[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgRm1ISlw_A 450 300]

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I’ve had some trouble getting a post out about this Newtown, CT horror show.  You might imagine why.  I have a seven year old.  He’s an outlier, and I’ve always worried about him.  Now that seems almost ridiculous, and yet…

There’s no way you can’t fall on your knees.  In grief, in relief.  In relief.  That’s wrong, I know it, but the absolute realization that something like this can happen… that it is even possible…  makes one want to put their kids into a box until they grow up.

The pain is visceral and it’s borne of impotence.  You want to strike out, make things right.  In this way you cannot even blame the illogical left with their knee jerk proscriptions against gun ownership.  It almost makes sense, given the emotional quotient.

But one has to ask what makes any sense?  Arm the teachers? Seems extreme, and perhaps too much to ask.  But what about security personnel?  One, two..? … training will be important.  Reinforced classroom doors?  Is it worthwhile?  I guess I’d have to ask if protecting our kids is worthwhile.  How much should we spend on that?  Can we maybe move the TSA budget to that arena?

I do know there are some 250 million guns extant in the U.S., and even an absolute prohibition will not keep guns out of the hands of criminals, and crazies.  Does it make sense, then, to concentrate on keeping guns out of legal hands, instead of perhaps working to better counsel — and control — the mentally ill and dangerous?

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Shockingly, or not, I am still in love with silver and gold here.  True, AG got it’s ass kicked today, malevolently, because it purchased another mine at an egregious premium.  Their loss is your gain.  Take advantage.  But wait one day before you buy.  In the meantime, SLW and SIL are great.  As is GDXJ and GDX.

Best to you all.

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[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1jzs6dk4bs 450 300]

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Breaking away for a second to remind you to pay attention here.  We are headed into Santa Claus territory, and I don’t think it will be coincidental when we see the gold and silver elves coming out for their annual drunken bacchanal.

I am hoping that on Friday I will have moved a large amount of money from “here” unto “there,” and then will have some time to sport about with you, old time style, half-inebriated and full of fun.  Until then, GDX, GDXJ, and yes, even NUGT will be attractive in the Christmas season.  On the silver side, those of you who have cursed and gnashed your teeth about EXK can consider this the time to “make your bones,” or whatever other ethnic cliche you’d like to use.   AG is still my favorite silver dog, and SLW and SIL my core recommendations for the noobs.  That said, PAAS and MVG can be berry berry good to those of a speculative bent.

More speculative than any of those, however, is AAU and TC.  If you have 2% of your portfolio that you reserve for dice throwing at 3 AM in a dirty alley laden with crack whores and vein poppers, then those are your available plays.  Do not cry to me if you are blackjacked, but please remit 15% to the Salvation Army if you do bank coin.

Best to all of you, and hoping to spend many days of merry and bright with you in the latter part of this month…

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I sit here and sip my newly distributed Pappy Van Winkle 15-year (rocks, a couple), and reflect on the consequences of today’s market shaking Presidential press conference.  Despite the obsequiousness of the White House Press Corps, some important truths were uncovered, many of them centering around basic math and fundamental civics.

For one thing, the President is either being extremely forgetful, or dishonest about the makeup of our current deficits.  As some of you may recall, Mr. Obama is quite fond of blaming our current fiscal deficit situation on either the “two wars” of Afghanistan and Iraq that he “inherited,” or “the Bush tax cuts” of 2003.  Let’s leave aside the fact that federal revenues have risen considerably—as a result of tax cut driven growth– since the days prior to the Bush tax cuts.  Let us also confirm (by Mr. Obama’s own declaration) that the war in Iraq is “over,” at least for now.  That means that the “causes” Mr.Obama loves to blame for spiraling deficits are, save for a war in Afghanistan that he has escalated according to his own plan (see below), are not really material to the gargantuan deficits we are facing right now.   So what is, then?

Well, some of you may recall the “emergency stimulus” that was signed into law in 2009.  A great bill totaling $831 billion in hand-outs via allocated spending (most of which was distributed to states to keep their own governments running) and “targeted tax cuts” which usually took the form of some sort of credit for jumping through some gov’t preferred hoop.

Any “stimulus” spending is arguably a problem because it’s top-down gov’t allocated spending, considered mostly “one size fits all” for the citizenry, and by that standard alone grossly inefficient.   The even greater problem with regard to such programs is that they raise the baseline spending in these categories permanently, unless specific cuts are made in those areas where spending was increased that first time.   This is what is causing our budget deficits to balloon far past what we had seen in the allegedly horrible “Bush Years.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the problem clearly is not revenue, and it’s not even overseas spending (although Mr. Obama has seen fit to increase that spending too).   The problem is domestic levels of spending that show few signs of abatement any time soon.

Today, the President suggested that an additional $1.6 trillion dollars in tax increases – levied wholly on the heads of the investing and producing citizens of the economy  (otherwise known as “the evil rich”) – will help solve this crisis.   But even allowing the Bush tax cuts to lapse will only produce another $75 billion a year.  How is that going to help attack the deficit?  Answer, it won’t at all, and what ’s more will likely become counterproductive as capital hides in inefficient and economically non-beneficial havens.

Fly’s tax attorney and others like him will be grinning wolfishly if this benighted “plan” comes to fruition, but only those spinners’ children will eat better, while the rest of us will have to contend with cold salt pork and beans as we continue to endure The Obama Winter.

The only answer is restructuring my friends, and that will entail some significant spending reductions and – yes! – entitlement reform.  Barack Obama still has an opportunity here to salvage his legacy.  If he can play “Nixon Goes To China” and pull off the hard work of entitlement reform, he will be forever after revered as a Sainted President.   If he’d rather continue down the path to perdition and Obamacare folly, well….

Many Bollinger Band Crash Trades were triggered in the PM segments this afternoon, and I believe I may partake in some rebound shooters (perhaps in GDX and GDXJ) to reap the reflexive bounce back due those names.  I think SLW and SIL are also prime candidates and if I see a “wash and bounce” tomorrow, I may even grab some NUGT and or AGQ.   We should be very close to done with this pain, however, so hang on at least, even if you don’t feel like trading.

Best to you all

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If there’s one thing this recent election has taught me, it’s that large money works, and especially so for incumbents. I have to admit, given the Obama Administration’s horrible economic performance ($16T in debt, 26 mm out of work, 47 mm on food stamps), its near-totalitarian interference in markets via regulatory and legislative fiat (EPA coal & oil policies, Obamacare) and the series of scandals so common to the Chicago Machine politics of post-electoral pay-offs (Solyndra), extra-judicial bullying (Fast and Furious) and outright criminal incompetence (Benghazi), I thought there was no way the American people could re-up for more. But I guess enough money was spent, in just enough critical counties, to sufficiently demonize a genuinely nice guy who was trying to play it “nice” (probably to his chagrin) right to the end. Kudos to the players – the pros – like Axelrod and Jarrett. They had a plan and it worked.

Mr. Romney, you will be second guessed to a fare the well, and your lack of even McCain-level support will surely continue to raise questions. Perhaps there were enough Cain Thalers out there who wanted to see the whole system washed out, the Dems hung with it, and the process begun a new. I think you could have been more aggressive in the final weeks, and you took too much from the first debate win. I will not gainsay you, however, as I know your 20 years of unpaid service to your fellow citizens stand as their own testimony.

Unfortunately, reality doesn’t need a vote, and reality is now coming on a fast track. The dismal economic performance we’ve endured these past four years– hoping they would end mercifully this past week– is now slated to continue, barring some sea change in the Obama Directive. Anyone want to bet on the POTUS changing his stripes any time soon? The President’s recent announcement that increased taxes on the employment engine were necessary for his ongoing cooperation with the “Fiscal Cliff” negotiations should be fair warning. Thus far the analysis seems to read that he has learned nothing.

I would take some solace in the possibility of a “Bill Clinton” final four years, if only the Senate had mellowed. It did not, however, and in fact got more radical with the addition of two new far left Senators from the States of Massachusetts and Wisconsin. Bewildering especially was the inclusion of Elizabeth Warren in the Hall of the Hundred Most Powerful. Apparently, after being annealed on the moral forge of vehicular manslaughter, long term race fraud was just a mere bagatelle for the majority of the Bay State’s citizenry. A “Blue State,” for sure.

Given that there will be no Gingrich Congress to arm wrestle the much more ideological Obama to fiscal discipline, I expect nothing but more fiat excess and Executive consolidation. As a result, businesses will continue to be reluctant to invest, capital will “hide,” and more unemployment, crime and municipal stress will result as our debts and long term liabilities continue to skyrocket. None of this will be good for the long term health of the Republic, if in fact a republic we still own. I know even the famed Mr. Franklin (“You have a republic, Madame, if you can keep it!) might harbor his doubts at this gray pass.
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It’s ironic, I guess, that despite my despondency, I’m still reasonably well situated for this turn of events. Do I own growth stocks like AAPL and DDD? Do I own hot retail like ULTA or CAB? Do I own… (ahhh, you get the picture!). NO! I own a bunch of commodity plays that I am using as a hedge against what I like to call Bernanke’s Despair and you can call “QE (n+1).” We are staring at unfunded liabilities out the wazoo, and entitlement spending alone that outstrips current tax receipts by hundreds of billions of dollars. Bad debt and mispriced assets remain on balance sheets, particularly on those of your resident Too Big To Fail Bank (no Dodd-Frank). There is only one way out of this mess, and it’s the same thing I’ve been preaching to you for the last five years of our journey. PRINTPRINTPRINTPRINTPRINT.

You know the usual suspects, so I won’t belabor them. In particular right now, I like the way ERX looks right now (for those of you asking me about the oil plays in the last comment section). I like it better than UCO, too, fwiw, as it is bouncing right now off its 200 week EMA ($44.72). I don’t think it has many days left to pop. I of course love RGLD below $90. A gift to your grandchildren, as I’ve been telling you since it was in its low $30’s. For the speculators amongst us, keep an eye on TC… I think it’s finally getting it’s mojo back.

The next four years should be interesting… in the way of the ancient Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times.” Unfortunately, I believe China will be the least of our troubles, and soon we will look nostalgically back on the times when all we had to worry about was burrito accounting fraud.

Peace be upon you all.
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I guess my jaw is just going to drop every day right into November 6th  of this year.  Yesterday, I stood agog as the U.S. National  Media did not merely let slip their masques of “Objectivity” but tore them off completely in defense of their Dear Leader, The Obama.  It was like we were back in the days of “Soviet Union,” when Pravda and Tass would not only mouth whatever “truths” the Soviet leadership would set them to, but also pro-actively attack dissidents of the regime in order to discredit them. 

When our embassies in Egypt and Libya were attacked “coincidentally” on 9/11, and our Executive Branch Administration decided to respond with an apology instead of condemnation, I guess I wasn’t completely shocked when the MSM house organs (NY Times, Boston Globe, LA Times) buried the story well into their papers to clear room for important Romney/Ryan high school reportage.  What was a shock, however, was watching the press go after Mitt Romney for — very appropriately, IMHO — condemning the wrong-headedness not only of the rioting Islamacists, but of the Obama Administration that was feeling their pain.  Incredulously, I watched as the biggest media firms  in the country went after Romney in a (now confirmed) coordinated attack like he was the guy who murdered our ambassador in Libya instead of being the only Presidential candidate to take time out of his day to remark upon it.

No, what was important to the press was that Romney was condemning the Obama Administration, and everyone knows that the Main Stream Media’s number one job is to advocate for the Democrat President, right?

Right?

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Meanwhile, on day four of “Jaw Dropper Week,” we hear from yet another  uncompensated (well, sorta) member of the Committee Re-elect the President Again (CREEPA) — Mr. Ben Bernanke.   Not two weeks after Mitt Romney all but said that Fed Chair Bernanke was likely selling pencils come this January, the Bearded Bandit decided to show just how far he’d go to keep his job.

In a scene that seemed cut from the classic Mike Judge movie, Idiocracy, Mr. Chairman has decided to cut loose with your sovereign currency in such a way that soon we will be purchasing extra-wide checks to accomodate the extra zeroes we’ll have to write.  And he’s not doing it in any kind of secretive “QE4” way, either.  No, he’s just going to purchase — with fake money! — US mortgage bonds, at $85 billion a month til the end of the year, and then $40 bn a month, apparently until morale improves!

It’s fucking mind-boggling, if you’ll excuse my French.  Just stutteringly mad.

We are spitting in the face of people who hold our dollars world wide.  We are saying, “See this? This hundred dollar bill?  I wipe my arse with it!  Have some!” 

“Oh, yeah… and vote Barry so I can keep my job, eh?  Thanks much.”

Anyone got a line on a wheel barrow factory I can invest in?

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As might be expected, gold (+2.11) and silver (+4.33) are screaming.  More analysis of the traditionals tonight, but the ETFs are your best bet at the moment (GDX, GDXJ, SIL, GLD, SLV, even AGQ and NUGT).  Go nuts, mind as well.

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A lot of the junior golds are looking good here and particularly appetizing on a pullback.  GDXJ should be your default if you cannot pick out a couple of nice names, and it looks good on a pullback to just above $22.00.  Put your buy in a dime plus or minus above that line and you should get something on what I believe will be a relatively imminent pullback.  These boys have moved but I think its  time to take a nap maybe for a day or two.

If you want to roll the dice a little, I like AAU here — the basketball league stock!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see from the chart, its already run us quite a chase, from $1.55 a share in early August to over $2.80 today. We are late in the run and are due a pullback, probably in that $2.95 region marked above.  Good news is you can choose any of those pullback entries marked above,  or buy 33% at each interval to keep things smooth.  My plan would be to purchase that one third either at the break of $2.95 or at the point of the first pullback.  If we bounce from there, you can buy your second third at a break of $2.95.  If it continues to break down you can accumulate all the way to the last buy point (approximately $2.45 or so).

In any case, remember this is a Mad Money type of investment, and not one to be throwing anything more than 5% of your portfolio at.   This is the time these stocks run, however, so if you want to experiment, now is the time.

Best to you all, fellow youth basketball summer league players….

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