Auld Lang Syne

Nearly everyone is familiar with the popular song sung on New Years Eve. But most have probably wondered what the words actually mean. These three words were the title of a Scottish poem by Robert Burns in 1788 according to www.wikipedia.org. The words literally translated mean "old long since" or more commonly used as "long, long ago".

So as you sing the popular verse tonight, think about what the words really mean.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' lang syne ?

Should we really wait until the end of the year before we think about our past relationships and friends? What about the people we care about now? As our fast paced lives get more and more hectic year by year, we need to remind ourselves about the truly important people in our lives, past and present.

Let me give you some examples.

I know parents will be able to relate to this. Imagine your loud and obnoxious teenager leaves with the car one afternoon to go to the mall. Hours later he has not returned. You begin to wonder why he has been gone so long. Your anxiety builds with each passing minute. Your imagination begins to think of countless possibilities for the delay, each one becoming more and more distressing. Minutes seem like hours. Hours begin to turn into eternity fearing the most dreadful possible outcomes.

Later that evening, he strolls in the door like nothing has happened. Your frantic nerves are shot. You barrage him with questions about where he was and your concern. You convey that you were about to call the police. He casually answers that he met some friends and went to movie and forgot to call, wondering what the big deal is. How precious is that relationship now when you think that it could have been gone in an instant?

Or, think about what Jimmy Stewart learned in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life". With the help of his guardian angel Clarence, he got to learn what things would be like without him. The town was totally different, the people he cared about did not know him and were much worse off. He was not there to save his little brother from drowning in the frozen pond, and because of that, his little brother never became a war hero saving the lives of many fellow soldiers on a plane. And on and on.

After this lesson sunk in with Jimmy, everything had new meaning. From the movie theater in town to the rickety banister that kept popping off. And of course, his wife, children, friends, and all the other people he helped through his family's savings and loan bank meant so much more to him.

Do we really have to experience some drastic occurrence before we too realize what is really important in our lives? Do we only think about our departed friends and loved ones lost long long ago only one day a year?

Our relationships are precious. From the time God gave Adam a helpmate to him from one of his ribs, we were meant to have others around us to help us and strengthen us.

Let us never forget our loved ones and friends. Not one day a year, but all the time.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman,'
for she was taken out of man."

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Genesis 2:20-24 (NIV)

If you have questions or comment, please feel free to contact me at the address below:
Email: DeltaInspire@hushmail.com

The Bucket List

I apologize to my regular readers for the prolonged absence. The past six months have been very challenging for me personally, so I have not been able to post frequently.

As stated before, I am somewhat of a movie buff. I just had a chance to see the movie "The Bucket List" released last year starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Both men meet in a hospital room where they each are dealing with terminal cases of cancer. One is a billionaire, the other a mechanic. Outside of their imminent futures, they have nothing in common.

They decide to make a list of things to do before they "kick the bucket", but want it to be a positive experience rather than just waiting to die. This brings me back to the title of this blog and why I started writing these posts 15 months ago. What is the meaning of life? How do we want to be remembered? What is our purpose for our lives?

The most telling thing about the movie can be summed up in two questions asked while looking at the Great Pyramids in Egypt. Have you experience joy in your life? Have others experience joy because of you?

There is a lot to contemplate in the last two paragraphs. The question is, do you want to answer those questions?

The past 15 months I've tried to share many insights and things I've picked up over the years. The more I learn, the more questions I have. I don't have all the answers. No one does. I have tried to make a positive difference in the lives of others. I have no regrets. One life at a time. One person at a time.

What about you? What is important to you? What gives your life meaning? On your deathbed, what do you have to say? How do you want to be remembered? Did you have an impact on others?

The last several months the financial markets have been in turmoil to say the least. If you create wealth, does that really change things? In the movie, the billionaire still faced imminent death. It did allow them to do their final wish list and enjoy those experiences that they never had before. But nonetheless, we all die. We cannot take material things with us.

Wealth only allows more choices while you are alive. Because of wealth, you may be able to impact far more people, either positively or negatively. As I like to say, the choice is yours.

What will you put on your bucket list? Don't wait until you have a terminal disease to do it.

Live each day as if it is your last. As always, the choice is yours.

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever. Psalm 23 (NIV)

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at the address below.

Email: DeltaInspire@hushmail.com

New contact information

Due to a number of reasons, I have a new email account for those who wish to contact me. It is DeltaInspire@hushmail.com.

Please feel free to use it for questions or comments.
DeltaInspire

Being Grateful

We are fast approaching the holiday of Thanksgiving in America. It is a time when we are to be grateful of the blessings that we have received. It has its roots as being a autumn harvest festival starting with the Plymouth Pilgrims in 1621. There are even records of previous Thanksgivings held at St. Augustine in Florida beginning in 1565, but the Pilgrims are most remembered.

On a lighter note, some in 2008 are simply thankful that the presidential election is over, and the end to constant bombardment in the media of sound bites and commercials trying to sway voters.

This has been a very trying year for many. The stock market is down more than 40%, the economy has been sluggish at best and with a very dim outlook on the near future. What do we have to be grateful for?

Let's just start with the basics. Each of us are still alive and breathing. Nearly everyone of us certainly look like we have not missed a meal in some time. Most of us have loving and caring families that despite differences, tend to make up and come together for the holidays. Most of us have jobs or a way to earn an income for the time being at least. Providing for our families has always been a priority even dating back far before the Pilgrims. And on a more spiritual sense, most believe in a loving God that will provide for our needs.

Despite all that will seem to be the bleakest of times, there are always things to be thankful for. To fall back to the analogy of the half-full glass, there are always positives to be looked at in every situation. Perception is a very personal thing as I have pointed out before. You control what you think and respond, no one else does. When you think otherwise, you are out of control. You become a slave to the situation or person. Exercise your brain. Exercise your freedom to choose.

As always, the choice is yours.

I ask again, what do you have to be grateful for?

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 136:1 (KJV)

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

Also please note that you should now be able to leave anonymous comments to this blog without having a Google account (I finally found the settings tab!). If you find an interesting post in the past, feel free to comment.

Invisible Boundaries

I apologize to my regular readers for my recent absence. I've been out of town for two weeks.

Did you ever think about why your life is the way it is? Before I get into this, read the following sentence and count the number of times the letter f appears.

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC
STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS

How many did you count? Three? Would you be surprised to learn that there are actually six f's in that statement? How many times did you see the word 'of'? It's so simple, that our brain sometimes ignores the obvious even though it might be right in front of us.

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
--Aldous Huxley

Let me give you something else to think on. Consider the following social experience.

Start with a cage containing five monkeys.

Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.

After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.

Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done round here.

So what does bananas and monkeys or counting f's have to do with invisible boundaries? The point is we see what we want to see. We do what we want to do as long as it is accepted among those around us. But is the world that we have around us reality, or is it just the boundaries we constructed to make us comfortable? Did the replaced monkeys ever feel the cold water? No. But they did feel the attacks and learned what not to do. There is an English proverb that says One who makes no mistakes, never makes anything.

Meanwhile, there are opportunities all around us every day to change our lives. Some may be attractive, some not. Just as when we don't see the 'of' because it is so simple, many times others have to point out the obvious before it registers with our brain.

Now, let me add another level of complexity to the situation. Everyone understands what 2 dimensional means such as a piece of paper - length times width, but no depth. 3 dimensional adds depth such as a box or a cube so that something can be stored inside it. The fourth dimension is usually referred to as time. For example, a person can occupy the same space that another person did earlier, such as in a bathroom. For many reasons, it's not a good idea to share the same space at the same time!

So where am I going with all of this? What if you had a chance to meet yourself 30 years from now? What do you think 'your older self' would tell you to do now? Do you think your older self would tell you take more risks or play things more cautiously?

The answer to this really depends on the choices your have made with your life to date. Have you made horrible decisions in the past that carry consequences you are dealing with? Or, have you played it safe and are stuck with your life being boring and uneventful?

Earlier today I was driving to an event with some friends. We were talking about the location of our destination. Since I was driving, I was familiar with one way to go. My friends knew the area better and suggested an alternate route. Let's say it took the same time to get to the destination. Which way was better? Was it the way I had gone hundreds of times or the new way? Was there something wrong with the new way? No.

It's just because I was comfortable with what I knew. Habits are familiar. Our lives are probably comfortable because we are used to our surroundings. But are those lives truly fulfilled? Is living a fulfilled life even a possibility?

Now that we have a new president-elect of Barack Obama, many think that he can bring change. Obviously, this is why he was elected. But I will challenge you this - name one example of just one person you know that their life was made significantly better by a decision made by the government. I would be greatly shocked if there is one.

All the time we wait for someone else to act. It's easy to blame our misfortunes on the economy or the government or the current target of society's persecution. What about us? Don't we make the decisions that direct our lives? Aren't we driving the car of our own life?

As I have described my motto in this blog many times, here it is one more time.

Information is not knowledge without action!
Knowledge creates choices
Choices allow us to change our lives

As always, the choice is yours! Choose your own path wisely.


When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.

The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.

Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.

The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them,
but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness. Proverbs 11:2-5 (NIV)

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Most have heard the story of the boy who cried wolf! It was one of Aesop's fables written in 1673. For those who haven't heard it, here is a condensed version.

There was a Shepherd Boy who tended his sheep at the foot of a mountain near a dark forest. It was lonely for him, so he devised a plan to get a little company. He rushed down towards the village calling out "Wolf, Wolf," and the villagers came out to meet him. This pleased the boy so much that a few days after he tried the same trick, and again the villagers came to his help. Shortly after this a Wolf actually did come out from the forest. The boy cried out "Wolf, Wolf," still louder than before. But this time the villagers, who had been fooled twice before, thought the boy was again lying, and nobody came to his aid. So the Wolf made a good meal off the boy's flock.

The moral of the story is that a liar will never be believed, even when he is telling the truth.

So why I am writing about this? Well, for the last year, I've included many stories and warnings about the sagging economy and its likely demise. My last post recapping many of those warnings document this fact. I am certainly no liar, but because my warnings may have sounded incredible, they were not listened to by many.

Well, look at what is happening to the economy and the stock market now. Was I lying? Here are a few notes from today's headlines.

• US stocks fell for an eight consecutive day during a roller coaster session that sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its biggest point swing ever.
  
• The Dow posted its steepest weekly slide ever in its history falling to 8,451.19
  
• The S&P 500 index had its worst week since 1933 falling to 899.22
  
• The Dow and S&P 500 index are down 18.2% for the week, reaching lowest levels in 5 1/2 years
• The S&P 500's eight day losing streak is its longest since 1996
• Both the Dow and the S&P 500 are down more than 40% since their peaks reached last October
  
• The price of oil dropped below $80 per barrel for the first time in a year on concern the weakening economy will hurt demand
• The Main Street Bank of Northville, Michigan and the Meridian Bank of Eldred, Illinois were closed by regulators today, boosting the total to 15 banks that have failed this year
• Sellers of credit-default protection on bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. will have to pay 91.375 cents on the dollar to settle the contracts, setting up the biggest-ever payout in the $55 trillion derivatives market

That was just today. Earlier in the week, central banks from around the world including the Federal Reserve all lowered their key interest rates by .5 percent or 50 basis points. The federal funds rate in the US is now down to 1.5%. This was a desperate attempt to instill confidence on the crumbling stock markets from around the world. Not even after the $700 billion bailout package which was approved last week eased fears of the rapidly slumping economy.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson signaled his top priority, having secured $700 billion rescue package from Congress, will be to buy equity in financial companies to restore market stability and ensure economic growth.

The International Monetary Fund earlier this week said banks around the world would need $675 billion in fresh capital in the next several years to recover from the credit crisis. The IMF also raised its estimate of losses tied to U.S. loans and securitized assets to $1.4 trillion -- roughly half of which have already been written down or recognized as losses.

Wolf! Maybe someone will listen now.

So what does this all mean? Ordo ab chao. Latin for "order from chaos". If you have read the History of Money series beginning January 28, 2008, you will find that the manipulators have used this formula time and time again throughout history. This is the Hegelian dialect of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. An event is created to cause a problem, resources are made available to combat or correct the conditions of the problem, and then a solution is created that they always wanted that would not have been possible if the problem didn't exist.

First, the sub-prime mortgage crisis was initially created by the Federal Reserve knocking interest rates down to 1% in 2003. This started a mad frenzy of banks and mortgage companies allowing prospective homeowners to buy homes with little or no money down because money was so cheap. Many got suckered into interest only loans on these mortgages on homes that they could barely afford. When interest rates went back up to 5% in 2005, the corresponding adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) went up as well. Many ARMs have caps on them allowing only a 1% increase per year. Thus, it took 2-3 years for many of these mortgages to hit monthly payment levels the mortgagees couldn't pay. They start defaulting on these loans (August 2007). The banks and mortgage companies start getting into trouble.

Meanwhile, the big banks and investment firms start bundling big blocks of mortgages as security for investments (credit-default swaps, CDS). Nothing is more secure than real estate, right?! It's like an insurance policy for an investments. But because they called them credit-default swaps, the regulation is not as strict as for insurance. For several years, these investments do really well. Everyone is making money and happy. Little did the buyers of these credit-default swaps know that the mortgages the investments were secured by were very shaky to begin with. (By the way, CDSs are just the tip of the iceberg when you consider the magnitude of the $400 trillion derivative market.)

When the sub-prime mortgage crisis started to unravel, the investment banks and mortgage companies started to sweat. But, most of these derivative investments were sold off to other investors, so they would probably be OK. Then, more and more homes were foreclosed on because people couldn't make their payments. As the foreclosures mounted, the banks could no longer hide their tenuous position. Liquidity dropped because the monthly payments were not being made. This would weaken their reserve requirement with the Federal Reserve of keeping approximately 10% of all money loaned out. Hence, you begin to have bank failures. This also caused many of the mortgage companies that underwrote the loans to have liquidity problems such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

So the dominoes start falling. Bear Stearns, IndyMac, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Wachovia, Washington Mutual, Lehman Brothers Holding, American Internation Group, etc. etc. Many of the smaller banks and investment companies are getting sold off at pennies on the dollar to the larger banks and to the Treasury. Can the US taxpayer afford this? Absolutely not! But what the heck, what is another trillion or so in debt. The $700 billion bailout is just the beginning.

Gross U.S. debt, which includes debt held by the public and by government agencies, this year reached about $9.6 trillion, or about 68 percent of gross domestic product. The rescue legislation increased the government's debt limit to more than $11.3 trillion from $10.6 trillion. The additional borrowing could push the national debt well past 70 percent of GDP, the highest since the immediate aftermath of World War II, when the U.S. was still paying off war debt.

Let me get back to "order from chaos". This was the plan all along. The World Bank and IMF could not implement all of their plans the way they wanted to. Consolidation was necessary. So it took 5 or 6 years to accomplish. So what! No one really understands the workings of the economy anyway. Who will understand that the Federal Reserve dramatically lowering interest rates in 2003 (after which the economy was already recovering from the high tech bubble burst from 2000-2002) would set off a chain of events that will rapidly consolidate the financial world down to a few major players (Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, all of which own shares in the privately held Federal Reserve Corporation)? Oh, and whatever these institutions can't buy themselves, the federal government will take over to stabilize the economy throught the bailout packages and the FDIC (another private corporation owned by the Federal Reserve). Sythesis - a solution never before possible.

Many of these lessons were first learned by no other than J.P. Morgan himself when he orchestrated the bank panic of 1907. History repeats itself.

Wolf! Few believed me.

Are you one of the sheep eaten by the big bad wolf? If you haven't been, your time will come soon enough. We are a long way from this sad story being over.

Will fear from the big bad wolf stop you from taking action?

As always, the choice is yours.

O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth?
You struck them, but they felt no pain;
you crushed them, but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than stone
and refused to repent.

I thought, "These are only the poor;
they are foolish,
for they do not know the way of the LORD,
the requirements of their God.

So I will go to the leaders
and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the LORD,
the requirements of their God."
But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke
and torn off the bonds.

Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them,
a wolf from the desert will ravage them,
a leopard will lie in wait near their towns
to tear to pieces any who venture out,
for their rebellion is great
and their backslidings many.

"Why should I forgive you?
Your children have forsaken me
and sworn by gods that are not gods.
I supplied all their needs,
yet they committed adultery
and thronged to the houses of prostitutes. Jeremiah 5:3-7 (NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

Did You Read the Signs?

Again, I apologize for the long delays between postings. It has been a very trying time for me. In the future, I will not be able to post as often as I did in the past. The conditions have changed that would make that impossible. But, I will still try to make sense of this crazy financial world and share that with you.

Since we have been in some extremely crazy times in the last several weeks (especially the last two with all the talks of the bailout packages), I thought it fitting to review some of the warnings I issued in this blog. You can be the judge on how accurate I was.

Friday, November 2, 2007
... gold is $806.40, silver is $14.55, oil is $95.93 per barrel ...
The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates another quarter point to 4.5% on Wednesday to bolster the money supply and keep the economy moving. ...
The foreign exchange rates for the Great British Pound, the Euro, the Swiss Franc were all at multi-decade highs against the US dollar.

What does all this mean? The US dollar is getting weaker and weaker, eroding purchasing power of all consumers, increasing the US trade deficit and sending more money out of the country and even less entering. All of this leads to increased pressure for inflation. Now, with the Fed lowering interest rates again this week, they are trying to increase the money supply which further increases inflationary pressures. ... Gas prices will just be one of many things that will cost a lot more.

The road up ahead curves ... stay tuned.

Saturday, November 17, 2007
We are not looking at an eruption, but an implosion of the economy resulting from many factors. The sub prime crash is only one indicator. The declining real estate market, the eroding value of the dollar, the rising prices of more intrinsic precious metals are climbing such as gold and silver, and the continued rising price of oil. All of these are signs.

Now, to fast forward some. When you factor in Social Security facing insolvency within the next decade; and add in the imminent failure of MediCare and MediCaid coupled with the rising number of baby boomers retiring (or trying to), and inflation rising. All of these indicators are leading up to a 'perfect storm' developing. Never before have all of these factors come together at once.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007
When the sub-prime loan issue started happening in August, adjustable rate mortgages were going up and people who couldn't afford the increases started defaulting on their payments. The decrease of incoming funds to the banks started restricting what they could lend out. Private banks had to bail out smaller banks by lending federal funds to keep them open. Then the loans started going into foreclosure, and more money had to be loaned to keep the banks open. Still, thousands of people lost their homes.

This was really bad for our economy, but it was leading to something far worse. The Federal Reserve, dropped the discount rate by 1/2 of percent in their September meeting, a big drop. They had to create more credit to keep the money moving. They again lowered the discount rate another 1/4 percent in October. They were willing to risk inflation to keep the economy from completely stalling. The sudden influx of cash and credit spurred on inflation. With the increasing cost of gas and now consumer goods, everything started going up. As mentioned yesterday, when costs rise and wages don't keep up, the overall economic situation for the consumer decreases each year.

Saturday, December 1, 2007
... Based on the beginning of wave 1 around Aug. 20 at $660 per ounce, gold will very likely go up to a minimum of $960 from its point now in the coming months. The upper target is $1250 per ounce. This wave 3 will likely happen over the next six months. ...
The Elliott Wave target prices for silver on the low end is $18.00 per ounce and the upper target is around $24.50.

Saturday, December 8, 2007
Did you ever notice that the price of gas at the pump goes up almost immediately when oil prices go up? However, when the price of oil goes down, the price at the pump is slow to react. Interesting. Someone is making a lot of money on those slow fluctuations.

Monday, December 10, 2007
The first thing you have to understand is that oil is the currency of the world. Every 1st world country is heavily influenced by the price of oil because of its dependency on oil for energy, transportation, and manufacturing. How long could you or anyone you know last without filling up your car with gas?

The key thing to remember that as one asset classes increases, other classes will either follow suit because they are linked, or act conversely because of the inverse relationship.

Friday, December 14, 2007
So when the flow of money is controlled globally and nationally, it has a direct correlation to how businesses and consumers respond. The price of oil and interest rates are just some of the key variables that they use to dramatically influence the state of the world. Their ultimate goal is to have a world government and complete control over all financial matters. If we ever get to a cashless society, they would control who could buy or sell anything. Naturally, credit card companies would love this idea. Controlling the rates of exchange and money supply is not enough for them. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Saturday, December 15, 2007
This past week I've been discussing the inter-relationships among a number of key indicators that drive the world economy. With the price of oil at near record highs and the fallout of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the global economy was at an edge and was in danger of going into hyperinflation followed by depression. Thousands had lost their homes to defaults, and many banks were on the verge of bankruptcy due to the reduced cash flow from the defaults.

On Thursday Dec. 13th, the 5 major central banks from around the world (the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Swiss National Bank, and the Bank of Canada), pooled $114 billion to prop up the global economy by injecting cash into the money markets. On Monday, the Fed will auction off $20 billion in loans and accept a wide range of collateral to spur on the economy. The Bank of England will auction off 11.35 billion pounds on Tuesday. "The banks hope that the new term auction facility at favourable rates will boost liquidity, ultimately benefiting their economies by making it easier for businesses and consumers to borrow money to invest and spend on goods and services."

My personal take on this latest move is that the imminent collapse of the US economy was happening faster than expected. Drastic measures never taken before had to be implemented because some elements of the plan were not fully in place.

Saturday, December 29, 2007
...gold and silver both shot up in value to $839.50 per ounce and $14.81 per ounce respectively.

In January, I expect this trend to continue and even pick up speed. Since putting 114 billion available to banks in loans has not encouraged spending, the value of the dollar will continue to plummet. This will spur on inflation. Double digit inflation for 2008 will almost be assured. The Fed will continue to reduce interest rates, but it will likely slow things down just temporarily as it has since Sept. Gold and silver and other precious metals will continue to climb in value as I mentioned on my Dec. 1st post. The target price I set for gold is $1250 and silver is $24.50 per ounce within 6 months. Those even may be low considering the perfect economic storm that is developing.

The wildcard that remains is what will happen to the price of oil. If oil continues to go up significantly in early 2008, that will accelerate things considerably. If oil inches up, it will be more gradual. The other major developments that can strengthen the economic storm will be events like the US invasion of Iran and the replacement of the US dollar with the Amero. However, I do not expect these events to happen until 2009.

Saturday, January 12, 2008
I've also mentioned that the US dollar has been losing its value over the last year. This has been one of many reasons why gold and silver has been appreciating significantly. The dramatic steps that the Federal Reserve has taken to prop up the dollar has risen the value of the dollar temporarily, as stated in previous Saturday posts. However, since Christmas, the value has started to plummet again, just as I pointed out it would. This week, the US dollar index fell to 76.02.

This is having a ripple effect on other markets as well, as I have also pointed out in previous posts. The stock market is starting to feel the pinch of the sluggish economy. Since the beginning of the 4th quarter, the NASDAQ has fallen more than 6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has also dropped 5.6%.

The point I am reiterating is that the economy is headed for a fall. Over the past several months I've given many reasons for this, but the facts are being validated each week. The signs are there.

Saturday, January 26, 2008
This week was very interesting in the financial world. On Monday, the markets were closed in the US because of Martin Luther King, Jr. day; however, stock markets worldwide sank drastically amid concerns about the overall health of the US economy and a pending recession. The current credit crunch as result of last August's sub-prime mortgage meltdown makes the matters worse. These concerns heightened this week due to declining corporate profits and the worse housing report on record. For the first time on record, year-over-year housing prices dropped 13% against 2007 prices. This caused the Federal Reserve to take a drastic step.

Before trading opened on Tuesday, the Fed slashed interest rates three quarters of a percent or 75 basis points. The federal funds rate now is 3.5% and the discount rate was lowered to 4.0%. This was the largest rate drop in 24 years. This move came 8 days before their next scheduled meeting suggesting that they are responding to a problem that couldn't wait. Immediate stimulus to the economy is needed to prevent the market from going into a free-fall.

Saturday, February 2, 2008
The biggest economic problem in history has not been of wars, but what has led to those wars. That is greed.

This week gold closed at $908.70. Silver continued its upward trend to close at $16.84 per ounce. The US dollar index continued its slide to close at 75.47 against the other world currencies. It is nearing an all time low of 74.50, set just a couple months ago.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates another 50 basis points, knocking the federal funds rate to 3.0% and the discount rate to 3.5%. The Fed is doing everything it can to keep the economy moving by making cheap money available to banks and businesses. Even the analysts are having a hard time denying that a recession is in full swing.

Nathan Rothschild manipulated the market when Napoleon lost at Waterloo. He sold British bonds at the top of the market and bought them back for a fraction of their worth later that afternoon. By the way, do we have a war going on now? Do we have huge companies and a few bigwigs that are getting rich over the miseries of others in Iraq and Afghanistan? Incidently, what is Iraq and Afghanistan known for? Iraq has lots of oil fields and Afghanistan is the closest path to the sea for oil pipelines from rich oil fields in the southern part of the former Soviet Union. Is the war really on terror or is it just a way to get immense profits?

Furthermore, there will be others today that buy houses, loans, commodities, etc. when prices hit rock bottom. However, we have not come close to hitting rock bottom yet. The economic storm is only getting started. We still have Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid facing insolvency in the coming years. How will millions of baby boomers pay for their "necessary" prescription drugs after they retire?

Rest assured, there will be people that will profit immensely from these contrived events. Will you just be another victim of their greed?

Saturday, February 9, 2008
The sub-prime mortgage debacle means nothing to most people except the thousands that lost their homes. A recession doesn't mean much to people until their jobs are downsized. A depression starts waking people up, but usually too late. Bank failures are not new (remember the Savings & Loan scandals of the 1980s), but that will wake up some more people. How many banks have been bailed out in the last several of months?

Saturday, February 16, 2008
Today our dollar has the same buying power of 4 cents when compared to the same dollar in 1913. That year we had no national debt, today it is above $9 trillion and rapidly growing.

Is it going to take another stock market crash similar to 1929 where it lost more than 33% of its value in a month before we awake to the implications? The price of gold has gone up more than 50% in the last 18 months to $902.50 as of Friday from $560 per ounce in October of 2006. Silver has also gone up more than 50% in the same time period from $11.01 per ounce to $17.11 on Friday. Oil has hit again $95 a barrel, closing at $95.69 on Friday. The US dollar index closed at 76.03, less than one and one half points off an all time low against the other major world currencies. Can we not see the signs?

Incidentally, we should be aware of an escape clause that we have. This is the very one that presidential candidate Ron Paul is just hoping he can invoke if elected. The last provision of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, Sec. 30, states, "The right to amend, alter or repeal this Act is expressly reserved." This language means that Congress can at any time move to abolish the Federal Reserve System, or buy back the stock and make it part of the Treasury Department, or to alter the system as it sees fit. It has never done so.

Monday, February 18, 2008
It is interesting to note that President Bush and his administration has spent more money than all other presidents combined. And that was just in his first term! Melanie Hunter, a CNSNews.com Senior Editor, on November 4, 2005, reported that according to the Treasury Department, from 1776-2000, the first 224 years of US history, 42 US presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions, but the Bush administration borrowed $1.05 trillion in his first term as president alone. Do you think spending has gone down in his second term?

Saturday, March 1, 2008
This last Friday, gold closed higher again at $975.10 per ounce. Silver, also up, closed at $19.86 per ounce. Oil rose again and closed at $101.79 per barrel. The US dollar index closed at an all time low of 73.77 against the other major world currencies. If you've made no changes in the last year, and with inflation being over 10%; your net worth has eroded by at least 10%. The immediate future does not see any major signs of improvement either.

Saturday, March 15, 2008
Gold rose again, finally topping the $1000 per ounce barrier closing on Friday at $1003.30 per ounce, of course a record. Silver also gain again this week closing at $20.72 per ounce. The price of oil hit another record closing at $110.15 per barrel. As pointed out many times in this blog, oil is very key to inflation and the price of many things we buy. The price of oil and food are the main components on why real inflation has been in double digits the last couple of years, with no letup in sight. Also, the value of the US dollar index has dropped to a new all-time low at 71.65, again for the 3rd week in a row. This index measures the strength of the dollar against the other world currencies including the Euro, the British pound, the Swiss franc, Japanese Yen, Australian dollar, and others.

Monday, March 17, 2008
On Friday, the Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns became the first major casualty of the Great Depression of this century. The Federal Reserve, the US central bank, is leading a desperate struggle to prop up one of Wall Street's largest and most historic investment banks, as the credit crisis threatened to spiral into a full-blown banking crisis. The Federal Reserve agreed to offer financing for a proposed buyout from JP Morgan Chase bank and accept $30 billion of Bear Stearns' illiquid assets as collateral. Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, who pumped $200 billion of loans to cash-strapped institutions last week, said more would be available to help others in distress.

Meanwhile, one UK economist warned that the world is now close to a 1930s-like Great Depression, while New York traders said they had never experienced such fear. The Fed's emergency funding procedure was first used in the Depression and has rarely been used since.

Obviously, as I've been pointing out for months, there will be many problems with the economic storm that has been brewing. Bear Stearns is just the first of many banks that will have to close their doors. We will be examining in more detail the effects of these problems this week and the conditions that have led up to the problems. Ultimately though, this is all part of a planned event by the international bankers that run the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Today, the Federal Open Market Committee meeting voted and lowered the federal funds rates to banks by 75 basis points down to 2.25% from 3.00%. This means the Fed is continuing to try and keep the economy moving by making credit more readily available for banks and businesses alike. The banks will find it easier to lend to businesses with a lower rate and in turn can open new loans with the deposit and interest payments made by the businesses.

The good news in all of this is the Fed is not currently repeating the mistakes made in the first Great Depression that began in 1929. After the initial fall of the stock market in October, 1929, the Fed raised interest rates to 6% on November 1, 1929 making the liquidity problem at that time even worse. That constricted an already short money supply and caused the nation to sink deeply into the depression. That action then was by design to ultimately acquire more than two thirds of the farms of America and make the farmer tenants on their own lands.

I've received credible information that the international bankers will collapse the US economy in September 2008. This was linked to the closed door session of Congress last Thursday on March 14th, 2008, letting our policymakers in Washington know ahead of time. Whether this will hold true, only time will tell.

In this century's Great Depression, the aim will be different, but similar. Their aim this time will be grab as much residential and commercial real estate as possible. Once a majority of homeowners are renters again, their level of control will be even greater and they will have another piece of their plan in place.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

$200 billion is the approximate total amount of write-downs announced so far as a result of the current credit crisis.

$14.1 trillion is the size of the entire U.S. economy

And $53 trillion is (drum roll please) the approximate size of this country's bill for the Social Security and Medicare promises we've made.

According to the latest Social Security and Medicare Trustees report (and I use that term loosely since it has the word "trust" in it) released earlier this week, the economic asteroid will first make impact in the year 2019 when the Medicaid trust fund becomes insolvent.

Realizing that Americans have become pretty much numb to these kinds of ridiculous sounding proposals, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson tried to up the ante this week. "Without change," he said, "Rising costs will drive government spending to unprecedented levels, consume nearly all projected federal revenues, and threaten America's future prosperity."

Translation: Every single tax dollar that is sent to Washington will be used to pay for just these two programs.

Monday, March 31, 2008
Over the weekend, the Federal Reserve has sponsored a plan to revamp regulation of the financial system. Did anyone see this coming? ... Their new plan will broaden the control the Federal Reserve has significantly.

For example, the Treasury plan calls for the merger of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission would go into a super agency responsible for business conduct and consumer protection. What does this have to do with the credit crisis in the subprime mortgage industry? Over-leveraged mortgage backed securities is what caused the problem with Bear Stearns.

Here comes the Fed with a solution - give us more control so these events won't happen in the future. If you go back to previous posts in this blog on the History of Money, JP Morgan did this in the Panic of 1907. Franklin D. Roosevelt (at direction from the Federal Reserve) did this in 1933 with the Executive Order 6102 making it illegal to hoard gold by US citizens. The Great Depression was caused by the international bankers. Many farms were lost and handed over to the banks. These events all have one goal, to strip the money from the public and send it to the international bankers who do control the Federal Reserve. How much more can we put up with? When do we actually stand up and say "No more!"?

Take at look at this comment from a finance professor at Drexel University. "These proposals address regulatory problems that may be generally necessary, but none of the suggestions provide ways of dealing with the crisis and economic roots of the crisis," said Joseph Mason.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008
The spiral continues. Even though the Fed and JP Morgan came to the rescue of Bear Stearns, as I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, this is only the first casualty. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have received billions in credit from the Fed to continue operation while writing off some of these bad loans. What major bank or investment company will be next?

As banks and companies merge when the weaker companies are gobbled up, more control over the public is gained. Here's an insight. JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, and Citibank will survive no matter what because they own shares in the Federal Reserve. Other banks and financial institutions may be suspect.

Saturday, April 19, 2008
All of the current moves are designed to increase federal control and minimize the rights of the citizens. With the future plans of the manipulators, the population must be docile and controlled. Remember when I described during the History of Money series the Hegelian dialect of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. An event is created to cause a problem, resources are made available to combat or correct the conditions of the problem, and then a solution is created that they always wanted that would not have been possible if the problem didn't exist. This formula is used over and over again in history.

Well, the current plan that Tom Raum refers to is to have the Federal Reserve to have more and much broader power and eliminate the "smaller" agencies currently in charge of financial regulation like the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). Again, they are trying to consolidate the power base. Fewer players and more power make is easier to implement their plans. Beware of the changes coming later this year!

The price of oil will likely really shoot up the next month as the travel industry prepares for the upcoming vacation season in the United States. The price at the gas pump always spikes right before Memorial Day so that early vacationers of the summer season are hit with the increased prices. This makes for some huge profits for the oil companies.

Saturday, April 26, 2008
So, now many of the pieces are in place for their plan. You have heard many of these topics discussed in this blog over the last several months - government, politics, business leaders, markets, judicial system, military, the media, entertainment, etc. As long as they have a few key people in every major area listed, they are able to steer the public and policy to favorable terms for their goals. However, because most people do not like being deceived, their plans must be made in secret. That is why you don't hear much about groups like the Council on Foreign Relations, The Trilateral Commission, and the Bilderberg group. Furthermore, they have quasi government agencies to carry out many of their directives such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, the Federal Reserve, the IRS, etc.

Is total control such a far fetched idea now?

... the price of oil continued setting new record levels closing at $118.91 per barrel. The US dollar index rose slightly to 72.67 against the other major world currencies. It should be noted that the Euro, set a all time record against the dollar this week hitting $1.60 USD for one euro before retreating.

Saturday, May 3, 2008
For months, I have passed a lot of information to my readers about many topics. Most of them are extremely important to my future, your future, the future of our country, and the future of the entire world. Have you recognized the importance? Have you acted on the information? Have you taken steps to protect yourself? Or, have you confined yourself to wait and see what happens? As always, the choice is yours.

As I have mentioned in previous posts in this blog regarding one of my mottoes
(the IKC principle) -
Information is not Knowledge without Action,
Knowledge creates Choices,
Choices allow us to Change our lives.

Saturday, May 10, 2008
The increased price of oil not only drives up the price of gasoline, but also everything else. Food will cost more because of increased transportation costs. This also affects most other markets as well, so inflation as a whole goes up. In previous posts in this blog (November 20, 2007), it is important to understand the distinction of core inflation and real inflation. Core inflation, which is reported on news programs, measures the prices of selected consumer goods, but excludes the costs of food and energy. Thus, this figure means very little because everyone is truly affected by the price of food and gas. Therefore, they use this to core inflation number to soften and confuse the public on the real effects. Real inflation is well into double digits.

That is why inflation is really an invisible tax, affecting everyone. The Federal Reserve has so much more power than most people realize.

Thursday, May 15, 2008
a war or preemptive tactical nuclear strike on Iran will not be about their nuclear program, but about the macroeconomic reasons behind the American hegemony being eroded and the Iranian Oil Bourse trading in oil transactions other than the USD.

When an event does happen, it will likely happen in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrowest point between Iran and Saudi Arabia is 34 miles. Roughly 40% of all oil traded globally pass through this strait on way to global oil ports. Currently, some 16-17 million barrels of oil are carried through the narrow channel on oil tankers every day according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Ninety percent of oil exported from Gulf producers is carried on oil tankers through the Strait. Over 75 percent of Japan's oil passes through the Strait.

Because of the strategic location of the Strait, Iran has installed sophisticated anti-ship missiles on the Island of Abu Musa, and therefore controls the critical Strait of Hormuz – where all of the Persian Gulf bound oil tankers must pass. Iran also has a very robust military capability.

Friday, May 16, 2008
When a wayward and corrupt fiscal policy and fiat currency, coupled with runaway government spending, forces a nation to only be able to sustain the value of its currency with bullets, the citizenry of the country involved in wars primarily to sustain its currency have historically first became slaves to their government, and then to the nations that finally conquer them. ... towards the end of the Roman reign, the Roman Empire was doing exactly what America is doing today; attempting to sustain a failed fiat money system with bullets.

Understanding fiat money is not an easy task, and the Federal Reserve, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund have purposely made it that way. They do not want the American people to realize that the money in their wallet loses its value with each new dollar that they print. They do not want people to understand that our money does not become money until it is borrowed. When the Federal Reserve has money printed, when it is in uncut sheets of paper, it is not yet money. After it is cut, bundled, and placed into the Federal Reserve vaults, it still is not money. It only becomes money once it is borrowed.

Saturday, May 24, 2008
The price of gold increased this week to close on Friday at $925 per ounce. Silver also increased to $18.22 per ounce, up more than a dollar per ounce from last week. The price of oil continued to set new weekly highs closing at $131.70 per barrel. The US dollar index also fell to close at 71.99. How long can the credibility of the dollar last?

Over the last few weeks I have made comments about several invisible taxes - one being inflation and the other being the increased costs of fuel (oil, gas, and all the derived products). These invisible taxes are devastating on the general public unless their income is going up substantially. This is why a economic collapse of our markets is very likely, the only question being the timing.

Monday, July 14, 2008
Back on March 17th, 2008, I reported in this blog about the first casualty of the Great Depression of this century. That report was about the imminent collapse and subsequent bailout of Bear Stearns, one of America's longest tenured investment banks. At that time, I mentioned that this would only be the first of many bank failures. Today, we will look at the second casualty - IndyMac, a California based bank that closed its doors on Friday.

IndyMac is ground-zero of the sub-prime crisis and the poster-child of imprudent lending. Founded in 1985 by Countrywide Bank, whose own recent failure was masked by its acquisition by Bank of America, IndyMac pioneered the issuance of so-called Alt-A mortgages to borrowers who do not fully document their income or assets, which typically means borrowers with blemished credit histories or real estate speculators looking to 'flip' houses during the bubble years. Alt-A mortgages were considered to be less risky than the subprime loans which started the current financial crisis last year, so IndyMac's plight may cause everyone to re-think that credit quality fairy tale.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The FDIC deposit fund only has $53 billion of assets, and around 10% or perhaps more of that is now going to be used to bail-out IndyMac. So how safe is the FDIC?

Saturday, July 19, 2008
I will disagree slightly with James Turk as to the timing of the imminent collapse of the US dollar. I do not think it will happen this summer, but I believe it will happen in September or October for a lot of reasons. First, the Fed is unlikely to shake things up by raising rates during the summer. Many traders and power brokers on Wall Street take vacations during the summer usually causing the markets to remain fairly stagnant. Once fall returns, all bets are off. Third, the earlier closed door session of Congress in March was rumored to prepare the legislature for financial collapse in the fall. The powder keg is prepared, all that is needed is a spark. Time will tell.

Gold closed slightly lower on Friday from last week at $955.40 per ounce. Silver also closed lower this week at $18.14 per ounce. The price of oil fell $16 per barrel the last four days closing at $128.50 per barrel. Despite these moves, the US dollar index still is languishing but rose slightly to close at 72.17.

Saturday, August 2, 2008
The financial system will collapse before "zero-hour" actually occurs. I think we are seeing signs of it in the desperate measures being employed to nationalize companies which trade on market exchanges as private enterprises. There is simply no way to defend the SEC's decision to selectively enforce the prohibition of naked short selling for 17 ‘fragile' financial companies and to not enforce it for the over 5000 other companies which trade on US stock market exchanges. And plans to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac breathe of a sort of corporate nationalism. Over time this will deal a massive psychological blow to financial markets.

A couple of weeks ago, William Poole, formerly of the St, Louis Fed warned that Fannie (Mae) and Freddie (Mac) were insolvent. These aren't the warnings of bombastic flamethrowers. These are former respected and responsible government officials who courageously dare to speak the truth!

Saturday, August 9, 2008
... the manipulators do not want a total breakdown of the system. If that happens, too many things are unpredictable such as a revolution. They slowly and methodically control the movements of the economies in their favor, so that they can reap the benefits and have more power and control.

With the bank failure of IndyMac, the insolvency pressures on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the SEC's decision to prohibit the naked short selling of 17 high profile financial institutions, all of these factors signify that they are losing control on the system. The financial 'wind shear' of inflation (rising prices) and deflation (shortage of liquidity due to the credit crunch) was threatening to tear the economy to pieces.

So, they come up with a new trick. No longer can they play games with the federal funds interest rate by the Federal Reserve (currently at 2%, the lowest since 2004), they began to play more with the price of oil to affect the economy and the global currencies. I ask you, what has transpired in the last three weeks that would cause oil to drop from $147 all the way to $115?

So between the drop in the price of oil and the weakening of the European currencies, the US dollar rose remarkably in strength reaching 75.90 yesterday, a gain of 2.5 index points, the highest since Feb. 21. This is steepest weekly rally by the US Dollar Index since January 2005. This action spurred the S&P 500 to its biggest weekly gain since April. The S&P added 2.9 percent to 1,296.32, the highest since June 25. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 3.6 percent to 11,734.32.

Every American is starting to breathe a little easier at the news and will likely resume their spending habits, exactly as the manipulators expected.

Saturday, August 23, 2008
Gold closed on Friday at $824.20 per ounce from $786.00 per ounce last week. Silver also closed higher at $13.41 per ounce from $12.70 per ounce last week. The price of oil closed slightly higher at $114.78 per barrel from last week before retreating after nearly hitting $122 per barrel on Thursday. The US dollar index closed slightly lower at 76.74. Oil has driven these other prices dramatically over the last several weeks.


Well, how do you think I did at reading the signs and predicting the future?

Obviously, I was wrong about the demise of the dollar and the recent drop in oil prices. But in hindsight, that was part of the manipulators plans to give the Fed more power to print more money and have the much bigger banks swallow up the smaller ones at bargain basement prices. The current huge financial bailout is going to be the burden of the taxpayer, and they get more control of the system.

How have you fared over the last year? Are you getting worried? Are you taking action?

As always, the choice is yours.

Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take. Jeremiah 31:21

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

Life Lessons

I apologize to the regular readers for my absence. I have been going through some personal challenges. There are always challenges, but some cause you to really stop and examine elements of your life from top to bottom. This is the case for me at this time.

This brings me back to the title of the blog. What is the meaning of life? More importantly (for everyone), what is the meaning of my life? Wealth can be fleeting. Wealth can create choices. Severe lack of wealth can make you desperate. Of course, there are many kinds of wealth, obviously the financial kind. But how many of you have thought about the other kinds of wealth?

What about the wealth of friendship? Having lots of friends can make tough times so much easier. Having no friends can make the tough times suicidal. Friends are something that we all choose. We choose people as friends because of similar likes and interests, similar experiences, similar goals, similar personalities, even similar misfortunes. Remember, misery loves company. What does it say about you with the friends you have chosen?

On the other side, your family is not chosen, it is inherited. There may be things you hate about your family, things you cherish, things you admire, things you abhor (every teenager can relate to this!), things you emulate, things you strive to change (usually without much luck, unless you exhibit severe perseverance). Whenever we don't have strong feelings toward something, we emulate behaviors we have witnessed. That is why it is inevitable that we display traits of our parents, whether we like it or not. They were around when we were more vulnerable, formative, less experienced as children are. The older we get, the more experience we can draw on to make more informed decisions (choices), but we are always likely to repeat behaviors witnessed previously. History always repeats itself. When things get bad (or sometimes incredibly good as in the case of love), emotions cause us to change. However, change takes incredible energy and usually sacrifice. That is why most prefer their comfort zone, which is one degree or more away from mediocrity.

We are always running away from something, running toward something, or are just plain confused and have no idea which way to go. Keep in mind when it comes to running, are you actually making progress or just running on the hamster wheel getting nowhere? These are things to ponder.

What about emotional wealth? Are you a strong, level-headed person that can be counted on in all situations, or an emotional basketcase that falls apart all the time? Do you have rich, fruitful, deep, meaningful relationships that bless life in every sense of the word? Or is your life filled with shallow, empty, meaningless relationships that are fleeting as the dandelion spores in the wind? Where do fit in the spectrum?

What about spiritual wealth? Many will argue that this is the most important. Have you ever experience the peace of faith? Do you ever realize the power of prayer to lay your troubles at the feet of the Divine Almighty? Have you ever realized that you receive just the things you need when you truly need them, regardless of what you might think at the time? Faith is hope. Despair is unbelief. Think on this.

Tempus fugit (Latin for "time flies"), or more importantly time escapes, never to return. When you think about it, our life is usually very short in the grand scheme of things. Eternity, on the other hand, lasts forever. How long is forever? What do want to be doing forever? Do you have a choice? Free will vs. predestination? Many things to ponder there.

As always, the choice is yours as I constantly remind you in this blog.

Choices are great. They give us some control in this crazy world, but can also be condemning when we choose badly. Some choices are easy, some are hard. Some are simple, many are complex. Many times, you don't know whether your choice was good or bad - maybe for a very long time, maybe indefinitely. But undeniably, it is your choice. As much as we'd like to blame others, or become a victim, we chose elements that put us in nearly every situation. I say nearly, because life always loves a curveball from time to time. One way or another, it is what makes life interesting and unpredictable. How we choose to respond to those situations is again, our choice.

I have heard an analogy that is very good about making life decisions. It involves an airplane flying from London to New York. Because of wind, airplanes never fly straight. They are constantly making tiny corrections to direction to get where they want to go. That plane that takes off from London, being just one degree off continuously, will end up in Venezuela in South America. That is very far from New York.

What about your life? Do you know where you want to go? Are you asleep at the wheel or just uninterested? Or, do you want your life to be carefree and driven by the wind? Maybe you will love Venezuela and hate New York.

All of these questions provide insight into why the human race (very appropriate) is so diverse, so different. That is why we have spectrums of personality, of goals, of behaviors, of ambition, of meaning. You have heard the cliche "variety is the spice of life". Variety is life. No one is the same as another, but we all share common traits. Talk about paradoxes.

Are you going to New York or are you driven by the wind?

Choices. They are such a double edged sword that cuts both ways. They can slay your enemy or cause a mortal wound to yourself.

Be careful. It's your life and you only have one.

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever. Psalm 23 (NIV)

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

Time Off

I've decided to take this week off from posting. Enjoy your life, you only have one!

What Americans Want Part II

Yesterday, I discussed how the captains of industry have used the school system to create an environment of an endless supply of simple docile workers for their businesses. Whenever anyone creates wealth, it is from leverage. This comes from using other resources such as other people's time, energy, money, skills, or even looks.

Some people call this exploitation. Wikipedia defines this with two distinct meanings.

1. The act of utilizing something for any purpose. In this case, exploit is a synonym for use.
2. The act of utilizing something in an unjust or cruel manner.

The second definition gets discussed further as involving a persistent social relationship in which certain persons are being mistreated or unfairly used for the benefit of others, or treating others as mere "objects" with little or no consideration for their well-being. This can take the following basic forms.

• taking something off a person or group that rightfully belongs to them
• short-changing people in trade
• directly or indirectly forcing somebody to work
• using somebody against his will, or without his consent or knowledge
• imposing an arbitrary differential treatment of people to the advantage of some and the disadvantage of others

Most often, the word exploitation is used to refer to economic exploitation; that is, the act of using another person's labor without offering them an adequate compensation. Of course, it depends on which perspective you have to whether this is moral, efficient, intelligent, or good business sense.

This is the backdrop that most Americans today define their lives. Are they getting enough pay for the job they do? Do they get respect and gratitude for their work, or are they just an expendable company asset with a number?

Beyond this, most do not think about the bigger picture of this leverage, about Marxist theory (primarily concerned with the exploitation of an entire segment or class of society by another), or Neoclassical economics (organizational exploitation, whether as an employee is being abused as an asset or conversely as a free loader on the system). Is capitalism just a inherent breeding ground for exploitation?

No, generally Americans do not think about this. Besides the groups fighting for rights of workers, whether here or in third world countries, this does not come up. Is it morally right for global corporate conglomerates to have sweat shops that hire children? The corporate perspective is that they are improving the economic structure of the third world country allowing the employee to have jobs to pay for food for their families. Obviously, the employees may have a different perspective or they may be grateful for the chance at continued existence.

In America today, things are not quite so extreme, but the question still remains. Most do not like their job, their boss, their working conditions, etc., but continue to work their job out of necessity. Do they agree with the idea that America is still the "Land of Opportunity"? Not likely.

In order to numb these thoughts, they seek escape in a variety of forms. TV, movies, sports, travel, vacations, etc. because they lack the resources, skills, or desire to change things. They simply want to forget about the drudgery of their lives by indulging in entertainment. They want to live their lives vicariously through the drama and excitement of others with no risk to themselves. Did you ever think about why the entertainment and sporting industries are so large?

Americas love to immerse themselves in inane but hilarious sitcoms and movies telling themselves that they could not be so silly. They love to root for their favorite team or person in sports at any level of competition, because their livelihood are not on the line if they win or lose. There are even parents that drive their kids relentlessly to achieve the things that they never could. Subconsciously, it's saying "let someone else take the risk and time of developing excellence".

Employees rarely have the power or resources to change things. Employees by definition leave the risk and decisions to others. They offer their time and skill to others for hopefully enough compensation. Is this exploitation or continued existence?

Some attempt to change things, but usually have a number of friends and relatives that discourage them from trying saying it is too risky or doomed to failure. You know the cliche - 'misery loves company'.

Successful entrepreneurs know that failure is a big part of success. You must be willing to fail to achieve success. Success is a process that learns from failure until the right conditions are met.

This is why there are so few that succeed to the upper levels of anything. Most are comfortable in their lives of mediocrity, the norm. There is nothing wrong with this as long as it is economically sustainable.

The problem today is that the middle class of America is being eliminated. People will not go to movies and sporting events if they can't pay their rent or mortgage. Many have been using credit to enjoy these temporary indulgences, always hoping that they will be able to pay for it later. Well, the credit is drying up because the banks can't afford to give any out to people who can't pay it back. Too many financial institutions are failing or starting to become insolvent. Also, all the money printed by the Federal Reserve to keep the economy going is becoming worth less and less due to inflation.

The lesson here is that all things come to an end. The Roman empire didn't last forever. Neither has any other dynasty. American capitalism will end too. The replacement will not be pretty.

So, as to what Americans want will definitely change as conditions change. However, it will likely take drastic times before most will realize that they had chances to change or prevent disaster. Some will never realize the opportunity was within their reach. Others will blame their favorite scapegoat.

Think about it.

As always, the choice is yours.

As with all Saturdays, I will recap the key financial indicators that drive the markets. Precious metals rebounded slightly this week from more than eight month lows. Gold closed on Friday at $824.20 per ounce from $786.00 per ounce last week. Silver also closed higher at $13.41 per ounce from $12.70 per ounce last week. The price of oil closed slightly higher at $114.78 per barrel from last week before retreating after nearly hitting $122 per barrel on Thursday. The US dollar index closed slightly lower at 76.74. Oil has driven these other prices dramatically over the last several weeks. This should not come as a surprise to regular readers.

Do not exploit the poor because they are poor
and do not crush the needy in court,

for the LORD will take up their case
and will plunder those who plunder them. Proverbs 22:22-23 (NIV)

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

What Americans Want

For the past ten months, I've done what I could to help make a difference in the lives of others. There are many topics on this blog that are about the financial markets and what makes them work, and why things are the way they are. Part of the problem with this, most Americans do not understand finances. This is mostly because the basics financial concepts are not taught in schools. Thus, people tend to gloss over or ignore things that they really don't understand.

As I have pointed out many times in this blog, this is by design. The manipulators want the general population to be uneducated about finances. It makes it easier to change conditions in their favor to gather more of the population's money and thus more control over their lives.

Let's look at this for a moment. A hundred and twenty years ago, most Americans were self-employed. Many were farmers, shopkeepers, tradesmen, etc. They all picked a business that they had interest in and tried to make a living at it. Many of these people were immigrants from other countries who came here because America was the "Land of Opportunity". It was the chance to start over and form a new life for themselves in the manner they chose. They wanted freedom, a chance at financial independence, autonomy. In Europe, everything was controlled by the monarchies and the ruling class.

America became strong because of these independent entrepreneurs. The captains of industry in the 19th century and early 20th century knew that this would not do. Thus, the families of the Rockefellers, Carnegies, Morgans, Harrimans, Vanderbilts, Astors, Hills, Fords, etc. wanted to create an environment that would produce many simple docile workers for the many factories that were going up around America. They knew it would take time, but they knew that success would happen if they were patient. They chose the school system to do this. If they would teach the children to be intimidated by math and finances, they would ignore these subjects later in life. They will want others to make decisions in these areas for them.

This plan has worked with extraordinary success. The current recipe for success is "go to school, get good grades, get a good job". How much autonomy do you have in your job? How much of a chance at financial independence do you have? What kind of security do you have with a job, especially during uncertain financial times rife with lay offs and downsizing?

Now, think about for a minute that the average credit card debt is well over $8,000 per person. Bankruptcies are at an all time high. Foreclosures are at a record pace. The main stream financial markets are all producing dismal investment results. Everyone is feeling the pinch in their wallet. Is this no longer the "Land of Opportunity"?

Today, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said that inflation will come under control now that the dollar is stronger and commodity prices are down. He also reiterated that he wants more power for the Federal Reserve to help resolve failing investment banks and a new comprehensive supervision of systemic risk. What total BS! It's like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. The Fed is responsible for the conditions that caused the subprime mortgage crisis to begin with, along with the ailing dollar, and the highly leverage mortgage derivatives that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have that put the real estate industry in panic mode.

Tomorrow, I will get more into how this all affects the daily decisions of Americans. Stay tuned ...

The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the LORD. Proverbs 16:33 (NIV)

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

Fabrication Bottleneck Part II

Today, I will share the conclusion to James Turk's article titled "A Fabrication Bottleneck or Something More" published on August 17, 2008. James is the founder of www.GoldMoney.com.

Incidentally, though GoldMoney - like many other companies - had a record week, GoldMoney has not experienced any shortages of metal because we transact only in large bars, namely, those that meet the standards of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). These bars come into the market daily from refiners and existing stocks, such as those held by central banks. But the shortage of fabricated product has caused me to ponder whether a shortage of LBMA-sized bars might also develop at these low prices. In other words, could gold go into backwardation, meaning the spot month (i.e., physical metal) trades at a premium to future months (i.e., paper promises to pay metal in the future)? A backwardation would be unthinkable in normal times, but these are not normal times.

The extraordinary demand for coins and small bars can be viewed as an early sign that the market is moving into backwardation. In other words, the backwardation is in effect being reflected by higher premiums above spot for physical metal, rather than spot itself rising and going into backwardation.

Central banks do not transact in small bars and their coin transactions are inconsequential compared to the size of the market. So the market for fabricated product is relatively free from government influence. But central banks of course exert a dominant influence on the market for LBMA-sized bars by using their existing gold stocks, and they can keep the spot price for gold (which is determined by the buying/selling of LBMA-sized bars) artificially low by dishoarding gold from their vaults.

So my thought is that if gold does not climb back above at least $900 quickly, a shortage of LBMA-sized bars will develop unless central banks allow their vaults to be cleaned out, much like Ft. Knox was drained in the weeks leading up to the 2-tiered London gold price created in March 1968, with an official price at $35 per ounce and a free-market price well above that level. If central banks allow their vaults to be cleaned out at these current low prices, then look for some contrived government imposed dictum on the gold market, just like they did in March 1968. Price controls would be one possible dictum.

To conclude, the present situation reminds me of August 1976, just weeks before the Democratic Convention confirmed Jimmy Carter as that party's presidential candidate. Gold slid down to $100 per ounce even as the inflation and economic outlooks were worsening. Gold looked dirt-cheap back then even though its price had risen three-fold from just a few years before.

By the end of 1976, gold had climbed 32.3% from its August low. By the end of Carter's presidency four years later, gold climbed more than eight-fold. I wonder where gold will be at the end of the next president's first term in office?

Importantly, the precious metals remain within the clear uptrends. For the past twelve months ending Friday, August 15th, gold is up 17.5% and 7.8% against the US dollar and euro respectively. Silver, however, during the past twelve months is down -6.2% against the euro, but up 2.3% against the US dollar. And while silver's performance may look bad, it is worthwhile keeping in mind that the Dow Jones Industrial Average during this same period is down -9.3%.

James Turk, August 17, 2008

If you would like more detail and to see the historical price charts James is referring to, go to his website at www.GoldMoney.com.

Incidentally, just within the last couple days since August 15, gold rose from $772 per ounce to its current level of $835. Silver also rose from $12.11 per ounce on the 15th to its current level of $13.89.

I personally ran into this situation with Kitco the last couple weeks. I was helping someone purchase silver on August 5th. Today, Kitco claims that they are backlogged with orders and cannot confirm receipt of payment, thus they can not ship the physical silver bars and coins. As alluded to in this article, this is just a made up excuse to give Kitco time to try and find the inventory to fill the demand.

Needless to say, I am not very happy with them, but there is little I can do about it.

These are historic times, whether you realize it now or not. Protect yourself and take the needed steps. If you need assistance in analyzing your options, please contact me.


A good name is more desirable than great riches;
to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Rich and poor have this in common:
The LORD is the Maker of them all.

A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge,
but the simple keep going and suffer for it. Proverbs 22:1-3 (NIV)

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com

Fabrication Bottleneck

With all of the recent startling market moves and huge other world events such as the attack on Georgia and the Olympics, people are looking for a safe haven. However, there are very few out there. The major financial markets are deeply in the red this year. The traditional safe haven in times of economic uncertainty are precious metals and real estate. Real estate has been brutally beaten down the last year or more. With the sudden dollar rebound, precious metals are at 12 month or more lows. This makes precious metals at "super saver prices" on sale the day after Christmas when shoppers are out in force.

Considering this, I will share the beginning of an article published on August 17, 2008 by James Turk, founder of www.GoldMoney.com. James discusses how precious metal dealers are dealing with the sudden rush of customers when they may not have inventory to satisfy the demand.

A Fabrication Bottleneck or Something More

The Internet is abuzz with reports that precious metal dealers have stopped selling coins and small bars because they have run out of inventory.

For example, Franklin Sanders reports on goldprice.org that his inability to purchase product from his suppliers is something that he has never seen before in his "twenty-eight years of brokering silver and gold." On Friday afternoon, Kitco posted the following notice: "Due to market volatility and higher demand in the entire industry, we are anticipating delays in supply of all bullion products."

The rush out of fiat currency and into precious metals on this latest drop in prices is not just a North American phenomenon. The Times of India reports: "There is a shortage of the yellow metal in the bullion banks and traders."

The bottom line is that it is difficult, if not impossible, to buy coins and small bars. Mints and refiners are back-ordered. Dealer shelves are bare. But the question is, why? Is it just a fabrication bottleneck, or is something else happening?

When I see or hear that store "shelves are bare", my first reaction is that government price controls have been imposed. Price controls always create shortages. But there are no price controls on the precious metals - at least not yet anyway. So absent price controls, the answer to dealer shortages is simply that the price of gold and silver is just too cheap.

To explain this point, there are two different gold markets - the physical market where real bullion is exchanged between hands. And the paper market, where people buy and sell pieces of paper purportedly backed by gold, much of which is highly leveraged. The selling carnage in the paper market from over-leveraged hedge funds has created a buying frenzy by retail investors for fabricated product in the physical market, with many dealers reporting that they have sold out and cannot get their hands on coins and small bars, particularly silver.

In other words, there is presently a huge disconnect between the paper market and the physical market. The demand for physical metal is soaring.

Normally the market is supplied by new material being fabricated and existing products being sold back into the market, but no old products are being sold. In contrast to the paper market where over-leveraged positions have caused distressed and forced selling, existing fabricated product is in strong hands, and unlikely to be dislodged except at much higher prices.

I suspect that this disconnect between the paper market and the physical market means that gold will climb back as rapidly as it fell, creating a "V" bottom. Consequently, the precious metals are likely to snap back as rapidly as they dropped. After all, inflation is a growing problem everywhere, the US federal deficit is ballooning, the global banking system is imploding from losses, inflation-adjusted interest rates in every major currency remain negative, and the euro is reeling because of massive current account gaps in Spain, Portugal and Greece. All of these factors are very gold bullish.

To give you a true picture of just how bad inflation has become, here is what John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics reports in his latest newsletter: "The SGS-Alternate Consumer Inflation Measure, which reverses gimmicked changes to official CPI reporting methodologies back to 1980, rose to a 28-year high of roughly 13.4% in July, up from 12.6% in June." It's no wonder that the demand for precious metal coins and small bars is so strong.

Tomorrow, we will conclude with James Turk's article and how the precious metal dealers are responding to the huge demand.

Listen, for I have worthy things to say;
I open my lips to speak what is right.

My mouth speaks what is true,
for my lips detest wickedness.

All the words of my mouth are just;
none of them is crooked or perverse.

To the discerning all of them are right;
they are faultless to those who have knowledge.

Choose my instruction instead of silver,
knowledge rather than choice gold,

for wisdom is more precious than rubies,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.

"I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence;
I possess knowledge and discretion. Proverbs 8:6-12 (NIV)

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com