Europe is not lost if there are guys like this still fighting the Euro Movement
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No, not that kind of “hope,” — not the kind that comes with all kinds of government takeovers of your private person and property. Not the kind we’ve been enduring for three plus years, and two before that in the joint houses of Congress. Is there anyone out there who still supports further meddling with businesses, with your healthcare, with your very livelihood? Is there anyone out there who still thinks they’re being helped by your friendly friend from D.C.?
Even you poor people? Are things looking up?
Minorities? Has your lot improved? Environmentalists? Peaceniks? Feeling better about things?
How about you, union guys? Is it a brave new world out there? How are dues coming? Membership?
Farmers? Miners? Small manufacturers? Hey — even you, the guy who had the great idea about converting biomass into usable fuel. I’m sorry, what’s that? Your project was beaten out by a stampede of better-lobbied inferior competition?
And you, the Wall Street smart guys, with your Ivy League degrees, and your Alden loafers, I turn to you last, as I know you best.
Look around you. Where’s that guy you used to play squash with? What happened to the Asset Backed Debt department this year? How come you have to make do with one shared pool secretary instead of Helda working on your shit alone? Glad you wrote that check four years ago to the good looking guy with the nice smile and the airy aphorisms that really didn’t have much of a point? Was that little bit of feel good– that cocktail party affirmation– was it worth it?
Has it been worth it, people?
I think I know the answer, but I don’t want this to be about “I told you so.” I would rather turn it into an educational opportunity, if I might. I believe that if most intelligent people read Thomas Sowell’s Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy, they would think very seriously about not only how this country works in very easy to grasp economic terms, but how it has grown to become the most free and strongest on earth. I highly recommend this tome (or the 4th edition, out recently) even for those of you who have no interest whatsoever in math or economics. Professor Sowell breaks it down in very easily understood terminology. You won’t be disappointed.
And after finishing that “good meal,” I don’t think they’d fall for the next guy with the cute smile and demagogic one-liners. That’s just my take.
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Nothing has changed in my recent investment approach. I continue to be long silver and gold names that I’ve detailed here already. I continue to hold because of quotidian reasons like “seasonality” and the tendency of Santa Bernank to want everyone to have a holly jolly Christmas, as I’m sure you will agree.
On EXK! On RGLD! On SLW and AG!
Come GDX! Come EGO! Come AVL and IVN! Dash away! Dash away! Dash Away All!
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you really are the worst of the bloggers here – completely driven by ideologigical ignorance. why didn’t you ask those very same questions 3 1/2 years ago?
i must say, i have never seen anyone with so little to say be so full of himself – but what can one expect from someone who voted for W. a SECOND time?
if and when the euro collapses and a financial tsunami engulfs everything, you’re goinig to be the first in line complaining, that they didn’t do enough to save the euro.
Ideological ignorance? Full of himself? Little to say? And maybe most telling, first in line to complain about there not being enough government intervention and meddling? Uhh, Mr. “S. Freud”, may I introduce you to a quote from Wikipedia: “According to Sigmund Freud, projection is a psychological defense mechanism whereby one “projects” one’s own undesirable thoughts, motivations, desires, and feelings onto someone else.”
Well, I disrespectfully disagree, but do see your side too.
whoops, WITH RESPECT. Yikes!
I see what you did there
Must be a full time job to leave messages on every blog page you come across you dont agree with? 🙂
I dont agree with Jakes politics but who cares what i think.
I do appreciate his trade analysis and for that im a fan.
SuperPos — so you’re an 0bama fan?
Maybe you can answer some of the questions arrayed above?
And for that matter, I do care what you have to say. Life is not all about portfolio managment, you know.
I think the American educational system (and to likely the European one as well) does our children a disservice by maleducating them as to the basis of our economic system.
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Where was I 3.5 years ago?
Seriously?
Who let this nimrod in, anyway?
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Well… be careful, Jake… Nimrod was the first artificer in metals after all!
Maybe some of those were precious ones, too.
Yes, your post was pretty shitty, considering you had so much time off… flush yer sinuses out and get to work, slacker!
Stay chilly, Northeast Iowa.
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sergeifreud – You haven’t been pay attention. Jake is remarkably consistent. Even if you do not agree with him, either a little or a lot, he represents his side of the political spectrum honourably[sic].
I would rather do ideological battle with him than any other blogger on the interwebs. Whether he is on my side of the debate or on the opposing side, I know it will be a well fought fight.
Yogi — Appreciate your solicitude as always, but you needn’t bother.
The fact that I’ve never seen this guy’s moniker anywhere on this site before (despite his uncanny ability to rate “all the bloggers” here) proves he’s either a noobie sock puppet strafing for the lefites, or a complete coward posting under a separate moniker. It’s very likely you’ll never see him again.
IOW, not worth you wasting the keystrokes.
(Even though I do appreciate it)
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Haters gonna hate
you are right, of course!
you probably won’t see me on your blog again. if i want to read truly witty and “distinguished” commentary i will go read the fly, whose style you try to emulate so hard; and if i want to read about gold/silver stuff i will go to gary savages blog who is infinitely more knowledgable than you.
i just wanted to point out the irony of your giving advice to europe about democracy, considering that the american people gave away pretty much all of their rights to the military industrial complex in the 50s and 60s, to financial institutions in the 90s and to the “war on terror” in the past decade.
lol
p.s.: seems plenty of people gave me the “thumbs up”, so i guess i can’t be that wrong …
Yes, this place is replete with leftist nuts like yourself.
I don’t emulate anyone, youngster. The Fly recruited me because we have similar backgrounds and senses of humor. If you see similarities, they stem from that.
I won’t argue with you about Gary, either. We’ve been friends for a number of years now, and I’ve learned a lot from him, especially about cycles.
Not to burst your bubble, but he hates leftist douches too.
Now bugger off, Vienna Sausage boy.
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Thanks Jake!
I’ll pick up Sowell for Christmas.
I’ve being meaning to do that for years now
I recommend it to all my friends — on both sides of the spectrum — who’ve had no training in economics.
If you remain left-leaning after reading that tome, I begin recommending treatises on the history of totalitarianism. It’s hard to argue that if you know your economics, and you know your history of American civil rights, and you still prefer Statist control of the economy, that you are not a proponent of totalitarianism… whether you know it or not.
I put seriously disturbed individuals like Paul Krugman in this category.
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Get your Technocrat on: http://dotsub.com/view/01ad2718-073c-474a-ac40-c7a72e199d55
Wow! Unbelievable… that Euro salary translates to some $20k a month!
Whatta (non)country!
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CAVEAT PRINTER: EU nations preparing a Plan… Z?
http://www.dowjones.com/products/djfxtrader/articles/BanksPrepforLifeAfterEuro.asp
VERY interesting!
(I recommend everyone read Blind Read’s article above)
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Blind Read — I have a thought regarding this article…
Question — if a country cannot print its own currency (like they imply Montenegro and Ireland might have trouble doing in the article), then to what currency will they turn?
My bet? The dollar….
And….
GOLD!
Where do you think all those “withdrawn funds” from the Greek banks are going?
(hint: See above)
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Well said (and led).
Hm…, I spend time, from here to there, reading the legalese on SDR’s, my guess it’s already being implemented at various levels.
SDR’s are the “One World Currency” backed by the gold. IMF manages.
EGDFF – there is still plenty of time and room on this one … going double digits in 2012 .. train leaving station … hop on board .. choo-choo
8)
Not enough volume for me, but good luck w. it.
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Yeah, the angry old guy and the clueless bimbo would have been so much better. Why is it that the Repuglicans can’t seem to find anyone with a serious intellect any more? Not saying I’m happy with what’s going on now with the Dems but the GOP used to have smart guys they could go to. Now it’s the circus and the seven dwarfs. The battle of who can say the dumbest off-the-cuff shit.
HAHAHA,
Yeah, absent affirmative action or Commie female admittance programs (see Title 9), all “traditional Americans” lack cerebrums?
Go back to the library undergrad!
Crap —
1) Emphatically, yes, Old Man and Dogsledder would’ve been infinitely better than Zero and the Socialists.
Do you think Crotchety would have been on board for the Pelosi Domination of 2007-09? I’ve listed the attacks on the economy coming out of that Two Year Blight once before, but we can review ($900 bn “stimulus to nowhere,” Obamacare and DoddFrank just being two highlights). Howabout the fascist screwdown (on small business) and payoffs given (to union and big biz cronies) via the Executive-branch controlled Alphabet regulatory agencies? Do you think unemployment would still be 9+% (depending on whom you credit)?
2) As for your second question — why do all the candidates (on both sides) appear so clownish?
A: I think this is a result of both media scrutiny and the necessary evil of pandering. The combination of the two keeps a lot of good candidates out (like Mitch Daniels who has a crazy wife, and Phatboy in Joisey, who hasn’t honed his conservative bona fides enough yet) in the first place, while making the remaining look like fools, as most anyone would be if they were held under a microscope for such an extended period.
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how many people on earth dont know the trouble were in?
http://youtu.be/I1wg1DNHbNU
Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt, is also a very good book.
Interesting… written in 1946 when Hayek was in full swing!
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Exk?
EXK and, believe it or not… I like NUGT here… but playing veeeerrrry carefully.
Look at the 15 minute chart and you can see where to put your stop…
Draghi has just killed gold and silver.
Hardly.
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Hope you’re right, but agq looks close to falling thru support level. Next stop 50-ish.
Metals and miners getting donkey punched here.
“Hey — even you, the guy who had the great idea about converting biomass into usable fuel. I’m sorry, what’s that? Your project was beaten out by a stampede of better-lobbied inferior competition?”
If you think this will change with Newt elected you are out of your mind.
Radical changes are needed to get out of this recession. Drastically lowered taxes and increased spending. Right now what is plaguing small businesses is sales. Heal the consumer’s balance sheet and sales will increase.
It is against a politicians nature to radically change the status quo. Republican, Democrat, it doesn’t matter. It will take electing someone like Ron Paul, who for every good idea has a completely batshit one, to get real change.
Agreed.
However, he’s unelectable.
Believe me, even I don’t want Newt. Talk about the lesser of two evils!
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Ron Paul and Nigel Farage are allowed to exist because they serve the purpose of acting as a cathartic outlet for those who agree with them. When we see someone telling us what we want to hear, we assume something is being done about it.
The reality is that the entire paradigm is controlled by the central bankers and the opposition exists as a tiny group within that paradigm.
No change until people understand what the Bank of International Settlements is and how it works. Until then, I ignore all propaganda.
I’m seeing lots of H&S patterns in the miners. Need a lighted helmet to get through this quarry … still keeping my powder dry for PM’s.
Jake, these wild swings are reminding me of all that volatility in the PMs around two Christmases ago. With head-line news reflected in almost every chart wiggle and all those apparent H&S patterns in the miners, I’m just wondering what your thoughts are at this point? Will you consider lightening up or are you still cement-headed in your views? Being the chicken that I am, I lightened up a bit today. Thanks for the hand-holding:)
My guy — the mentor with the gigantass gold portfolio?
He’s buying today and tomorrow.
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And my guy – the Senator with the heart of gold who shares so generously?
If he’s buying, I’m not scared:)
Back to my regularly-scheduled job of cleaning up the dinner dishes, homework and putting the kids to bed! Thank you, Senator:)
Dollar Index really struggling to stay above 79 even after yesterday’s PM selloff. Good sign for PMs???
Indubitably.
Remember, if Europe is bailed… that money is coming from one place…
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Jake,
Is this true about SLV?
“During a big correction like the one we’ve just gone through, a lot of weak hands get shaken out of the market,” said Turk. “We know that has happened because of the change in open interest and also because of the smaller volumes of late.”
Weak hands get shaken out in bull market corrections, yes. We’ve been seeing it for ten years now in the PMs.
As for the COT data, I don’t know if I really trust it. Gary used to swear by it, but I’m not convinced it’s indicative.
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Is mentor long silver miners or only gold?
He is not a silver guy. That’s me.
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Hello fellow trader. Please visit my blog at http://openbooktrader.wordpress.com. Thanks!
Schiff has a true gold debit card.
Your money is kept in gold; when you use the debit card, gold is sold to cover it
Farage has been fighting for a few years now. He’s a firebrand, but it hasn’t gotten them anywhere. Nobody listens to people like him unfortunately.
Maybe he’ll be PM someday?
He’s Hitchens-level articulate.
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Jake,
I’m busy today, so I don’t have time for a long response, but let’s get one thing straight: the euro mess is not because of a “government takeover.” It’s because the PRIVATE BANKS, just like here, are loaded with SHITTY WORTHLESS DEBT, and the Euro was set up to be a profit machine for these banks. We’re not bailing out Greece, my friend, as you well know, we’re bailing out Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Soc Gen,, Barclays, etc.
Just look at Sweden, which is far from perfect, but has good growth and a system that you would find intolerable. I recommend a visit, in fact. It might open your eyes.
The problem with Europe is simple: They wanted to have financial integration without political integration. In other words, it’s not that the state is too much there, it’s that the state is not there enough, and it can’t, like the US does, redistribute resources from richer to poorer states (or, in other words, from blue states to red states).
Bon week-end!
“Clean up, aisle 5!”
(yes, back to work Spook)
DMG,
Or maybe I should clean up your corner office, as I know you have such a big one!
Lol – i do in fact have a corner office. Granted, it’s in a very old, two story building and has water stains on the ceiling tiles. Yet, there are papers everywhere and could do with a woman’s touch so stop on by!
What makes you think I’m a woman? You’re confused. Maybe those stains on the tiles suggest more than just water? Fumes? Seriously now…maybe what you need is a trip to Sweden. They have corner offices there, too!
‘Cause you’re a little bitch? Lol, too funny.
You are largely correct on much of your facts Spooks, save for that first.
The Euro movement was a financial movement at first but it has become a centralized government attempt. And Farange is right… you cannot have financial unity without political unity… and so they are trying for the latter and abrogating others’ freedoms (and “democracy” as Farange says) in the pursuit.
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And I agree with you that the central bankers are taking over. Two elected governments have already been made into debt slaves. Germany is in the process of conquering Europe. Ritholtz had some great charts about just how good the Euro has been for Germany and bad for the periphery countries.
I don’t know how many of you read our northeastern liberal newspapers, but I thought this was a very nice profile on Mitt. I think the “Yankee” frugality angle plays well up here, especially in New England among older voters. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/us/politics/two-mitt-romneys-wealthy-man-thrifty-habits.html?_r=1
Hoosiers!!
alden loafers. lol.