Podcast
by
Chris Martenson
"When a country's public debt exceeds 90% of GDP, that is the magic number. You get to 90%, there is no way back, and that is the number that the U.S. is going through pretty much as we speak. It is also the number which the UK has gone through; all of the PIIGS are going through it, as well. They are all going past the 90% debt to GDP ratio. Obviously, Japan is miles past it already. It's up to 200%+. There does not appear, in the historical analysis, to be any great likelihood of getting back from that level of debt safely. There is this strong evidence that above 90% debt to GDP, you will experience either a cataclysmic default or some form of very serious inflation."
So observes Paul Tustain, gold market analyst and founder of BullionVault. In his view, gold serves as a beacon who's price is currently signaling the monetary system is in grave danger. He and Chris discuss the primary factors driving the price of gold and smart strategies for investors looking to build or maintain their holdings of the metal.
Paul Tustain: Gold Is Sending a Signal That the Monetary System Is in Grave Danger
by Chris Martenson"When a country's public debt exceeds 90% of GDP, that is the magic number. You get to 90%, there is no way back, and that is the number that the U.S. is going through pretty much as we speak. It is also the number which the UK has gone through; all of the PIIGS are going through it, as well. They are all going past the 90% debt to GDP ratio. Obviously, Japan is miles past it already. It's up to 200%+. There does not appear, in the historical analysis, to be any great likelihood of getting back from that level of debt safely. There is this strong evidence that above 90% debt to GDP, you will experience either a cataclysmic default or some form of very serious inflation."
So observes Paul Tustain, gold market analyst and founder of BullionVault. In his view, gold serves as a beacon who's price is currently signaling the monetary system is in grave danger. He and Chris discuss the primary factors driving the price of gold and smart strategies for investors looking to build or maintain their holdings of the metal.
by
thc0655
In my first post on crime, I urged you to accept the reality of the criminal threat and to mentally choose not to allow yourself to be easily victimized. Hopefully you’re reading this second post because you’ve sworn off the denial, distraction, and passivity that characterizes most people and decided to do whatever you reasonably can to protect yourself, your family, and your home. If this mindset of yours is authentic and deeply felt, you’re more than halfway to your goal.
Your next step is to form a self-protection plan. Helping you do that is the purpose of this second post.
Fortifying Yourself And Your Home Against Crime
by thc0655In my first post on crime, I urged you to accept the reality of the criminal threat and to mentally choose not to allow yourself to be easily victimized. Hopefully you’re reading this second post because you’ve sworn off the denial, distraction, and passivity that characterizes most people and decided to do whatever you reasonably can to protect yourself, your family, and your home. If this mindset of yours is authentic and deeply felt, you’re more than halfway to your goal.
Your next step is to form a self-protection plan. Helping you do that is the purpose of this second post.
by
Chris Martenson
Finding Shelter From The Storm
Monday, April 4, 2011
Executive Summary
- GDP growth requires energy, and the Fukushima disaster has just set back nuclear’s expected contribution by years (decades, likely)
- Trading strategies for an end to QE, by asset class (stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, precious metals, real estate)
- Fukushima’s likely impact on the energy market
- Why the priority now for investors should be on wealth preservation
- The odds QE will resume later in the year
Part I: A Global Tsunami, Courtesy of the Fed
If you have not yet read Part I, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
Part II: Finding Shelter From the Storm
A Global Energy Shortage
The aftershocks from Fukushima will extend across the globe and well into the future, as energy plans that had formerly relied on nuclear will slow to a crawl. We will possibly even see a reversal in that energy source for a while as older plants are scrapped faster than new, safer designs can be brought on line.
Growth in net energy from oil is no longer possible. The cheap oil is gone, flow rates of conventional oil struggle to recover to 2005 levels, and the new stuff is hideously more expensive in terms of dollars and energy to extract.
Alternative fuels are not-yet-ready-for-primetime and have enormous scale issues to overcome. Coal will fill in some of the gap, but we had big plans for nuclear to plug much of the rest.
No longer.
Finding Shelter From The Storm
PREVIEW by Chris MartensonFinding Shelter From The Storm
Monday, April 4, 2011
Executive Summary
- GDP growth requires energy, and the Fukushima disaster has just set back nuclear’s expected contribution by years (decades, likely)
- Trading strategies for an end to QE, by asset class (stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, precious metals, real estate)
- Fukushima’s likely impact on the energy market
- Why the priority now for investors should be on wealth preservation
- The odds QE will resume later in the year
Part I: A Global Tsunami, Courtesy of the Fed
If you have not yet read Part I, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
Part II: Finding Shelter From the Storm
A Global Energy Shortage
The aftershocks from Fukushima will extend across the globe and well into the future, as energy plans that had formerly relied on nuclear will slow to a crawl. We will possibly even see a reversal in that energy source for a while as older plants are scrapped faster than new, safer designs can be brought on line.
Growth in net energy from oil is no longer possible. The cheap oil is gone, flow rates of conventional oil struggle to recover to 2005 levels, and the new stuff is hideously more expensive in terms of dollars and energy to extract.
Alternative fuels are not-yet-ready-for-primetime and have enormous scale issues to overcome. Coal will fill in some of the gap, but we had big plans for nuclear to plug much of the rest.
No longer.
by
Chris Martenson
The Fed is in a bind. No matter which way it turns, utter failure is a risk. Putting more money into the system risks no less than the dollar itself. Stopping quantitative easing (QE) risks plunging the economy and financial system into another period of turbulent decline. It looks like the Fed is going to choose the latter.
In a recent report, I made the case that pressure was building on the Fed to end its QE 2 program in June, and that if it did, there would be an enormous rout in the stock, bond, and commodity markets. That analysis still stands.
This new two-part report will analyze the many competing factors, both for and against, that will determine whether QE 2 really is the end of the Fed’s efforts at printing up a recovery, or merely the event that precedes QE 3.
A Global Tsunami, Courtesy of the Fed
by Chris MartensonThe Fed is in a bind. No matter which way it turns, utter failure is a risk. Putting more money into the system risks no less than the dollar itself. Stopping quantitative easing (QE) risks plunging the economy and financial system into another period of turbulent decline. It looks like the Fed is going to choose the latter.
In a recent report, I made the case that pressure was building on the Fed to end its QE 2 program in June, and that if it did, there would be an enormous rout in the stock, bond, and commodity markets. That analysis still stands.
This new two-part report will analyze the many competing factors, both for and against, that will determine whether QE 2 really is the end of the Fed’s efforts at printing up a recovery, or merely the event that precedes QE 3.
by
Chris Martenson
Noting that the press has largely turned its resources off of the Fukushima complex, and needing up-to-date information on the status of the damage control efforts there, we secured the most up-to-date satellite photo from DigitalGlobe (dated March 31st), which we analyze below. This is the first photo of the damaged reactor site at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear facility made available to the public in over a week. That means you, our readers, are the first public eyes anywhere to see this photo.
Drawing upon the expertise of our resident nuclear engineer and Ann Stringer, imaging expert, we conclude that the situation at Fukushima is not stabilized: Things are not yet at a place of steady progress in the containment and clean-up efforts. It’s still a dance, forwards and backwards, with the workers making gains here and there but the situation forcing them to react defensively all too often.
In this report, we will tell you what we know for sure, what we are nearly certain of, and what we remain forced to speculate about.
Here is a portion of a much larger image (covering 25 square kilometers in total) showing the reactor complex as of March 31, at roughly mid-day:
EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: Latest Satellite Imagery From Fukushima Tells Sobering Tale
by Chris MartensonNoting that the press has largely turned its resources off of the Fukushima complex, and needing up-to-date information on the status of the damage control efforts there, we secured the most up-to-date satellite photo from DigitalGlobe (dated March 31st), which we analyze below. This is the first photo of the damaged reactor site at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear facility made available to the public in over a week. That means you, our readers, are the first public eyes anywhere to see this photo.
Drawing upon the expertise of our resident nuclear engineer and Ann Stringer, imaging expert, we conclude that the situation at Fukushima is not stabilized: Things are not yet at a place of steady progress in the containment and clean-up efforts. It’s still a dance, forwards and backwards, with the workers making gains here and there but the situation forcing them to react defensively all too often.
In this report, we will tell you what we know for sure, what we are nearly certain of, and what we remain forced to speculate about.
Here is a portion of a much larger image (covering 25 square kilometers in total) showing the reactor complex as of March 31, at roughly mid-day:
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