’s Charles Plosser Admits Fed Was Responsible For Last Housing Bubble, Doesn’t Want To ‘Create Another’

The Mother Of All Bubbles Pops, Mess Ensues

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.- Mother Of All Bubbles Pops, Mess Ensues (Testosterone Pit, July 9, 2013):

The asset bubbles the Fed’s money-printing and bond-buying binge has created are spectacular, the risk-taking on Wall Street with other people’s money a sight to behold. Among the big winners were mortgage Real Estate Investment Trusts – and those who got fat on extracting fees. But now the pendulum is swinging back, and the bloodletting has started.

Mortgage REITs are highly leveraged. They borrow short-term in the repo market at near-zero interest rates, thanks to the Fed, then turn around and buy long-term government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities issued by bailed-out Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae. Along the way, they issue more stock and borrow even more. By distributing 90% of their profits, they avoid having to pay income taxes. Hence double-digit dividends. A phenomenal business model. Instead of getting their hands dirty in the real economy, they manufacture dividends, fees, and all sorts of goodies for insiders – while the party lasts.

But now the Fed, leery of the risks these drunken partiers were taking on, knocked on the door of that party and threatened to crash it. Annaly Capital Management, the largest mortgage REIT with $126 billion in assets as of March 31, dropped 34% from its September high to $11.53 on Wednesday; most of it since mid-March. American Capital Agency, the second largest, is even better: its entire history is linked to the Fed’s zero-interest-rate policy and money-printing binge.

Read moreThe Mother Of All Bubbles Pops, Mess Ensues

1994 Vs 2013: Spot The Carbon-Copy Similarities – ‘It Can’t Happen … It Can’t Happen … It Can’t Happen … It Just Happened’

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– 1994 vs 2013: Spot The Carbon-Copy Similarities (ZeroHedge, July 9, 2013):

The only thing that is necessary for something to happen, is for everyone to say it can’t possibly happen. Such as a carbon copy replica of the 1994 bond crush. Presenting: 1994 vs 2013, or as it is better known “It can’t happen… It can’t happen…It can’t happen…  It just happened”

And some rather spot on commentary on just this from Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd, who just like us, sees the inevitable outcome of the upcoming taper (which is coming), as the untaper, i.e., even moar printing by the Chairman (or woman as the case may be in 2014).

From Guggenheim‘s Scott Minerd

The Fed’s Bind: Tapering, Timetables and Turmoil

Read more1994 Vs 2013: Spot The Carbon-Copy Similarities – ‘It Can’t Happen … It Can’t Happen … It Can’t Happen … It Just Happened’

You Are In The Ponzi Scheme Whether You Realize It Or Not (Video)

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– You Are In The Ponzi Scheme Whether You Realize It Or Not (Monty Pelerin’s World, July 2, 2013):

The reasons for continuing to participate in stock markets are discussed in this video from Gordon T. Long and John Rubino. It all comes down to liquidity (and little else).The liquidity fraud is well advanced and likely will continue. This worldwide Ponzi scheme, engineered by governments, provides massive risks and opportunities. For those who don’t understand what is occurring, there is much to be gained from this presentation.

Mr. Rubino describes the problem the Fed’s liquidity has created. Bubbles are re-inflating just as they did prior to the 2008 collapse. Why shouldn’t they? The exact same scam is being perpetrated by government.  Another collapse will eventually occur, but its timing and form can only be speculated on.

Rubino does a good job of explaining Ludwig von Mises’  ”crack-up boom” which will ultimately destroy fiat currencies. That end leads to extremely high, probably hyper, inflation. The pieces are already in place for this outcome. All that has to happen is for banks to begin normal lending or for people to understand what is happening (or going to happen) to the value of currency. Something will ignite the timber.

Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff had to lure marks into their scams. People joined them by choice. The Ponzi scheme operated by governments is mandatory. You are in it whether you want to be or not. You are in it whether you realize it or not. The only issue is to decide is what the best way is to play this Ponzi scheme. Long and Rubino discuss your options.


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The Fed Is Paying Banks NOT To Lend 1.8 Trillion Dollars To The American People

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– The Federal Reserve Is Paying Banks NOT To Lend 1.8 Trillion Dollars To The American People (Economic Collapse, July 1, 2013):

Did you know that U.S. banks have more than 1.8 trillion dollars parked at the Federal Reserve and that the Fed is actually paying them not to lend that money to us?  We were always told that the goal of quantitative easing was to “help the economy”, but the truth is that the vast majority of the money that the Fed has created through quantitative easing has not even gotten into the system.  Instead, most of it is sitting at the Fed slowly earning interest for the bankers.  Back in October 2008, just as the last financial crisis was starting, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the Federal Reserve would start paying interest on the reserves that banks keep at the Fed.  This caused an absolute explosion in the size of these reserves.  Back in 2008, U.S. banks had less than 2 billion dollars of excess reserves parked at the Fed.  Today, they have more than 1.8 trillion.  In less than five years, the pile of excess reserves has gotten nearly 1,000 times larger.  This is utter insanity, and it will have very serious consequences down the road.

Posted below is a chart that shows the explosive growth of these excess reserves in recent years…

Read moreThe Fed Is Paying Banks NOT To Lend 1.8 Trillion Dollars To The American People

36 Tough Questions About The U.S. Economy That Everyone Should Be Asking

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– 36 Hard Questions About The U.S. Economy That The Mainstream Media Should Be Asking (Economic Collapse, June 30, 2013):

If the economy is improving, then why aren’t things getting better for most average Americans?  They tell us that the unemployment rate is going down, but the percentage of Americans that are actually working is exactly the same it was three years ago.  They tell us that American families are in better financial shape now, but real disposable income is falling rapidly.  They tell us that inflation is low, but every time we go shopping at the grocery store the prices just seem to keep going up.  They tell us that the economic crisis is over, and yet poverty and government dependence continue to explode to unprecedented heights.  There seems to be a disconnect between what the government and the media are telling us and what is actually true.  With each passing day the debt of the federal government grows larger, the financial world become even more unstable and more American families fall out of the middle class.  The same long-term economic trends that have been eating away at our economy like cancer for decades continue to ruthlessly attack the foundations of our economic system.  We are rapidly speeding toward an economic cataclysm, and yet the government and most of the media make it sound like happy days are here again.  The American people deserve better than this.  The American people deserve the truth.

The following are 36 hard questions about the U.S. economy that the mainstream media should be asking…

Read more36 Tough Questions About The U.S. Economy That Everyone Should Be Asking

‘The Dark Side of the QE Circus’

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– “The Dark Side of the QE Circus” (Silver Bear Cafe, June 25, 2013):

There may come a day soon where the markets sell off if one of the whiskers in Big Ben’s beard is out of place. Or perhaps if his tie is a bit crooked. Or maybe we end up with Janet Yellen as the next puppet in charge over at the local banking cabal and we fret about her hairdo. I don’t know, but one thing that is for certain is that this central bank so wants to be loved and we are so under psychological attack with all of this QE nonsense that it isn’t even funny.

QE is the endgame. ZIRP was only the beginning. QE, or monetization (which they’ll never call it because of the negative connotations), is the heroic measure applied to an already dead system. Our system, for all intent and purposes, died in 2008. It ceased to exist. The investing, economic, and business paradigm that has existed since is drastically different than its predecessor despite all the efforts being made to convince everyone, including Humpty Dumpty, that it is in fact 2005 all over again.

Quantitative Conditioning

Now we get to the fun part of the game. This is the part where the not-so-USFed wants to give the idea that it is tapering (buzzword of the month) without actually doing so. There will be no tapering. There will be no end to QE. The goose (Americans and their willingness to continue to pile up debt) is still laying the golden eggs. And even if they make paper contracts on those golden eggs gyrate wildly in price, they still want them. The quislings on television who are gleefully bashing precious metals this morning? They want them. They want your physical metal. These folks will swim through any sewer to get that which they desire. If you don’t understand the Machiavellian nature of your enemy, then you’re in for an extremely rough ride. This is no playground. This is a battlefield (credit to Chuck Baldwin). They’re playing chess and we’re still playing Tiddly Winks.

Read more‘The Dark Side of the QE Circus’

The Trigger Has Been Pulled And The Slaughter Of The Bonds Has Begun

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– The Trigger Has Been Pulled And The Slaughter Of The Bonds Has Begun (Economic Collapse, June 25, 2013):

What does it look like when a 30 year bull market ends abruptly?  What happens when bond yields start doing things that they haven’t done in 50 years?  If your answer to those questions involves the word “slaughter”, you are probably on the right track.  Right now, bonds are being absolutely slaughtered, and this is only just the beginning.  Over the last several years, reckless bond buying by the Federal Reserve has forced yields down to absolutely ridiculous levels.  For example, it simply is not rational to lend the U.S. government money at less than 3 percent when the real rate of inflation is somewhere up around 8 to 10 percent.  But when he originally announced the quantitative easing program, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that he intended to force interest rates to go down, and lots of bond investors made a lot of money riding the bubble that Bernanke created.  But now that Bernanke has indicated that the bond buying will be coming to an end, investors are going into panic mode and the bond bubble is starting to burst.  One hedge fund executive told CNBC that the “feeling you are getting out there is that people are selling first and asking questions later”.  And the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries just keeps going up.  Today it closed at 2.59 percent, and many believe that it is going to go much higher unless the Fed intervenes.  If the Fed does not intervene and allows the bubble that it has created to burst, we are going to see unprecedented carnage.

Markets tend to fall faster than they rise.  And now that Bernanke has triggered a sell-off in bonds, things are moving much faster than just about anyone anticipated…

Read moreThe Trigger Has Been Pulled And The Slaughter Of The Bonds Has Begun

Marc Faber: ‘Believing In Bernanke Is Like Believing In Santa Claus’ – S&P 500 Could Fall 20% To 30% (Bloomberg Video)

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– Marc Faber: “Believing In Bernanke Is Like Believing In Santa Claus” (ZeroHedge, June 21, 2013):

“If you believe that [Bernanke] means what he says,” explains Gloom, Boom, and Doom’s Marc Faber to a spell-bound Trish Regan on Bloomberg TV, “then you believe in Father Christmas.” Simply out, Faber adds, “we are going to see QE99,” and while he notes that equities, bonds, and gold are “very oversold,” he would “rather buy bonds and gold than equities.” From his views on Laszlo Birinyi to inflation, the ‘taper’, US housing, and China, Faber calmly warns that “the S&P could drop 20-30% from the recent highs – easily.”“The only thing that I know is that I want to own some physical gold because I don’t want all of my assets in financial assets.”

Faber on whether problems will continue for the equity markets:

“Well, right now equities, bonds and gold are very oversold. They can easily rally on the S&P. We could rally 43, 50 points, but I don’t expect a new high. Just in case a new high would be achieved in the next two months or so, it would not be confirmed by the majority of shares. In other words, very few stocks would lead the advance. In terms of bonds, they are also incredibly oversold. Where the sentiment about equities is actually still rather positive and all of these super bulls still predicting the market to continue to rise into 2014, 2015. In bonds and gold, sentiment is by historical standards incredibly negative. As a contrarian, I would rather buy bonds and gold than equities.”

On whether yields will be higher if Bernanke meant what he said on starting to taper sooner rather than later:

“If you say that if he means what he says, then you believe in Father Christmas. He said if the economy does not meet the expectations of the fed in one years’ time, they will consider additional measures. In other words, if the economy has not fully recovered by mid-2014, more QE will be forthcoming. As I said already three years ago, we are going to go with the Fed to QE99.”

On whether he’s investing with a backdrop of no inflation:

“Well, I think investors have a misconception about what inflation is because it is essentially an increase in the quantity of money and credit. We have wage deflation in the world in real terms, for sure. In other words, real wages are going down and the cost of living everywhere are going up. That is why you have social unrest in North Africa, in the Middle East, in Turkey, in Brazil, and it will spread because the average person on the street hasn’t participated in the huge asset inflation that has been going on in high-end properties, Mayfair properties, Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, the Hamptons and in equities and until recently in bonds and commodities.”

On Laszlo Birinyi saying that gold is his biggest short:

“To that I respond there are many people out there, they never owned an ounce of gold in their lives. They were bearish about gold at $300, bearish about gold at $700, bearish about the stock market in 2009 when the S&P was at 666. Now, they are bullish about stocks and they are still bearish about gold. The commercial hedgers – these are professional miners, mining companies and people involved in gold trading. They have the lowest short exposure, since 2001 when gold was at $300. Similarly, in the silver market, the commercial hedgers, again, the professionals have the lowest short exposure since 2001. I would rather bet on the commercial miners, the commercial hedgers than on some forecaster who knows about the future of prices as little as I know. The only thing that I know is that I want to own some physical gold because I don’t want all of my assets in financial assets.”

Read moreMarc Faber: ‘Believing In Bernanke Is Like Believing In Santa Claus’ – S&P 500 Could Fall 20% To 30% (Bloomberg Video)

Hong Kong Hedge Fund Manager William Kaye On The Massive Gold And Silver Plunge: ‘It’s The End Game Of A Fantastic Manipulation Of The Markets’

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More here:

– Stunning Volume On Gold & Silver Smash In Suspect Trading (King Wolrd News, June 20, 2013):

…

“And if you need to sell, why are you selling at the worst time of day?  Why are you selling in Asian time, which is always the thinnest section of trading?  Why don’t you wait for London and Chicago to take over?

And the answer is very obvious:  These markets are clearly and blatantly being manipulated.  The people doing it have clear price objectives.  My guess is they want to see a print below $1,300 (on gold) before they are done.  That will allow people (trading for the bullion banks) to make profits on their shorts.

…

Bernanke On Soaring Interest Rates: ‘We Were A Little Puzzled By That’

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– Bernanke On Soaring Interest Rates: “We Were A Little Puzzled By That” (ZeroHedge, June 19, 2013):

Almost exactly 8 years after Greenspan’s now infamous “conundrum” comments about the unprecedented persistence of low, long-term interest rates, Bernanke is now “puzzled” at the dramatic rise in interest rates following his recent Taper remarks. Have no fear though, just as Greenspan noted, “I’m reasonably certain we would not automatically assume that it would mean what it meant in the past, ” Bernanke said today that the “sharp rise in rates”, was not about the Taper but “due to other factors, including optimism about the economy.”

Perhaps more importantly, today for the first time someone, not Hilsenrath of course, had the guts to ask Bernanke the hardest question: is the Fed’s “Stock not Flow” worldview broken, and was it wrong all along (as we have been alleging all along)? Of course, the implications of the Fed being wrong on this most critical aspect of monetary theory opens up a hornet’s next of Pandora’s boxes: just what else is the Fed wrong about, and how much will Bernanke be “puzzled” when one by one all of his flawed theories are revealed to be nothing but religious dogma.

Read moreBernanke On Soaring Interest Rates: ‘We Were A Little Puzzled By That’

Ron Paul: ‘It’s Going to Get Much, Much Worse’ (June 9, 2013)

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– Ron Paul: It’s Going to Get Much, Much Worse (Peak Prosperity, June 10,2013):

Dr. Ron Paul has long been a leading voice for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, sound money, civil liberty, and non-interventionist foreign policies.

His last term in the U.S. House of Representatives ended earlier this year, so we caught up with the former Congressman to get his latest perspective on how successfully our national leadership is dealing with America’s economic challenges.

In Dr. Paul’s assessment, Washington is too committed to deficit spending and the debt-based economy – both operationally and philosophically – to expect it to embrace a more fiscally-responsible model without a forcing crisis (which he believes is coming):

Read moreRon Paul: ‘It’s Going to Get Much, Much Worse’ (June 9, 2013)